Church Of All Saints

The Church of All Saints is a 16th-century church located on Church Street in Darton. The chancel was built in 1517 by Thomas de Tykyll, Prior of Monk Bretton Priory. The church is constructed of gritstone ashlar with a Welsh slate nave roof and lead aisle roofs. It is an example of the Perpendicular style.

The church comprises a tall, two-stage west tower, a four-bay clerestoried nave with lean-to aisles, a south porch, a two-bay chancel, and two-bay north and south chapels (the south chapel being slightly shorter). The tower features diagonal buttresses and a crenellated parapet (pinnacles were removed in 1967). Crenellations are also present on the rest of the church. It has a moulded west doorway and a three-light west window. The tower’s bell chamber has tall, transomed, two-light openings. South aisle and chapel windows are three-light and have arched heads. The east window is a large, transomed, five-light window. North-aisle windows are three-light with depressed-arched lights and square heads. Clerestory windows are similar, two-light, with figure-head stops in lighter coloured stone.

Inside, there is an original door within the south porch. There are four-bay nave arcades on octagonal piers with sunk-quadrant moulding to the arches, and a similar tall tower arch. The chancel arch rests on corbels with nail-head decoration, possibly of earlier date. A rood stair is located in the north wall. Two-bay chancel arcades feature double-chamfered arches on octagonal piers. Original Perpendicular roofs remain in the nave and chancel. The chancel wall-plate is inscribed with a dedication to God and acknowledgement of Thomas Tykyll’s work, dated 1517. Oak parclose screens separate the north and part of the south chapels. A north chapel window contains glass dating from the early 13th century depicting St. Mary Magdalene holding an alabaster ointment box. The Beaumont chapel contains a 1731 marble tablet with a seated cherub. The south chapel has a monument to John Silvester of Birthwaite (d. 1722), tripartite in form with a central standing figure and seated female figures with two children on either side. A cartouche from 1689 is visible on the south wall. The chapel's floor is paved with medieval grave slabs carved with crosses. A 17th-century oak communion rail with a bow front forms a gateway.

The parish of Darton was founded in 1150; the original church on the site was built by John de Laci, Earl of Lincoln, and Sir John de Sothill.