About Great Dalby Church
Great Dalby St Swithun's is part of the Burrough Hill Group of Parishes, and is within the Framland Deanery. Other parishes in our group are Little Dalby, Burrough on the Hill, Somerby and Pickwell. We are also part of a wider Cluster of parishes. (Revd Jane Walker was Licensed on 27/02/2020). There is great co-operation between the 5 churches and we help each other in many small ways.
Great Dalby (St. Swithun's Church) stands on high ground behind the village pub. There has been a building on the site since 1232 (thanks Ken!) but many changes have been made in it's 900+ year history.
It is now thought that the unusual windows came from the Manor House behind the church. The scars on the field still exists, particularly using Lidar.
There are 3 pathways to the church, to connect from Main Street and Kirby End. The path via Cradlewell is a designated footpath which was legally diverted in the 1980's.
The other paths lead from Main Street and are knows as 'Church Ways'. These ancient paths are as old as the church itself, and provided direct access to the church. The old Bellringers' quote was 'an hour in the tower and 2 in the pub', as the diagonal path leads to the Royal Oak pub (also a listed building) ... the front door was on Main street. There is no road as such, but access for emergency/builders/ gravediggers/maintenance via the old cobbled entrance opposite the village green has to exist.
Coffins were carried via these 3 pathways. All the pathways are ancient. Schoolchildren and parents still use the lower path to this day, as a safe way to get to the village school.
A recent visitor from New Zealand, had lunch at the Royal Oak and came up the little path to her family graves, as her ancestors would have done.
The church is a Grade2* listed building and it's curtilage extends to boundaries and paths connecting to the building itself, and are well documented. An ariel photograph of 1969 shows an historic view of this curtilage.
There was a settlement here before the Norman Conquest and the name 'Dalby' meaning 'Settlement in the Dale' suggests it was Danish. Not long after the Conquest, the manor was held by Hugh de Anaf, who also held Chaucombe in Northamptonshire. He founded a priory at Chaucombe, to which he gave the church. For several centuries the village was known as Dalby Chalcombe or Chaucombe and the Priory appointed the Vicars. A lot more information is now available on this history.... it is hard to know and try to imagine life in the 13th Century............ where did the vicar live? Did he travel from Northamptonshire re the Chalcombe connection?
Over the centuries, the manor of Great Dalby was held either through inheritance or marriage, by Seagraves, Mowbrays (Earls and Dukes of Norfolk), Berkelys and Burdetts
The main documented change, was that the Spire was struck by lightning in 1658 and collapsed into the nave of the church. The damage was unrepaired for several years, whilst money was collected to build a new spire and roof. The money was collected, but the collectors ran off with the money! As a result, the tower was capped to form the unusual structure we see today. The North Aisle was completely destroyed, along with a beautifully carved oak ceiling. Remnants of carved stone can be found in village houses, wall, and gardens - not to mention in the rebuilding of the church.
In a written account of the spire's demise in the parish registers, it was stated that ' The Steeple, being an high spire, fell upon the body of the Church on the 2nd Day of January 1658, and brought to the ground the north aile, and the middle aile, leaving only standing part of the chancel and the south aile. It fell on the very morning of our Lord's Day about one o'clock. It gave us warning all the night before, by stones falling down on the bells. The loss was £1660'.
Further research has revealed that money was collected 'far afield'. In Wirksworth, Derbyshire, the parish records state 'Gathered for Dalby Chalcombe in Leicestershire 14/4d. In the Parish Registers of Thornton, Yorkshire, 'Ano Salutis, 1662, Collected for rebuilding ye steeple at Dalby Chalcombe in Leicestershire, 2 shill. & three pence'. From Pickering in Yorkshire, '15th December 1661 - 15 shillings for the Parish Church of Dalby-Chalcombe.