This Grade I listed parish Church of the Holy Cross is most likely C11th in origin as the earliest fabric is in the south wall of the nave, a blocked C11th doorway. It was partly rebuilt in the C13th and extended in 1618 and 1831, and subsequently underwent major restoration in 1855-6 under the direction of Sir George Gilbert Scott.
The church is built of coursed and squared rubble with ashlar quoins and dressings, clay tile roofs with bands of shaped tiles and coped verges, and comprises a west tower with five bells, a three-bay nave, a chancel, a north aisle, and north-east and south-east chapels.
The north-east Chantrey Chapel was added in 1819 by Jesse Watts Russell in a Victorian Gothic style, jarring slightly with the rest of the church, architect John Shaw. The chapel is a mausoleum to Jesse Watt Russell's father-in-law, David Pike Watts (d.1816), and takes its name from the sculptor of the fine, life-sized marble statue which depicts David Pike Watts on his deathbed, Francis Chantrey, the sculpture was completed in 1827.
The inscription on the from of the statue is in Latin but a translation has been provided, somewhat flowery and a bit suspect in places, but I'm not a Latin scholar so can't complain.
DAVID PIKE WATTS
THIS MONUMENT, SKILLFULLY CREATED BY THE HIGHEST ART POSSIBLE
BY A SCULPTURE (was set up by) HIS ONLY SURVIVING DAUGHTER AND
HER HUSBAND, FOR HER LAMENTED EXCELLENT & DEARLY BELOVED
FATHER, HONOURED BESIDES BY MANY TITLES PRIVATE & PUBLIC, SO
THAT THERE SHOULD BE NO LACK OF WORDS AS TESTIMONY TO OUR LOSS
AND REVERENCE FOR HIS DEAR LIFE
A D 1824
DIED 29th JULY A D 1826 AGED 52
The chapel is an octagonal Gothic-Revival chapel, popular in the Victorian times, and attached to the north-east of the church. It was designed specifically to house David Pike Watts memorial monument. The base on which the sculpture rests is, like the chapel itself, octagonal in form, and the shields with which it is adorned are repeated in the bosses of the vault. There is also a glass disc set into the centre of the floor of the mausoleum, beneath which is a plinth supporting the coffin of Mrs Pike Watts. Only two windows in the mausoleum, one in the east wall the other in the west wall, admit sunlight, the rays of the rising sun shine down daily on to Mrs Pike Watts' coffin and those of the setting sun do the same.
David Pike Watts was the adopted son of the vintner Benjamin Kenton, and inherited his business and fortune. Given to good works, he was a patron of Christ’s Hospital, the Institution of Sunday Schools and the Central National School in Baldwin’s Gardens. He was also an uncle of the artist, Constable, to whom he gave much support, and an important patron of contemporary British painting. As his two sons were killed in the Napoleonic Wars, his daughter and her children became his heirs and it is they who are depicted kneeling and standing beside his couch in Francis Chantrey’s monument.
Information variously taken from; The Mausolea & Monuments Trust; the Peak District Information page, Ilam Church and Hall; Wikipedia.
The co-ordinates given are for the south porch.