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Malet, Robert                                         First known Rector of Fenny Bentley  pre 1316

Hall, John de                                                                                                 1316 - 1318

Hasilbech, Richard de                                                                                  1318 - 1349

Scharp, Henry                                                                                               1349 - 1361

Ballidon, Roger de                                                                                        1361 - 1362

Attlowe, Robert de                                                                                        1362 - 1374

Spencer, Henry                                                                                             1374 - 1375

Bentley, John de                                                                                             1375 - 1381

Schepeston, William de                                                                                  1381 1382

Mapulton, John de                                                                                          1382 - 1393

Newbyggyng, Adam de                                                                                   1393 - 1423

Newbyggng was vicar of Hartington in 1402 and still held the

            post in 1412 when John de Beresford appointed him attorney                                 

Jurdan, John                                                                                                  1423 - 1432

Foljambe, James                                                                                            1432

The Foljambe family of Walton held lands at Tideswell and Aldwark.

It is not known whether he was a member of that family. 

Ambulford, Simon                                                                                        1432 - 1443

Curry, Robert                                                                                               1443 - 1446

Bride (or Wodehouse), Roger                                                                      1446 - 1503

Shawe, Ralph                                                                                               1503 - 1508

Ferne, William                                                                                              1508 – 1527

             (of “Hognaston Parwich” – source Chart 4, Book of Beresfords

Married Joanna Beresford, youngest daughter of Thomas and Agnes. – Source Eileen Kremmel (nee Ferne) of San Mateo, California – EFitz@aol.com

Ireland, Walter                                                                                             1527 - 1530

Bynney, Stephen  (Died 1561)                                                                      1530 - 1561

            During Bynney's period the patron of the benefice, by leave of the Dean of Lincoln, was   Henry Bynney, husbandman.    The Valor Ecclesiasticus 27 Hy VIII (1535) valued the        benefice at       £6-12-10

Bamford, Nicholas                                                                    12 Sept 1561 -  Feb 1564

 Deprived of the living  Feb 1564

Nedehame, R....                                                                                             1564 -  1604

Griffin, Bartholemew                                                                                   1604 - 1639

 Reputedly descended from Ralph Griffin, Dean of Lincoln, who died in 1593.

Married 25/5/1604; he was buried 12/1/1638. His daughter Elizabeth was the second  wife of William Bott.

Hall, John                                                                                                      1639 – 1642

            Bolton was of the opinion that Hall was non-resident.

  Bott, William  (Died  November 1701)                                                     1642 - 1650

Inducted as Rector of Fenny Bentley 10 April 1642

Served in the Royalist Army in the Civil War while Rector.

In 1650 Bott was deprived of his living and replaced by James Hollinshead, a puritan.            Bott moved his family to Tissington where, under the protection of the Royalist           FitzHerberts, he became curate.  In 1660 Hollinshead was in turn dispossessed and Bott             returned to Bentley.  He had taken a vow that if he were to be restored he would repair            and adorn the chancel and this work, together with the rebuilding of the rectory, which       he found in a ruinous state was immediately put in hand.

Bott was presumably from a wealthy background. His first wife, Elizabeth, came from       the Buxton family of Bradbourne.  His second wife, also Elizabeth, was the daughter of            Bartholomew Griffin, a previous rector. She was buried 4/4/1703.

`           His official entries in the parish register are supplemented by informative notes.

At the end of the nineteenth century a portrait of Bott in wig, gown and bands and armed       with a sword was known to be in possession of a descendant of his.

Hollinshead, James  (also listed as John and Edward)                                 1650 - 1660

Puritan who displaced the Royalist activist William Bott in 1650 and was himself            displaced by Bott on the restoration of Charles II in 1660.

Little is known of him except that when Bott returned to the village the Rectory was in a ruinous condition.  Whether this was by Hollinshead's actions or omissions is not       known.  However, if the Rectory had become ruinous it seems unlikely that Hollinshead     had taken it over for his own use.  The ruination is more likely to have been the result             of Bott's  long absence.

