From a MS. quoted by Shaw we learn that before the Great War "on a fair marble gravestone, placed on the right-hand at the entrance into the choir, is this inscription on a brass plate:--
"_Here lyeth George Bullen lat dean of this church who made his own epitaph--viz._,
_Lo here in earth my body lyes,_ _Whose sinfull lyfe deserves the rod:_ _Yet I believe the same shall rise,_ _And praise the mercies of my God._ _As for my soule let none take thought,_ _It is with him that hath it bought;_ _For God on me doth mercy take_ _For nothing else but Jhesus sake._"
Bullen or Boleyn was dean during the greater part of the reign of Elizabeth, who offered him the bishopric of Worcester, which he refused. Elizabeth, it will be remembered, was the daughter of Anne Boleyn, whose kinsman the dean was.
=The Font= stands between the first and second pillars from the west door on the north side of the nave. It is quite modern, and is the gift of the Honourable Mrs Henry Howard, widow of the late dean. It is made of alabaster and Caen stone, and is supported on marble pillars. There are four sculptured panels in relief, representing--"The Entry into the Ark," "The Passage of the Red Sea," "The Baptism of our Lord," and "The Resurrection." Between these there are niches containing figures of St. Mary, St. Peter, St. Chad, and St. Helen.
A curious old font was discovered in 1856 immediately under the place where the present altar stands. It was very simple in form, being about a yard and a half square and two feet thick, with a hemispherical cavity in it. It had been coloured bright red, and was much cracked, as though it had been subjected to intense heat. How it came where it was is not known. It may have been discarded as rubbish or hidden as a relic.
=The Pulpit= is in the nave, and is fixed to the north-western pier of the tower. Its design and execution were by Sir Gilbert Scott and Mr Skidmore respectively, who were also responsible for the choir screen. The pulpit is of wrought-iron, brass, copper, enamels, and marble. In the middle there is a bronze group representing St. Peter preaching on the Day of Pentecost. There are stairs on each side of the pulpit. The brass =Lectern= is also modern, and is in the usual form of an eagle. It was presented by the members of the Lichfield Theological College, and was executed by Mr Hardman of Birmingham. The =Litany Desk= is by Messrs Rattee & Kett of Cambridge, the well-known carvers; and the =Bishop's Chair=, which stands under the great tower, was presented by the clergy of Derbyshire when that county was transferred from this diocese to the new diocese of Southwell. The chair is not of striking beauty.