BRADBOURNE CHURCH. 69 



As regards churches we are not so fortunate as with cathedrals 

 and castles, and we have usually to rely upon the evidence of 

 architecture alone. Still we occasionally do have documents 

 which we can apply to parish churches, and it fortunately 

 happens that at least the early history of Bradbourne Church can 

 be elucidated by means of documentary evidence. I will be as 

 cautious as I can in my use of these documents, in reading the 

 writing upon the wall, because, where the written record is so 

 slight, there is always the danger of being tempted to get more 

 out of the documents than they really give us. 



In deducing the history of an old church, there are two ways 

 of looking at it ; and it must be borne in mind that very few 

 churches in England are of one period, but have grown from 

 small beginnings, like most other human institutions and things. 

 Mr. Freeman, whose opinion we all receive with the utmost 

 respect, insists that we should look at the outside of a church 

 before going in ; other authorities persist in going inside the 

 church first. In the one case it may generally be said that we 

 see what the church has grown to, and in the other what it has 

 grown from. Strictly speaking, no rule can be laid down ; and, 

 certainly, the growth of Bradbourne Church is best seen from the 

 outside, therefore I have asked you to stand here. 



Now, as to documentary evidence. When the Great Record 

 was drawn up, in 1087, the Commissioners returned that here 

 was a priest and a church " ibi presbyter et ecclesia." This is 

 the usual entry. It was no special duty of these agents to make 

 a church survey. The primary object of Domesday was to form 

 a basis for taxation, and, secondly, to ascertain the area of the 

 country ; but the church and the mill are constantly, not neces- 

 sarily, mentioned, as important objects in every community, and 

 probably as giving a general idea of the social condition of the 

 people. 



The question now arises, Does any part of that Saxon church, 

 which the agents of the Norman conqueror saw, still exist ? I 

 hope nobody will be startled, but I think a part does exist. I say 

 this with some diffidence before the Derbyshire Archaeologica 