The Parliamentary Commissioners of 1650 record ' a parsonage worth £40 per year - Mr         John Hollinshead, incumbent.

Bott, William  (Died  November 1701)                                                       1660 - 1701

See above

Hardesty,William                                                                                         1702 - 1707

Hardesty, Charles                                                                                         1707 - 1747

Pilkington, Matthew                                                                                     1747 - 1766

 

 Langley, William                                                                                           1766 - 1795

Headmaster of Ashbourne Grammar School; friend of Dr. Johnson.

Sections of the minute book of the Governors of Ashbourne Grammar School have been summarised  as follows:

Langley was appointed Headmaster on 31st. March 1752. He was a Master of Arts and          took his degree at Oxford. On 22 February 1754  Mr. W.Wilson the Undermaster formally complained to the Governors of "Mr. Wm. Langley the Head Schoolmaster's various and frequent interruptions of his privileges as Under Master and particularly that of Tuesday last of Breaking a Table placed in the School for the improvement of the Scholars in Writing and accounts. . . .   and of forcibly throwing it into the School passage belonging to the Under Master, and likewise for breaking down the fence between their respective gardens, and doing several other Trespasses of the like Nature;"  for these misdemeanours Mr. Langley's salary was reduced by £10 a year, which sum was ordered to be paid to the Under Master "in augmentation of his wages as being careful and diligent . . . .  and for the Damages and Depreciations committed by Mr. Langley." The trouble with the Under Master continued and on 25th November of the same year the Governors ordered that Mr. Langley "be deprived and removed out of his place as Schoolmaster" and that no more wages should be paid to him: on this occasion he was charged with "refusing to teach and instruct one or more boys, Children of the Inhabitants of the Town of Ashbourne tho' the same have been offered to him to be taught in the said school and others under the Under Master's care not anyways under the care of the said Mr. Langley" and with beating them "even out of school hours, in an inhumane manner."  At the next meeting of the Governors in December the Vicar of the Parish was appointed Headmaster in his place. Mr. Langley however stayed on and continued to quarrel with successive Undermasters.  In March next year another Usher or Undermaster was appointed but he only held the post 18 days.  The next Usher stayed on until October and then resigned "wearied by the ill-usages of the Headmaster and his Family." The next Usher managed to stay on for over a year but he resigned at last, as the Headmaster, so he said "hath taken every method in his power to render the charge committed to me irksome and disagreeable to me."  He still continued to neglect his duties and the Governors unable or unwilling to get rid of him appealed to the bishop of the diocese for help. At that time there was only one scholar and had been only two or three for many years past.

The minute books do not record what action the Bishop took - but Langley remained Headmaster in spite of everybody and everything until his death at the end of 1795, having been in office 43 years, during 29 of which he also held the Rectory of Fenny Bentley.

 

The above account would make one believe that Langley was negligent in his duties.  The parish records show, however, that as far as Bentley was concerned he was present to personally perform all duties required and did not leave matters to a curate as did many others of his period.

 

Bennet, Abraham  M.A.   1750 - 1799.                        Rector of Fenny Bentley  1796 -1799

 

Abraham Bennet, though now largely forgotten, was in his day one of the foremost scientists in the country. He was Master of  Wirksworth Grammar School.  He became Curate of  Wirksworth at the age of 26 and remained so although he was also Rector of Fenny Bentley from 1796 to his death

.

Bennet's interests lay in the emerging field of electricity and he was the inventor of the 'gold leaf electroscope'.  Bennet's was a significant improvement on earlier instruments for measuring static electricity and many people will remember using one at school in the physics laboratory.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1789 and among those who signed his certificate for election were Josiah Wedgwood, Erasmus Darwin, Matthew Boulton, Henry Cavendish, James Watt and Joseph Priestley.  Death cut short his career at the early age of 49.

