St Peter & St Paul

A church is recorded in Domesday Book in the village while there exists evidence for an older Christian heritage, visitors are welcome in the church, to enjoy its tranquillity and explore the features that illuminate its past.

Shelford, Nottinghamshire

Opening times

The church is open Wednesday morning and afternoons from April to October.

Address

Church Street
Shelford
Nottinghamshire
NG12 1EN

There is so much to offer in Shelford church. Pride of place presently goes to a fragment of a Saxon Cross. Dated at 900 AD, two scholars claim that ‘The Shelford shaft offers by far the finest early figure sculpture in Nottinghamshire; indeed it is amongst the most interesting and best preserved figure sculptures of its date in England’.

Discovered during a restoration of the church in the 1870s, the front and back show clearly delineated images of the Virgin and Child and a bearded angel. Stylistic features of the fragment suggest it may be connected to the southward penetration of Irish missionaries at a much earlier date.

The Saxon Cross sits on a window sill in the Stanhope Chapel. As indicated by its name, the chapel contains many memorials to the Stanhope family, notably to Lady Anne, wife to Sir Michael, whose efforts safeguarded family and estate through a turbulent era after her husband was beheaded in 1551. The family eventually acquired three earldoms and the senior branch, the Earls of Chesterfield, were traditionally buried in Shelford church crypt. The first Earl, a staunch Royalist, lost three sons in the cause of King Charles during the Civil War. One died at Shelford, at the hands of Parliamentarians from Nottingham, who took and desecrated the church in the course of a bloody skirmish in which hundreds died.

It is hard to envisage such scenes in the present church (although the Sealed Knot do their best in colourful reenactments of the conflict). The building, parts of which date to the thirteenth century, contains numerous other memorials from more peaceful times, notably the organ and a set of bells which enable a major peal to be rung. These are in the tower, and the views from its roof, recently renovated at considerable cost, are well worth climbing the ninety steps required.

  • Spectacular stained glass

  • Social heritage stories

  • National heritage here

  • Magnificent memorials

  • Glorious furnishings

  • Fascinating churchyard

  • Famous connections

  • Enchanting atmosphere

  • Captivating architecture

  • Walkers & cyclists welcome

  • Space to secure your bike

  • Parking within 250m

  • On street parking at church

  • Level access to the main areas

  • Dog friendly

  • Accessible toilets nearby

  • Church of England

  • Partnership Grant, £2,500, 2015

  • Our Partnership Grants funded a range of repair projects, recommended by County Church Trusts, to help keep churches open.

Contact information

Other nearby churches

St Helen

Burton Joyce, Nottinghamshire

A church is mentioned in Domesday, and later the Norman overlords built a small church of triassic sandstone probably on the site of the wide north aisle.

Holy Trinity

Bulcote, Nottinghamshire

A church existed on this site in the 13th century, originally as a chapel of ease.

St Mary

Radcliffe on Trent, Nottinghamshire