26 THE CHURCH OF ST. HELEN'S, DARLEY DALE. 



house or an independent building it is not possible now to say. 

 In the year 1397 Roger de Wormhill had the Bishop's license 

 to celebrate Divine Service in his oratory at Snitterton. In 

 the third year of Queen Elizabeth Sir Edward Warner sold the 

 chantry lands in Snitterton, Matlock, and Bonsall, that had 

 formerly pertained to the Chantry of Snitterton, to Richard 

 Wendesley, of Wendesley, Esq., and to Ralph Brown, gent. 

 We cannot trace any ancient connection of the Warners with 

 that manor, and probably these lands had been conferred on 

 Sir Edward Warner by the Crown a short time previously, on 

 the confiscation of the chantry property. 



Near to the Milward monument is a quaint little brass, about 

 six inches by nine, let into a stone with an ornamental border, 

 upon which is the following inscription : — " Maria uxor John : 

 Potts, theol : cujus piam memoriam maritus et liberi celebrare 

 junxunt. Obiit Jan: 12, 1654. F. P. filius natu maxi : pie 

 consecravit." John Potts, as has been already noticed, was 

 rector of the north mediety of Darley. 



A much less durable style of monument may be noticed in 

 the splay of the Early English lancet window on the opposite 

 side of the chancel, where is painted in black on the white- 

 wash, with a deep funereal border, " John Edwards, Rector, 

 1685." 



The only remnant of old wood-carving in the church is an 

 oak " poppy-head," or stall finial, that now forms the end 

 of a bench in the south aisle. It was brought to light in 1854. 

 Another poppy-head from this church was in the Lomberdale 

 Museum, probably the corresponding one, as well as several 

 other carved fragments and panels. 



Within the porch, against the south wall of the church, is 

 the lower half of an alabaster monumental slab of sixteenth 

 century work, showing the drapery of a female, and six girls 

 and three boys below, but only a small portion of the marginal 

 inscription now remains. The following can be deciphered : — 



" . . . is Edwardi qui qdam Elisabeith obiit 



xxvij. die Septembris." The valuable aid of the early parish 



