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Known as Annesley Old Church to differentiate it from the 'new' Annesley All Saints church.

Being a Grade I listed building, Annesley Old Church was bought by Ashfield District Council in 1980 and placed in the care of the Kirkby and District Conservation Society to protect it from a demolition order. It survives as a preserved ruin with the ghosts of its past.

The medieval building was replaced by the new All Saints church in 1874 (to serve the community of New Annesley living close to the colliery that was opened there in 1868) and the old building was sadly left to decay.

A number of monuments from the old church have been restored and are now on display in the new church. This is also dedicated to All Saints, and for twenty-five years both churches were in use (probably to much confusion for outsiders!). For information on the 'new' All Saints church, please see "Annesley All Saints Church".

The Annesley area was referred to in the early works of Lord Byron, in particular 'Hills of Annesley' and 'The Dream'. The latter is assumed to be located on Diadem Hill, from which there was once breathtaking views of Annesley Hall and Church.

Today Diadem Hill is enclosed by a dual carriageway and has been extensively planted with conifer trees for logging.

Mary Ann Chaworth (1785-1832) lived at the adjacent Annesley Hall and was romantically involved with the poet Lord Byron. They were first introduced in 1798 when Byron was 10 and Mary 12; the Byron family's solicitor, a Mr Hanson, suggested to the young poet that as Miss Chaworth was only a year or two older then he had better marry her. "What, Mr. Hanson", replied the well-read boy, "the Capulets and Montagues intermarry?" Mary Chaworth was the grand-niece of Lord William Chaworth, who had been killed in a duel with 'Wicked Jack' Byron, the poet's great-uncle, at the Star & Garter Club, London, in 1765.

In 1803 Byron met Mary Chaworth again and became infatuated with her, spending much of the summer in her company. But it wasn't to be. She thought him a 'lame, bashful, boy lord', though Byron later wrote "Had I married Miss Chaworth perhaps the whole tenor of my life would have been different." Instead, Mary Chaworth was married in All Saints church to John Musters in 1805 and she walked from the Hall, which was only a few yards from the Church, to her wedding.

Mary Chaworth's marriage to John Musters deteriorated and in December 1813 she started writing to Byron. He had become famous by then and was no longer interested. Mary separated from her husband in 1814 and tried to visit Byron in Hastings, but he left before she arrived. In the following years she became mentally unstable. Her son, Volunteer 1st Class Musters, died of malaria in Brazil in 1832 during a voyage with the ship The Beagle, shortly after he had become a new friend of Charles Darwin. She died in 1832 and there is a memorial for her in the 'new' All Saints Church, Annesley.

The first reference to a church at Annesley was in 1156, when the "tithes of Annesley Church" were given to Felley Priory. The early 12th century church would have been a simple rectangular stone building, but it was altered in the 13th century to replace the apse. A new south aisle was built in the second half of the 14th century and a square tower was added to the west end of the church at about the same time.

By the 1930s the church was in disuse and "almost ruined beyond repair". One of the conditions of the sale to Ashfield District Council was that the church walls should be lowered to a safe height, the roof having long since gone, and the upper portion of the tower was to be removed.

As previously mentioned, the church is sited only a few yards from Annesley Hall. According to "White's Directory of Nottinghamshire 1853":

Annesley Hall, the seat of Captain Phillip Hammond, is a large ancient mansion, surrounded by a fine park, well stocked with deer, and extensive woods. The church, dedicated to All Saints, stands on a gentle eminence near the Hall, and has a tower with five bells. The living is a perpetual curacy, certified at £52. The trustees of the late John Musters Esq. are the impropriators and patrons, and the Rev. Richard Howard Frizell is the incumbent. A feast is held on the nearest Sunday to Old All Saints Day.

The ruins of the church are on the A608 Mansfield Road, just off Junction 27 of the M1 Motorway, on your right after passing the first round-about (and entrance to Sherwood Business Park).

Access is restricted (please contact the Council first) but you can see the ruins of the tower from a lay-by.