Village History

Sheldon has a curious tale in its history. In 1601 a duck was seen by a local resident to fly into a hollow tree and not to come out again. It gained the name from then on as the Duck Tree. Some three hundred years later when the tree was felled and sawn into planks, each plank contained the life-sized outline of a duck. The wood was reputedly used to make a mantelpiece for Greatbach Hall in Ashford.

Sheldon's church is now dedicated to St Michael and All Angels but is said to replace an earlier All Saints church. Sheldon was at one time a chapelry of Bakewell, but the partly Norman chapel was demolished in 1865. The present building has an unusual rounded east wall and attractive roof timbers. Church records state that in 1753 a 14-year old boy and an 80-year old disabled widow were married in the parish of Sheldon!