The little Church at Dale Abbey is unusual in many ways: it is the only church in England which shares its roof with a farm; the Jacobean cupboard which it uses as a communion table is in front of the reading desk instead of behind it; it has reputedly the biggest chalice in England, some nine inches high and fifteen inches around the

rim, which was presented to the Church in 1701; the pulpit, dated 1634, leans like the tower of Pisa; the north wall has a medieval wall painting; apart from modern electrics, the interior has not been altered since around 1650; it retains its box-pews, in which you can,if you like, sit with your back to the minister. In about 1485 the Abbey appears to have abandoned the infirmary in the Abbey field and converted the building next door to the Church for that purpose-the Church being used as the infirmary chapel - There were doors through from Church to the infimary downstairs and on the gallery. The sick people would be brought through the upstairs door on to the gallery on stretchers, and they could see over the low edge of the gallery and watch the service going on below.  More recently, the present farm was an inn called the Bell Inn. Clergy used to put their robes on in the inn and come into the

Church through the downstairs door (blocked up in the 1820s).  The oldest bit of the Church is part of the wall below the hymn board, which dates back to the hermit's and Gome's time, around 1150.On the wall near the pulpit in the little Church, you will find a tablet describing Lord Stan