 

Bennet contributed four papers to the Royal Society and the first three were published together as a book entitled  New Experiments on Electricity.  Among the many subscribers to the publication were Matthew Boulton, Henry Cavendish,  Samuel Crompton, Mrs.Darwin (probably the wife of Erasmus Darwin), Joseph Priestley, William Wilberforce, James Watt  and, perhaps most notably of all, Professor Volta. Local subscribers included  Sir Richard Arkwright, Sir Brooke Boothby, Sir William and Lady FitzHerbert, Thomas Gell and Mrs.Temperance Gell, Francis Hurt and Jedediah Strutt

.

Bennet's book can be seen in the Local Studies Department of Derby Library.

 

The memorial to Abraham Bennet hanging in Wirksworth Church reads as follows:-

To the memory of the Rev. Abraham Bennet, FRS, who was XXIII years Curate of Wirksworth, Rector of Fenny Bentley; domestic Chaplain to His Grace The Duke of Devonshire, perpetual Curate of Woburn and Librarian to His Grace the Duke of Bedford. He was author of a work entitled 'New Experiments on Electricity' which established his reputation for science amongst the philosophers of all countries; he died at Wirksworth on VI day of May MDCCXCIX aged XLIX years

 

An original portrait of Bennet hangs in the vestry of Wirksworth Church.  The picture in Bentley Church was copied from this by kind permission of the Vicar of Wirksworth.

 

Bennet's daughter, Elizabeth, married Francis Holliwell who, together with his brother William, set up as clockmakers following the bankruptcy of their father's clockmaking business in 1806. William Holliwell senior had learned his craft from the clockmaker Whitehurst of Derby, himself a fellow of the Royal Society.

 

As regards Fenny Bentley, Bennet will have received the living by the influence of one of his enlightened and wealthy patrons.  It is doubtful if he ever lived in the village and to date no evidence has come to light that he personally carried out any pastoral duties.  Examination of the parish registers shows that all baptisms, marriages and burials during Bennet's term were carried out by the curate, Fairfax Norcliffe.

 

Roe, George                                                                                                               1799 - 1816

Gordon, George                                                                                                        1816 - 1824

Gordon appears to have been an absentee.  From the Church Registers his duties appear to have been carried out by his Curate, Edward Heathcote.

Brown, Jervase         Died aged 71 in May 1842                                                    1821 - 1842.

Listed as non resident in the 'Church in Derbyshire 1823'

1802 -1842      Vicar of Ilkeston

1823 - 1842     Vicar of Ashby Folville, Leics.

1812 - 1842     Perpetual curate of  Awsworth, Notts.

Brown escaped the canons regarding plurality as Awsworth was a perpetual curacy, which did not come under the plurality rules until 1838, while of the other  three benefices only Ashby Folville was rated over £8 per annum in the Liber Regis.  Brown would have required dispensation had more than one of his benefices been over £8 p.a.

In spite of being listed as non resident the Parish Registers show that he was assiduous in his duties at Bentley and it is probable that his non-residency was at the beginning of his incumbancy while the Rectory was made habitable.  (The Rectory in 1823 was listed as 'an indifferent house: like a tolerable farm house, said to consist of a parlour, kitchen and three bedchambers' ). 

His first wife Alice died age 52 in Ilkeston in 1822.  She was buried in Bentley on 6 August.  His second wife, Sarah died in February 1842 aged 54.

Howard, Garton  Died March 1877 aged 62                                                            1842 - 1877

In  January 1848 Howard's 10 month old daughter Agnes died and in July 1848 his 28 year old wife Elizabeth Isabella died, shortly followed by their 2 month old son Henry. Shortly after this Howard appears to have relinquished work in the parish, duties being carried out by C. W. Richards as 'officiating minister'  except for a year (1849/50) when Walter Chambers, later to become Bishop of Sarawak, was curate.  By October 1853 Howard had resumed full duties in Bentley.

Sometime after 1871 Howard married Jane Warrington, his housekeeper.  In 1881 she was living at a newly built house at Bentley Corner. (The Lodge)

Chambers,  Walter   17 Dec 1824 - 21 Dec 1881

Chambers was born at Mansfield, ordained by the Bishop of Lichfield in 1849 and became Curate to Rev. Garton Howard at Fenny Bentley.  (Walter Chambers was licensed to Bentley and Kniveton in May? 1850.  Derby Mercury5 June 1850)

In 1850 he went to Borneo to assist Bishop McDougal in the newly established Mission.

