Catholic Church

The history of this Catholic parish is closely linked to that of the Ladybower Dam under which were submerged the villages of Ashopton and Derwent.  Derwent Hall, a former shooting lodge of the Duke of Norfolk, became the home of the Fitzalan-Howards.  

In 1877 a domestic chaplaincy was set up for the Howard family with a chapel (St. Henry) for the staff and villagers.  

In 1881 a combined school/chapel identical to St. Henry’s was set up in Bamford where the chaplain to Derwent Hall lived.  This became the official mission or parish in 1912, with St. Henry’s as its chapel-of-ease until 1944. 

In 1934 the school at Bamford ceased to function as such and became a full time church.  The altar carving (Austrian) of Our Lady of Sorrows, which is behind the Altar, was obtained in 1961 from the Gee chapel at Radcliffe College, Leicester where it had been erected as a memorial to Dr Gee, an honorary surgeon to Queen Victoria. The present parish of Our Lady of Sorrows embraces the areas of Edale, Castleton, Hope and Bradwell.