There is a plate in Trueman and Marston’s History of Ilkeston, 1899, showing the church with an oil lamp; its exterior had pantiles at this time.

Until 1827 the building semidetached to the church was used as a public house and known as the Blue Bell. The doorway connecting the two sides of the total building is recorded as already blocked up in 1863. This west side of the building, now known as Vergers Farm, has been rebuilt several times:  in 1651, around 1880 and again in the 20th century. It used to be thatched, as did many of Dale’s cottages. My ancient informants in the 1980s recalled that in around 1883 the current farm had a pantiled exterior.

My same informants recalled that the church used to have a pot-bellied stove and paraffin lamps. There is also a chest on the gallery with three locks: one key is held by the rector, and one by each churchwarden. At some time between 1940 and 1950 the church passed to the Church Commissioners. The last Earl Stanhope died in 1968; the line is now extinct. The kerbstones in the churchyard were removed in the 1970s during the ministry of Revd Colin Lee. The graveyard has the tomb of one Ralph Taylor who died in 1790 aged 84 and his wife Elizabeth who was 96 at her death. Attempts during the ministry of Canon Ian Gooding to create a car park at the bottom of the churchyard failed.