View of the church from the south

Calverton

St Wilfrid

Nottingham Archdeaconry

Gedling Deanery

Introduction

St Wilfrid’s is a thirteenth century church in Early English style and has carvings from the 12th century.

The nave and the tower were largely rebuilt in 1760-3 using the old stone. The chancel was rebuilt about 1835, and the whole was restored about 1881. Two additional bells were added to the original four in 1997-8 to commemorate the turn of the millennium. Major works have been carried out inside the church in the early 21st century.

Calverton is a rural village about eight miles north of Nottingham, but its main claim to fame is as the home of William Lee, inventor of the stocking frame in the sixteenth century. The William Lee Annexe (1962) in the church commemorates his role, as does one of the windows in the church. More recently the village grew with the opening in 1952 of the colliery, where mining took place until 1999. Many local people now commute into Nottingham.

Particular thanks to Michael Johnson and Heather Sirrel for research on this entry