The Early History

There was a church and parish of St Mary in Derby before the Norman Conquest of England in the 11th Century. After he was crowned king, William I (the Conqueror) rewarded his Barons and Knights with grants of land throughout the country. He retained the town of Derby for himself and afterwards made a gift of one of the town’s six churches to the Abbot of Burton Abbey. This donation was later confirmed by Pope Lucius III when he issued a Papal Declaration, notating all the lands and privileges granted to the Abbey:

“At Verona, 3 September 1185. By kind favour and grant by William, King of England, of happy memory …Saint Mary of Derby, with two mills and land in the same town.”

A map of Derby from the Domesday Book shows that St Mary’s Church was then situated on the corner of St Mary’s Gate and Queen Street, almost opposite All Saints Church.

Little more is known about the early history of St Mary’s, other than that it appears to have ceased to be a Parish Church by the late 13th Century.

Penal Times (16th to 18th Centuries)

In the 16th Century King Henry VIII severed all ties between Rome and the Church in England. English Catholics were subsequently persecuted and driven ‘underground’ for over 250 years, until the Relief Act of 1791 when Catholic worship again became legal in England – provided that the clergy and buildings were registered with the local Justice of the Peace. (The word ‘church’ however was strictly reserved for Church of England buildings and ‘chapel’ denoted places of worship for ‘Papists’ and other Dissenters.)

Although the Relief Act was passed in 1791, there is evidence of Catholic worship in Derby some 25 years prior to this. In a letter to the local magistrates dated 12 September 1836, Rev. John Chaloner wrote:

“Mr Jos. Smith, now living, remembers people assembling to hear Mass in an ancient house occupied by his father, situated in the Corn Market, Derby, seventy years ago.”