In the Domesday Book there is mention of a priest at Barlborough and Whitwell which leads us to believe there was a church in one of the two villages. As there is no sign of a church that old in either place, we cannot say for certain where one could have been at that time. The people of Whitwell think there was one in their village and Barlborough people just know it was in their village, but neither can prove it either way.
However, Barlborough stands on what was and still is an important crossroads for travelling. In the eleventh century, there would only have been a couple of tracks but, because of this, Barlborough would have been the most important of the two places and, therefore, more likely to have been the site of the church.
St. James’ Church wasn’t all built at the same time. Over the years, Barlborough expanded and more and more people came to church. This was partly because people were more religious then than now but also because villagers could be fined for not going to church. Every Sunday morning, you would know for certain where the villagers would be and, consequently, it was not uncommon for debt collectors to congregate outside the church to demand their payments.
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