Duffield

This ancient village is a charming place, with Georgian houses and cottages lining the banks of the River Ecclesbourne. For such a cosy place, it seems odd that the Parish Church of St Alkmund is situated in isolation down by the river. However, as it stands on the site of a Saxon one, it is thought that the river was used to baptise converts. The saint to whom it is dedicated was a Northumbrian prince who was murdered in AD 800 at nearby Derby by bodyguards supposed to be protecting him. They were sent by King Eardulf, who was trying to claim the Northumbrian throne. Alkmund’s sarcophagus is now in a Derby museum.

The church has a 14th-century east tower with a recessed spire. It was much restored in the 19th century.  Inside the Church there is an impressive monument dating from 1600, dedicated to Anthony Bradshaw, his two wives and their 20 children. He had 23 children in all, with the 22nd being called ‘Penultima‘. Bradshaw was a barrister and the deputy steward of Duffield Firth, a former hunting forest between Duffield and Wirksworth. His great nephew went on to officiate over the court, which called for the execution of Charles I. 

Located in the centre of Duffield, Duffield Castle is an 11th-century stone motte and bailey fortress, founded by Henry de Ferrers, Earl of Derby. In 1886 and 1957, excavations on the large low motte and wide bailey ditch uncovered the foundations of a magnificent square Norman keep, with a forebuilding and a deep well. Sadly the keep, one of the largest in England, is only five courses of sandstone ashlar high, after being taken and destroyed in 1266 by the Royalist forces of Henry III. The site is owned by The National Trust and is freely accessible in daylight hours, by steep steps from Milford Road.

Duffield Hall is situated at the southern edge of the village. It is an Elizabethan building, enlarged in 1870 and once used as a girls boarding school. It is now the headquarters of the Derbyshire Building Society.