He was the first missionary to the Dyaks; he acquired a good knowledge of the Iban language and translated Christian literature into the native language.

In 1868 he was appointed Archdeacon of Sarawak and on McDougal's resignation in 1870 he was made Bishop of Sarawak and the Straits Settlements.

He married Elizabeth Wooley in 1856.  She died in 1875.

Chambers' reputation tends to suffer from comparison with his forceful, genial predecessor, McDougal.  Many of his contemporaries saw him and Mrs Chambers as narrow minded, though both were tireless workers and enthusiastic evangelists who literally gave their health and finally their lives to their joint vocation.

Chambers was buried at Aberystwyth

Hayton, Edward Josiah                                                                                            1877 - 1889

Married Sarah Penelope Granger, daughter and heir of Henry Granger, formerly of Henbury, Gloucester, but by 1882 living in Bradbourne.

His daughter, Victoria married Rev. Thomas Twiss Howell, Rector of Thorpe, and as a widow lived at Bentley Cottage (now Bentley Brook Inn) 

 Bolton, Richard Knott                                                                                             1889 - 1909     Born  1 May 1831in Ireland  Died  13 April 1909

University       Trinity College Dublin           BA  1853        MA  1860

Ordained Deacon  1854, Priest  1855   at Lichfield.

1854    first curacy Brierley Hill

1856    Curacy of Ridgeway

1857    Rector of Newbold, Chesterfield

He was married to Josephine Ruth Susanna,  born 12 August 1831 in Newcastle, Northumberland, died 11 June 1931.

They had two daughters: Mrs Barnes of Borris, Ireland and Mrs Morris, wife of the Vicar of Ashbourne.

His obituary in the Ashbourne News (16 April 1909) states that he was an accomplished Greek and Latin scholar, a poet (he had published privately two volumes of poetry) and practised Christianity of a very robust and definite type.

He was extremely active in the parish; among other things he held woodwork classes in the schoolroom (the School Log records the Master's complaints that the room was not adequately cleaned and tidied afterwards) and some of the work done can be seen in the Church.

He maintained a book in which he noted many things of interest in the parish and this is now kept at the County Record Office.

To mark his 50 years in the priesthood he, together with others, presented the Church with a Turkish carpet for the Chancel .  (It was stolen in 1998 but subsequently recovered)

Maples, William                                                                                                         1909 - 1925

Born in Spalding  23 Jan 1839. Educated at Westminster School and Clare College, Cambridge.

First student at Salisbury Theological College on its opening in January 1861.

Ordained Deacon 16 March 1862; Priest  1 March 1863.

1863 - 1867     Curate of Corfe Castle, Dorset

1867 - 1868     Curate of St. Andrew's, Travis St., Ancoats

1868 - 1870     Curate of St. Peter's, Mansfield

1871 - 1883     Perpetual Curate (Titular Vicar) of St. Andrew's, Gt. Grimsby

1883 - 1909     Perpetual Curate (Titular Vicar) of St. John's Mansfield

1904 - 1909     Rural Dean of Mansfield

Mr. Maples retired in December 1924 Following a long deterioration in health.  He had been very active in the parish and was for years chairman of the parish meeting.  His failing eyesight is very evident from his later entries in the minute book.

On his retirement he and Miss Maples went to live in Ashbourne.

Baggaley, Charles                                                                                                     1925 - 1927

1908    Deacon of St. Philip's Dewsbury

1911                Moved to Barton on Humber

1915                Moved to Ratcliffe on Trent

Served as army chaplain in war

1919 - 1925     Newark

10 June 1925   Inducted as Rector of Fenny Bentley by Archdeacon Noakes.

Pheasant,  Frederick Charles M.A.                                                                         1927 – 1936

1899                MA Oxford.  Ordained Deacon by Bishop of Oxford.

1890                Ordained Priest.

1899 - 1901     Senior Master at Culham College and Curate at Clifton Hampden.

