The Collegiate Church 943 – 1549

A church of All Saints was founded on the site of the present Cathedral about the year 943 by Edmund, King of the West Saxons. It was a Collegiate Church, served by a college of seven priests – a dean and six canons – who maintained daily worship and lived a community life. Nothing of that first Saxon church remains, nor of the college next door, though the name ‘College Place’ is a reminder.

All Saints (or ‘All Hallows’) was one of three pre-Conquest churches of Derby, along with St Werburgh’s and St Alkmund’s. The latter housed the shrine of St Alkmund, Prince of Northumbria, killed in battle in defence of his kingdom in 800 and venerated as a Christian martyr. Alkmund is regarded as patron saint of the city.

We know little of the medieval church built in the 14th century, other than that it was much the same size as the present Cathedral, had a number of chapels and altars, including St Katharine’s Quire, associated with the Cavendish family, and owned sumptuous plate and vestments. Its crowning glory was its Tudor tower, erected between 1510 and 1530.

Some of the monuments in the Cathedral date from this pre-Reformation era. The most remarkable is the wooden effigy of Sub-dean Robert Johnson, dating from about 1530. An alabaster memorial slab to Sub-dean John Lawe dates from around the mid 15th century. Older still is the 14th century grave slab, re-used for the painter Joseph Wright, but this stone, originally in the old St Alkmund’s, was imported into the Cathedral only in 2002. The tenor bell, the oldest of the 10 in the tower, also dates from the 15th century and the medieval seal, still in use in the cathedral ‘logo’, dates from the same time.

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