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 south-east chapel is St Bertram's Chapel, built in 1618 by the Meverell family of Throwley Hall to house the remains and shrine of St.Bertram (or Bertelin) and also their own tomb after their deaths.
The Meverell Monument is carved of alabaster and has two reclining figures, there are coats of arms to the side and end of the chest tomb. There are slate panels inset into the visible side of the tomb upon which are inscribed:
HERE LYETH Y BODIES
OF ROBERT MEVE
RELE ESQV. & ELIZ
HIS WIFE DAUGiiTER
TO S.THO. FLEMING
KNI.T & LORD CHIEF
JUSTICE OF Y KINGS
BENCH BY WHO HE
HAD ISSUE ONLY ONE
DAUGHT WHO MARIED
THO. LORD CROMWELL
( VISCONTE LE GAILE
WCH. ROBERT DIED THE
5TH OF FEBR . AN ° 1626
& ELIZAB DEPARTED
5TH OF AVGVST 1628
Above the tomb is a wall monument depicting Meverell's daughter and her three young children all kneeling within an aedicule, a structural framing device giving importance to its contents, of Corinthian columns supporting a semi-circular arch which is surmounted by a pedestal with an upraised hand brandishing a sword, there are shields to either side.
Throwley Old Hall is Staffordshire's only surviving example of a large medieval manor house, but is a long off the beaten track in a picturesque corner of the Manifold Valley about 3ml north-west of Ilam. It was first recorded as a residence in 1203, the 5th year of King John's reign, when Oliver de Meverell settled here but had probably been a dwelling for years prior to that as there are traces of a deserted medieval village nearby. The Meverells owned the estate for many years and Thomas de Meverell married Agnes in 1278. She was an heir of Goebert de Gayton. In 1344 deeds given at Tideswell name Thomas de Meverell 'Lord of Throwley'.
In 1503 Sir Samson Meverell, Lord Mayor of Tideswell, and Constable of England, built the Hall, which now is in ruins, from local limestone and non-local sandstone, amid a deer park bounded by a 10-foot high drystone wall. These were later lowered and remain to this day as field boundaries. The remains of the hall are currently being made safe and restored by English Heritage.
Samson's son, Robert, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir Thomas Fleming, who was at the time Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and the couple lived at Throwley. The elaborate tomb in their memory is the one in Ilam Church.
Their daughter Elizabeth, the last of the Meverells, married 1st Earl of Ardglass, whose great-great grandfather was Thomas Cromwell responsible for the dissolution of the monasteries during King Henry VIII's reign. Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector was also a descendant of this family.
Information variously taken from; the Peak District Information page, Ilam Church and Hall; History of Throwley Hall Farm, Ilam; Listed Buildings Online.
The co-ordinates given are for the south porch.