The photo shows the recently restored ruins of Annesley Old Church, All Saints, located in the grounds of Annesley Hall, just over two miles north of Eastwood, and close to junction 27 of the M1. The church fell into disuse after the opening of the new church in New Annesley, a colliery village which grew up in the mid-nineteenth century. Lawrence portrays the building as a romantic ruin in The White Peacock:
The grassy path to the churchyard was still clogged with decayed leaves. The church is abandoned. As I drew near an owl floated softly out of the black tower. Grass overgrew the threshold. I pushed open the door, grinding back a heap of fallen plaster and rubbish, and entered the place. In the twilight the pews were leaning in ghostly disorder, the prayer books dragged from their ledges, scattered on the floor in the dust and rubble, torn by mice and birds. Birds scuffled in the darkness of the roof.
Today the structure is tidier but less romantic, thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The upper walls of the nave and tower were removed some years ago to make the building safer, so what remains gives a very different impression to the one Lawrence portrays.
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