Once famous for its lead mines, Bonsall is tucked away in a deep cleft of the hillside, with the lovely Via Gellia far below and Masson towering above, a hill well worth climbing for its glorious panorama and its view of the Matlocks in the valley of the Derwent.
Charming is the grouping of old stone houses and the 17th century inn around the picturesque old market-cross, a slender ball-topped pillar on a great flight of 13 steps.
The fine church above the housetops has a 14th century tower and spire, the tower low and sturdy, with embattled parapet, pinnacles and gargoyles, and the lovely spire with three encircling bands of quatrefoils, flowers, shields, and fleur-de-lys. Of the same time are the porch and the doorway through which we enter the church, and the pillars and capitals of the north arcade, with a curious animal carved at the foot of one pillar. The oldest remains are of the 13th century, including the clustered pillars of the south arcade, a tiny piscina, and fragments of coffin-stones. The font is of the 15th century, and a small headstone cross with crude carving, now in the church, may be 600 years old. There is a brass inscription to an honest 17th century lawyer Henry Hopkinson of Lincoln's Inn.