1901 - 1905     Curacy of St. Andrew's, Peckham.

1905 - 1915     Organizing Secretary for Additional Curates Society for Dioceses of Chester,               Lichfield, Liverpool, Sodor and Man and Southwell.

1915 - 1927     Rector of Shirland.

1923 - 1927     Rural Dean of Alfreton.

26 Nov. 1927  Rev. Pheasant was inducted as Rector of Fenny Bentley by Archdeacon Noakes.

                        He was Diocesan Inspector for Church Schools in the Rural Deaneries of Ashbourne, Derby, Longford, Melbourne and Repton.

Mr.Pheasant died on 1 December 1936 aged 69.

Morgan Williams, Abraham                                                                                   1937 - 1959

Rev. Morgan Williams retired in April 1959 after the death of his wife Nellie (74) in February.  He had purchased the Rectory and continued to live there, with his wife's sister, Miss Read, for some time.  His wife was buried at Clevedon, Somerset.

Buckley, Rev. Derek H.        Born 1917; Died 21/10/1999                                      1959 - 1966

Instituted at Fenny Bentley 11Dec 1959; Rector of Thorpe, Tissington and Fenny Bentley until late 1966 when he left to take charge of the united benefices of Boylestone and Scropton.

Prior to Fenny Bentley he had been Assistant Curate at Bakewell for two years.

Born in Chaddesdon, an Old Bemrosian and hereditary freeman of Derby, he left school in 1934 and trained with British Celenese as an electrician.  From 1938 to 1952 (except for four years war service with the R.A.F. during which he was involved with code breaking at Bletchley Park) he was on the sales staff of the British Electrical Engineering Co. Ltd., Loughborough.

A server at Derby Cathedral for some years, he decided in 1952 to seek ordination and trained at Bishops' College, Chesham.  He was ordained deacon in 1954 and priest a year later.

He was appointed to Bakewell in September 1957 after two years at the parish of St. James, Chapelthorpe, Wakefield. 

He was a canon of the Cathedral, gave many years of service to the Scouts, he wrote guide books for a number of churches (including Bentley), led courses on local churches and carried out a great deal of voluntary work in the area.  He was unmarried and until his death from Parkinson's Disease lived in the curate's house to St. Oswald's, Ashbourne.

Usher,  Thomas Gordon                                                                                           1967 - 1983

1935                Graduated at Durham

1936                Ordained deacon ; priest in 1937 in the diocese of Newcastle.

1936 - 1939     Curate of St. Anthony's, Newcastle

1939 - 1941     Curate of St George's, Cullercoats .

1941 - 1946     Army chaplain during  war and met his Dutch wife, Ans, while stationed                                  in Holland.

 1946 - 1950    Curate of Newsham, Northumberland

1950 - 1954     Vicar of  St. Cross, Middleton, Leeds

1954 - 1967     Vicar of St. Barnabas, Derby and was chapter clerk to Derby  deanery and                             chaplain to Derby Sea Cadets.

January 1967   Appointed to the united benefice of Thorpe, Tissington and Fenny Bentley

                        He died in autumn 1989, having suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

During Mr Usher's term the vicarage for the united benefice was at Thorpe

Betts, Anthony P.      Born1926                                                                                1983 - 1991

                     Childhood spent in Woodford Green, Essex; educated at Bancroft's School.

1944 - 1948    Served with RAF as a Radar Fitter - Two years spent in North India.

1948 - 1952    London College of Divinity (now St. John's, Nottingham) under Dr. F.D.  Coggan, later Archbishop of Canterbury.

1952                Awarded degree of Bachelor of Divinity.

1952 - 1956     Curate of St. Saviour's, Guildford.

1956 - 1959     Curate of St. George's, Hanworth, Middlesex

1959 - 1974     Vicar of St. Augustine's, Derby and Rural Dean of Derby.

1974 - 1983     Vicar of All Saints, Bracebridge, Lincoln with responsibility for                                                             an Ecumenical Centre situated on a new housing estate.                         

