Tucked away within the Peak of Derbyshire there is a "Happy Valley"
wherein, embowered in green woods and pleasant pastures, lie Chatsworth
and Haddon Hall, well known to and well beloved of all industrious
tourists. Sweeping around this valley as a protecting wall are rolling
hills, whose bare summits have their sombre treeless austerity clothed
by a mantle of purple heather. Not very far to the south of this
protecting girdle lies a little group of houses called Norbury, nestled
alongside a leaping stream that comes down from above. In the midst of
this hamlet stands a small church which knows not the industrious
tourist aforesaid, but to which we counsel the enlightened and eclectic
pilgrims of our company to repair. The chancel here is a delicious
morsel preserved for us out of the fourteenth century, complete,
enchanting. In its midst are stationed two splendid marble tombs, one
double, and both of the most exquisite workmanship. Upon them are
stretched the life-size effigies of the deceased, while along the sides
are sculptured in high relief angels supporting shields. Around the
walls runs mellow wood panelling, set off by carved oak stalls of great
beauty. To complete the picture the many windows which light the chancel
contain some of the finest Decorated pattern glass in England. Nor does
the quantity of it yield in any respect to the high quality. There are
four three-lanceted windows on each side, while a larger one of five
lights completely fills the eastern end. In those few parts of the
surface which have lost their original glazing, no attempt at modern
restoration has been made, but the space has been quite simply filled
with white glass. Across the pattern of the east window have been drawn
two bands of very light-hued figures (lacking the usual canopies) and
harmonising agreeably with the decorous tints of the background. Labels
appear above the heads. The figures in the upper row are slightly larger
than those below. Turning to the side windows, nothing of their type
could be more attractive than the graceful grisaille patterns pricked
out with points of colour and surrounded by broad borders which, in
diminished scale, are carried up, into and around the tracery lights.
Very satisfactory use of blue is made, and that, too, in an unusually
free manner. The heraldic blazons placed upon the panes add materially
to the charm of the glazing, and in very decorative fashion preserve the
names of the donors. Although a special emphasis has been deservedly
laid upon this altogether lovely chancel, the pilgrim must not leave the
church without a peep into the diminutive chapel that opens off to the
south. Here we shall see a cross-legged Crusader lying in effigy upon
his place of last repose. The light that falls upon him streams through
two small windows, one on the east and the other on the south, both
having three lancets. These lancets each contain a saint framed in a
Perpendicular canopy, while below, in the center, an armorial shield
separates two kneeling groups of donors. The southerly window shows the
father with two sons on one side, and the mother similarly attended by
her daughters on the other; while on the easterly lancets the father is
accompanied by no less than eight sons and the mother by five
daughters--a goodly company, and one which would have alarmed the
philosopher Malthus. Note the steeple head-dresses of the women, pendent
behind. "Tell it not in Gath" that this charming sanctuary lies hidden
away in Derbyshire, come away privately with us and enjoy its beauties
undisturbed--"Odi profanum vulgus et arceo."