St John the Baptist
Tideswell, Derbyshire
Why not visit the majestic, 14th century church of Saint John the Baptist (The Cathedral of the Peak )in Tideswell, Derbyshire?
In the eyes of the church the village of Wardlow used to be a ‘lost place’; one side of its main street lay inside Longstone parish and the opposite side in that of Hope. It was said that Wardlow women scarcely could trudge the long Derbyshire miles to either church and the men seldom did! Eventually a Sunday School was built in 1835 on the Longstone side of Wardlow, but the extensive parish of Hope left their portion to take care of itself!
Then in 1871 Revd Andrew took an interest in the spiritual welfare of Wardlow's 180 inhabitants and a small wayside church was built onto the National School and opened on Friday, 20 September 1872.
The school, itself only 32ftx14ft, extended to a side chapel of 18ftx12ft, for use as a chancel until the completed church was dedicated to The Good Shepherd in June 1873. A doorway in the side chapel now opened into the nave. The Good Shepherd was in Perpendicular Gothic style to the design of architect H Cockbain of Middleton, near Manchester.