The Churchyard

Within the south church porch are incorporated some stones from the original church, and on the left are three stone steps carrying a rather high sundial. These steps were the base of a Saxon preaching cross.

Following the completion of the church, the churchyard was extended southwards and at its southern end a Cavendish burial ground was formed. This plot now contains the memorials to many members of the Cavendish family, including the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Dukes of Devonshire.

Within the Cavendish burial ground at the top of the churchyard, is the grave of Kathleen Kennedy. She married Billy Hartington, elder son of the 10th Duke of Devonshire, in May 1944, and they had only 5 weeks together before he left with his regiment in the Coldstream Guards to take part in the Allied invasion of Europe. On 10th September 1944 he was killed in action and was buried in a military cemetery in Belgium. Four years later, his widow, Kathleen, died in a plane crash aged 28. The flat table of stone records the visit to her grave of her brother, John Fitzgerald Kennedy on 29th June 1963.

The large altar tomb in the centre of the nearer part of the churchyard is that of Sir Joseph Paxton and his family. Joseph Paxton came to Chatsworth in 1826 as head gardener to the 6th Duke of Devonshire (1801 - 1858), a position he held until the 6th Duke's death in 1858. He was also instrumental in the design of the village of Edensor (pronounced 'Enzor') for the 6th Duke in the 1840s and 1850s.