Why the Cathedral of the Peak matters to worshippers, Tideswell residents and visitors from around the world.
For more than six hundred years, St John the Baptist has stood at the heart of Tideswell and the surrounding Peak District villages.
Over the years, the cost of insuring a building of the scale and antiquity of St John's became so exorbitant that at one stage it was only possible to insure to make safe the ruin! If the building were ever to be destroyed, it could never be replaced in its current form.
That is why the Friends of St John (FoSJ) was formed: to raise funds and gather support across the wider community so that the church always survives — working in partnership with the Parochial Church Council (PCC) and everyone who loves Tideswell.
Tideswell would not be Tideswell without this unique and historic church. Whether attending a concert or festival, celebrating a family wedding or baptism, enjoying the daily sight of its medieval stonework, or welcoming visitors to our village shops and cafés, everyone in the community shares in its story.
Our Patron, The Right Hon Edward Foljambe, Earl of Liverpool, has deep family ties to St John's: his great-great-grandfather's tomb sits in the chancel, and his family generously funded 19th-century restoration work in the church.
Do you have a personal connection, family history or memory of St John the Baptist, Tideswell? Whether you live locally, have ancestors commemorated in the church or churchyard, or have visited the Cathedral of the Peak while exploring Derbyshire, we would love to hear from you.