This entry forms part of a series about the village of Little Eaton in Derbyshire, approximately three miles north of Derby itself.

Little Eaton Church, opposite St Peter's park, is dedicated to St Paul. The present building, partially built 1790-1, replaced the old one, which had fallen into great disrepair and was being used as a Blacksmith's Shop. It is in fact thought that Joseph Wright's¹ painting The Blacksmith's Shop, 1771 is actually of Little Eaton's church.

It was in the late 1780s that serious discussions were started about the building of a new church. The Dean of Lincolnshire surrendered all his rights of possession to the old church and yard, as the new one was to be built on the same site. A Mr Francis Radford and his family were the main pioneers of the project, and a memorial tablet can be found to them on the wall of the church's nave. Subscriptions were appealed for to fund the new building, the old one was demolished and the new one built over 1790-01. At this time the building was small, consisting of only the nave of the present church.

The east end of nave had a round apse in which stood the altar, a bell was hung in a turret on the west of the nave. It was this bell which was used to call people to church. The round window at this end of the church, which now looks into the chancel, was originally an outside window that lit a gallery above the door, where the choir and musicians sat. The new church was consecrated on 9 July, 1791.

Come the 19th Century, a lot of churches in Derbyshire were added to or altered. In Little Eaton, the chancel and tower were built in 1851, and in 1868 the north aisle was added, the nave roof raised and the main body of the church was re-roofed and extra pews added. 1880 saw the last major alterations to the church. The chancel floor was raised, a new altar built and choir stalls put into the chancel. A new archway to house an organ was added between the chancel and the north aisle, so the organ and choir were together.

The church has two particularly unusual features- the Royal Arms attached to the front of the gallery, and a Ten Commandments tablet at the west end of the north aisle. Outside in the churchyard is a war memorial lychgate, listing 'All those from the parish of Little Eaton, who fell in the Great War. We shall remember them'².

In the yard, by the entrance to the church, can be found a large cross, bearing the name Theodore Percival Cameron Wilson. Wilson was the son of Little Eaton's vicar at the start of World War I. He was a writer who wrote for Punch, but was best known for his poetry. He loved the countryside around the village, and upon enlisting in the army he wrote of the vicarage garden:

Never again a thrush in the lilac at six o'clock,
a bee droning up the sunlit silences,
a poplar pointing against the stars,
the village voices and cries,
the faint scent of wet lavender in the night

This verse is still read during Remembrance Day services, at the time of writing, by Jack Birkingshaw, Church Warden, and one of the elders of the village.

Wilson enlisted in the Guards in the first fortnight of the war. One day in spring, during the last year of the war, he rescued one of his men who was wounded on the barbwire of the trenches, carrying him to safety on his back. The following day he was laughing and joking with his men when he was struck by a bullet and killed. The enemy was 200 yards behind. No trace of his burial has ever been found.