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Holy Trinity, Clifton

This history of the parish and Holy Trinity church is taken from Whites Directory of Derbyshire in 1857.

CLIFTON , is a chapelry and small well built village, near the confluence of the Ashbourn brook with the river Dove, about l½ miles S.W. from Ashbourn. The Church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was erected in 1845, at the cost of upwards of £1,200 raised chiefly by subscriptions through the exertions of the Rev. Samuel Shipley, the then vicar of Ashbourn, Philip Cupiss, Esq., and William Smith, Esq., aided by grants from the Incorporated and Diocesan Societies. It consists of a nave, south porch, and vestry, and has a stone pulpit, semi-hexagonal in form, resting upon a low inverted pyramid; at the west gable, an octagonal turret, with one bell, and at the east, a floriated cross, with a high pitched roof, covered with Newcastle tiles; the style being a transition from early English to the decorated. The church has been enclosed by a stone wall, and the village greatly improved by the taking down some old buildings which obstructed the view of it on the south. The tithes were commuted in 1846, the rectorial for £168 10s., and the vicarial for £12.

The ancient chapel at Clifton , was taken down about the year 1750, and part of the materials were used to repair the chancel of Ashbourn church. The manors of Great and Little Clifton belonged to the Cokaynes, of Ashbourn, in the reigns of Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Queen Elizabeth, they are said to have held them under the Fitzherberts of Norbury. The manors afterwards came to the family of Hayne, in whose possession they still remain. In the accounts of the churchwardens of Uttoxeter, the following item occurs; 1645, August 26th, paid to the inhabitants of Clifton when the plague was there, £5. The living is a perpetual curacy, value £80, has been augmented with £800 Queen Anne’s bounty. The Vicar of Ashbourn is the patron, and the Rev. H. Gamble, B. A., incumbent, who resides at the parsonage house, which was provided at the cost of about £1,000, raised by subscriptions, aided by a grant of £200 from the Diocesan Church Extension Fund, and £200 from the Curates’ Aid Society Fund.

A commodious school with teacher’s residence, was erected in 1855, at the cost of about £350, exclusive of the site, which was given by Wm. Smith, Esq. It is a mixed school, and capable of accommodating about 50 children, and the average attendance is 40. The Independents have a small chapel, erected by Mr. Dunnicliff. Two persons unknown gave 6s. 8d. each per annum, to the poor of this town­ship for bread. This sum is now paid by the steward of the manor of Clifton , and distributed by the churchwardens on Christmas day. The poor also partake of Shaw and Denton ’s charity.

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