1983 - 1992    Vicar of  Fenny Bentley, Kniveton, Tissington and Thorpe and Rural Dean of Ashbourne. A modern house was purchased in Ashes Lane, Fenny      Bentley for use as a vicarage.

1991                Retired to Windley and is Bishop's Clergy Widows Officer.              His first wife, Olive, died in 1989; in1990 he was married to Enid Avis,   a Bentley Churchwarden.

Brown,  Victor  Born 1931                                                                                        1992 - 1996

Former telecommunications engineer; trained for the ministry on the Southwark Ordination Course and was ordained priest in 1972.

After curacies in the Exeter and Salisbury dioceses he became Rector of St. Hilda's, Old Trafford and Chaplain of Stretford Memorial Hospital.  In 1983 he moved to Chelmsford as Rector of Chigwell Row, was Chaplain to and on the management committee of the local Cheshire Home.  On the retirement of Jack Cooper, the Vicar of Parwich the parishes were reorganised and he became Vicar of Fenny Bentley, Kniveton, Thorpe and Tissington.  He moved from Fenny Bentley to Parwich Vicarage and the Vicarage at Fenny Bentley was sold.

He retired on 10 June 1996 and he and his wife Joan went to live in Dorset

Harrison, Christopher Dennis   Born  17 Sept 1957                                               1996 - 2009

1969 - 76                     Chesterfield School -French, Latin, Greek, General Studies

1976 - 79                     Clare Coll. Cambridge           BA Economics  (2i)

1984 - 87                     Westcott House Theo. Coll. Cambridge BA Theol. & Religious                                                         Studies

                                           

1979 - 84                     Civil Servant (Administrator) H.M. Treasury, London

1987                            Ordained   Southwark Cathedral

July 87- Feb 92            Curate, St. George's, Camberwell

Feb. 92-Nov 96           Vicar, Christ Church and St. Paul's Church, Forest Hill

Nov 96 -                      Vicar of Alsop, Fenny Bentley, Parwich, Thorpe and Tissington

Feb 2009                                 Left to become Archdeacon and Priest in Charge of St. Mary’s, Nottingham. (a group ministry)

Larkin, Andy Born:                                                                                                              2010-2016                  

 

CURATES   (Almost certainly a very incomplete list.  Information is sparse.)

 

Fowler, Richard

Curate under William Hardesty; Made 'nil' Papist Return for Fenny Bentley on 28/6/1705.       (Church Warden was Henry Ferne)

 

Farneworth,Ellis

            Marriage Register shows Farneworth as Curate 1757- late 1762

 

Wilson, W

            Marriage Register shows Wilson as Curate mid 1763 - late 1763

            Wilson may have been Undermaster to Langley at the Grammar School.

 

Steeple, John

Marriage Register shows Steeple as Curate late 1764 - late 1765

           

Fletcher,Thomas

            Marriage Register shows Fletcher as Curate mid 1773 - mid 1779 under Langley

Fletcher may have been Undermaster to Langley at the Grammar School.

 

Norcliffe, Fairfax

Curate of Fenny Bentley during Abraham Bennet's term as Rector 1796 - 1799. He appears to have carried out all duties.

 

Heathcote, Edward

Curate of Fenny Bentley under George Gordon 1816 - 1824, for whom he appears to have carried out all duties, and possibly under Jervase Brown (he officiated at a baptism and a burial in 1827).  He appeared to be living in a property in Church St Ashbourne advertised to let in the Derby Mercury on 22nd April 1829.  It was a large house, suitable for a genteel family, with 5 acres of land contiguous.

 

Chambers, Walter

Curate to Rev. Garton Howard at Fenny Bentley  1849 - 1850

Later became Bishop of Sarawak.   See main list.

 

Richards, C.W.

Richards' name appears in the registers from December 1850 to January 1853 but no designation is given.  In view of the time he was probably Curate.  It was during this period that Garton Howard ceased to practise his duties following the death of his wife and two infant children.  Howard resumed his duties in the summer of 1853.

