Description: The Church is dedicated to St. Thomas, The Apostle. Books and leaflets about the area have always said that the first time that Mellor Chapel appeared in the records was in the middle of the thirteen century, but this does not appear to be true. It was a reference to the church at Glossop. The rise in the population at that period led to land increasingly being taken into cultivation and it is most likely that the chapel at Mellor was built in the early decades of the fourteenth century, just before the Black Death. It was probably a stone building built on the spur of the hill that had been occupied by Stone Age people and Roman soldiers. This is not to say that the site was not used for Christian worship earlier; a church would not have been built without a worshipping community. There may even have been an earlier wooden chapel but there is no way of proving its existence. What and when was actually built is unknown. Probably the nave first and the tower later. The stone church may well have been a replacement for an earlier wooden church that would have had a thatched roof. The earliest mention of the church in documents is in the 15th century. On the first map of the Glossop area drawn up in 1589 the church is shown with a tower surmounted by a spire. It could be that the church actually had a wooden spire at this time on top of its tower. This was quite common at the time as it helped to minimise the problems of the roof leaking! The population must have been growing for the church to installed a gallery on the west wall in the 1738 and ones on the south and east walls in 1782. The building would now seat 700 people. The ancient pulpit was discarded and replaced with a three decker at this time. The building of the galleries was too much for the ancient walls and the nave and chancel were rebuilt over the next thirty years. The east one contained the organ and extended several feet out into the nave; it was removed in 1885. The other galleries were taken down in 1900 and the double row of windows on the south wall were replaced by the present long single windows. At the front of the nave are the three remaining old box pews. Only the church tower with it's perpendicular window still survives from the 15th century. Mellor Chapel. There is now one bell, which was recast from three bells, the earliest dated 1615. In 1968 the church was rededicated after extensive work had been carried out on the roof. The flat ceiling was removed and the present handsome roof installed. At the same time the screen was moved from the chancel to form the chapel at the back of the church. Until recently it was a chapelry in the very large parish of Glossop with a perpetual curate. Glossop Church was in the extensive diocese of Lichfield until1884 when it was included in the new diocese of Southwell. Since 1927 it has been in the Deanery of Glossop and the Archdeaconery of Chesterfield, in the diocese of Derby which is in the Province of Canterbury. Until the nineteenth century the chapelry included not only Mellor and Ludworth but Chisworth, parts of Charlesworth, Rowarth, Thornsett and Whittle. The burial register dates from 1624, baptisms from 1629. Marriages took place in the church until 1754 and then were performed again from 1838. The oldest registers are now kept in the Derbyshire County Record Office at Matlock. Three modern windows in the church are of interest. The first, the three lights in the tower screen, depicts the three sacraments of baptism, confirmation and communion. The second is over the altar in the chapel and the colours symbolise the soul's journey through death to life with God. The third, the small window near the font, symbolises Christ, the Light of the World (represented by the yellow and amber colours), spreading out to the world (the green and blue represent the countryside of Mellor). The altar frontal has a basic white background with interchangeable panels of gold, red and green super frontals. There is also a purple frontal without loose panels. On the white background of the frontal and at the sides are the symbols of St. Thomas, a spear and set-square. On the green panels are the symbols of the Trinity and on the red the symbols of the Holy Spirit. On the gold panels the foliated heart represents man and woman, supported by columbines (small blue flowers) representing the Holy Spirit, and the wild rose representing Divine Love. The heartsease represents the thoughts on Christianity. All these help the person to become a soul of God, the soul being symbolised by the flower love-in-the-mist. The organ built by Noel and John Mander, was installed in 1977 to replace the electronic instrument which had been put in the church in 1946 as a War Memorial, but had become worn out and beyond repair. £18,000 was subscribed by a wide public and the parish to pay for the present organ. The choir stalls were moved from the chancel at this time and the font was moved from the west end to its present position. The present choir stalls were new in 1998. In the chapel the altar frontal and kneelers were embroidered by parishioners. The chapel chairs were given in memory of former members of the congregation. The vestry extension on the north side of the church was built in 1987 primarily to accommodate children's activities during church services. The bronze figure of Madonna and Child near the font was commissioned from Vincent Butler by Robin Phillips, the last vicar, as a memorial to his wife, Ethelda. The kneelers in front of the communion rail and the cushions on the chairs for the vicar and servers were also embroidered by members of the congregation in recent years. The gravestones date from the early 18th century. On leaving the church on your right the railed enclosure which marks the site of the old grammar school. At the furthest left hand corner there are the end posts of the village stocks. The taller end was also used as whipping post. By the side of the path is a sundial. The base of the sundial is the remains of a mediaeval cross. (information from www.cleardesk.co.uk)