• Brailsford - 'Ford by a burial place'.

Brailsford - trim and pleasant, midway between Derby and Ashbourne, is this old village which belonged to one of the few Saxon families who kept their lands through the days of Norman England.

It has still one thing that its Saxon owner knew, the remains of the 11th century churchyard cross. Long buried under its old base, the shaft has been set up on a new stone, leaving its old foundation a few feet away.

There are fine 19th century benches in the church, so that we are able to see here the work of craftsmen separated by a thousand years.

The old church stands with great limes and a splendid yew in the fields between the village and Ednaston, for it was built to serve both places. Of the church the Normans built when the cross was young only three things remain, an arch at the end of the aisle, the great pillar adjoining it (helping to support the tower) and a sturdy column and capital holding up on one side of the chancel arch. The rest of the pillars of the arcade are of the 14th century, but their arches and the clerestory over them are at least three centuries younger. The mediaeval porch, made new in the 17th century, shelters a massive 400 year old door with heavy iron-work, the great lock and key-plate bordered with chevrons and flowers. An old chest is about six feet long, and on a wall is a piece of panelling from a 17th century pew .

Built into the outer wall is part of a coffin lid engraved with a cross and a pair of shears, in memory of a mediaeval wool merchant or sheep farmer.

In the hamlet of Ednaston , nearby, lovely with trees on the other side of the Brailsford Brook, was born in 1790 Thomas Beighton, one of the bravest missionaries, who went to the Malay Straits. Soon after his ordination at Derby and his marriage with another earnest evangelist, Abigail Tobitt, he left England in 1818, giving the rest of his life to mission work in Malaya, where he was the best loved white man. He not only went about preaching and teaching, but set up his own printing press at Penang, so that he could publish books in the Malay language. Every year he issued thousands of copies of books and tracts, the crown of his labours being his own translation of Pilgrim's Progress.

Brailsford Hall, early 20th century is a private house.

Sir Edwin Lutyens completed work on Ednaston Manor in 1919 and designed the east and south terraces. The gardens are open to the public together with a large number of unusual plants.