 

Benson,W.M.

Curate under E.J Hayton during 1888 (Hayton died on 31 Oct 1888)

Described in the Church Registers in 1888 as 'Curate in Charge', presumably during the incapacity and after the death of the Rector.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OTHER  CLERGY  AND  BENEFACTORS  TO  THE  CHURCH

 

 

Beresford,James  Died 1530

Son (generally considered to be the youngest)of Thomas Beresford of Fenny Bentley.

Vicar of Wirksworth in 1504, later Canon and Prebendary of Lichfield

He used the wealth obtained from a timber deal to found and perpetually endow the Chantry in Bentley Church together with a bede house (1511) and  to enrich the Close at Lichfield with beautiful buildings.

He is best known for founding two Fellowships at St. John's College, Cambridge in 1521

 

 

Barnes, Jeremiah M.A.        Born 1808   Died 24 Feb 1883

Sometime Vicar of Tissington  (1879 according to Kelly 1936 although this may be the date of the window to his wife); former Rural Dean of Leek

Having been 'Rector designate', stood down in favour of Edward Hayton in 1877

Purchased Bank Top Farm in 1852 when the Irving and Jackson estate was broken up and converted the old farmhouse into Bentley Cottage (now The Bentley Brook Inn) as his 'occasional residence'.  He had the present Bank Top Farm built.

He was a substantial benefactor to the Church and to the school.

He (or his wife and her sister) built the lych gate; in December 1881for £200 he purchased the school house and garden from Miss FitzHerbert for use of a teacher; his wife, Harriet and her sister Maria van Tuyl paid for the Church spire to be built in 1861.

The north aisle of the Church was extended in his memory to form what subsequently became the Beresford Chapel.

The Church, the school and the Rector's stipend all benefited substantially from Barnes family bequests.

From the dispersal sale after the death of Jeremiah Barnes John Bamford, an Ashbourne solicitor, purchased medieval stained glass from Bentley Church, thought to have originally come from Croxden Abbey . This glass was given to Ashbourne Church and is in the Boothby Chapel.  Bamford also bought an Egyptian mummy but his wife would not have it in the house and it was taken back to Bentley and buried in the Churchyard.

 

            1834 Jeremiah Barnes, assistant curate at St. Edward's, Leek and master of the grammar school, started a monthly lecture at the school. It was so well attended that he began a lecture and service in the church every Sunday evening later the same year. A subscription was started in 1835 to meet the cost, including a stipend of £30 a year for the lecturer; in addition a special sermon was preached annually to raise funds. Barnes also started cottage lectures. The Sunday evening lecture continued at least until 1888.  Attendances at the services on Census Sunday 1851 were 350 in the morning and 200 in the afternoon, besides Sunday school children, and 550 in the evening.  (This paragraph from British History Online – Leek and Lowe)

 

 

 

 

FitzHerbert, Rev.Alleyne

Curate of Tissington 1840s

Living at Bentley Cottage (now Bentley Hall) in 1851. (He was not there in 1841 and had probably left by 1861).

Responsible, together with his father, Sir Henry FitzHerbert of Tissington and his brother in law Francis Wright of Osmaston for the restoration and enlargement of Fenny Bentley Church  between1847 and 1850.

 

 

FitzHerbert, Sir Henry 1783 - 1858   3rd Baronet

Inherited large estates in West Indies and at Warsop in addition to the Tissington Estate and his uncle, Lord St. Helens', fortune.

Purchased the Beresford Estate in Bentley from Richard Beresford in the 1820s.

Built Bentley School

Together with Rev. Alleyne FitzHerbert and Francis Wright of Osmaston Manor restored           and enlarged Bentley Church  1847 -1850.

 

Van Tuyl, Miss Maria

Sister in law of Jeremiah Barnes. (see above)

 

Read,  Rev. Christopher  

            Vicar of Parwich and Alsop 1972 – 1987 during which time he had been for 5 years  (1978- 1983) priest in charge of Tissington and Fenny Bentley.  His farewell service was 13 Sept 1987.  He moved to Dornock.