The following table gives a brief oversight of the early history of Repton, and of developments that have affected the church building. For greater detail, see the pages on the early history of Repton, and on the church buildings. Separate pages deal with the bells, organ, furnishings, monuments and windows. For the dates of bishops, abbesses and priors, click here, and for those of incumbents, here.
| c. 4,000 BC | First traces of humans in Repton. |
| Roman period | Evidence of a settlement in Repton. |
| app. 410 | Conventional date for the end of Roman Britain.
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| app. 450 | Anglo-Saxons arrive in England.
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| 597 | Augustine arrived in Kent, sent by Pope Gregory I to bring Christianity to Britain.
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| 627 | Edwin, King of Northumbia, converted to Christianity following his marriage to Princess Ethelburga of Kent in 625.
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| C7 - C9 | Repton (Hrewpandum) was a principal residence of the royal family of Mercia.
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| 653 | Christianity came to Repton and the Midlands when Paeda, son of King Penda of Mercia, married Elfleda, daughter of the King of Northumbria. Elfleda brought with her four monks from Lindisfarne, including Diuma.
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| 655 | At Winwaed (near Leeds?) Oswiu of Northumbria defeats and kills Penda. The Northumbrians briefly rule Mercia, until Wulfhere's revolt in 657 puts an end to the Northumbrian control, and Wulfhere becomes king of Mercia. |
| 656 | Paeda murdered, allegedly at Easter by his wife, Elfleda. |
| c. 656 | Diuma became the first bishop of Mercia. |
| c. 660 | Repton Abbey was founded, a double monastery for men and women.
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| 664 | The Synod of Whitby chooses Roman, not Celtic, Christianity.
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| 669 | Chad, the fourth bishop of Mercia, moved the see to Lichfield.
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| 679 | Battle of the Trent. Aethelred of Mercia defeats Ecgfrith, removing the threat from the north.
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| late C7 | Merewahl, king of the Magonsætan, was probably buried at Repton.
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| c. 698 | Aelfthryth admitted Guthlac (later canonised) to Repton Abbey.
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| early C8 | Repton crypt was built, perhaps with a wooden roof.
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| 716 | Aethelbald becomes king of Mercia and achieves power over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In a charter of 736, he is described as 'King of England'.
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| 757 | King Aethelbald, murdered at Seckington in Warwickshire, was buried in Repton crypt.
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| 793 | In the first of the Viking raids on England, Lindisfarne Abbey was destroyed.
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| 796 | Death of Offa of Mercia. The Mercian king's chief centre was at Tamworth.
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| 827 - 840 | King Wiglaf transformed the crypt and the east end of the church. Four columns and vaulting carried a low upper chamber, joined to a slightly wider nave to the west.
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| 840 | Wiglaf was buried at Repton.
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| 849 | Wystan was murdered and buried at Repton.
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| 849 > 873 | Wystan was venerated as a saint, and Repton became a place of pilgrimage.
Passages were cut down to the north-west and south-west corners of the crypt to facilitate the flow of pilgrims. The original entry through the west wall was blocked and became a place for the shrine. The east end of the nave (with multi-coloured window glass) was probably built at this period. |
| 865 | The 'Great Heathen Army' landed in England, occupying York in 866. In 868, Aethelred of Wessex and his brother Alfred unsuccessfully confronted the Danish army in Mercia led by Ivarr the Boneless. The following year, Edmund, King of the East Angles, fell in battle against the Great Heathen Army. 871 was a year of battles against the Danes in Wessex. All other Saxon kingdoms had fallen to the Vikings' Great Army. Aethelred was killed at the Battle of Marston and Alfred succeeded to the throne.
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| 873 - 874 | Four Viking armies overwintered in Repton. Mercia as an independent kingdom came to an end; the royal family fled. The remains of St Wystan were taken away by escaping monks.
The church was extensively damaged. |
| 879 | A large part of Mercia was taken over by the Vikings, forming part of the 'Danelaw'.
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| 911 - 918 | Mercia ruled by Aethelfaed 'The Lady of Mercians'. Daughter of King Alfred, she was married to Aethedred of Mercia and, following his death, ran both Mercia and highly successful campaigns against the Vikings, reconquering much of the Danelaw. In 917 she captured Derby and Leicester, and the Danes there submitted to her rule.
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| ??? | The remains of St Wystan returned to Repton.
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| early C10 | The church was restored and acted as a minster serving the Repton wapentake.
King Cnut had the remains of St Wystan removed to Evesham Abbey. |
| early C12 | A motte and bailey castle was built by the Earl of Chester on Repton bluff to control the fords across the river.
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| 1172 | An Augustinian Priory was founded by the Countess of Chester on the site of the castle.
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| before C13 | A rood-loft was constructed, and a very narrow south aisle built, about 4' 6" wide.
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| C13 | The south aisle was widened to its present alignment and a similar north aisle added.
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| C14 | The chancel arch was cut through the 9th century Anglo-Saxon wall. The 8 ft wide opening above the arch was filled.
The nave was lengthened with four western arches on each side built on hexagonal piers. (The Anglo-Saxon walls of the eastern part of the nave were still intact.) The new roof was steeply pitched, possible thatched. The north aisle was widened to the width of the transept, and the 13th century doorway in the old north wall rebuilt into the new 14th century wall. At the east end of the aisle, parts of the north and east walls of the northern Anglo-Saxon side-chapel were rebuilt. A much larger new chapel was built at the east of the south aisle, with its flat-headed south window. The south porch was built, its upper storey approached by a winding stairway from the south wall of the nave. Many windows were inserted in the earlier walls, including the east window of the chancel and most of the windows in the south aisle. A doorway was inserted into the north recess of the crypt. |
| 1364 | An armed mob broke down the gates of the Priory, attacking the Prior and Bishop of Lichfield.
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| C15 | The tower and spire were built. The earliest bell was cast by Richard Brasyer of Norwich, who died in 1513.
The cross walls separating the nave from the choir were removed, together with the west wall of the north chapel, to make the aisles and nave continuous from west to east. The Anglo-Saxon arches through to the side chapels were blocked and replaced by small doorways; the tiled thresholds can still be seen. The side walls of the nave were raised with the building of the clearstorey along the length of the nave and choir. The carved oak roof dates from this time. |
| 1538 | Dissolution of the monasteries.
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| 1539 | Repton Priory buildings were sold to Thomas Thacker.
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| ??? | Gilbert Thacker, son of Thomas Thacker, had the Priory and its church demolished 'in a single day'.
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| 1557 | The Priory guest house was sold to the executors of Sir John Port, to become the original home of Repton School.
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| 1719 | A singers' gallery was built over the west end of the nave.
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| 1779 | The crypt, whose existence had long been forgotten, was rediscovered.
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| 1792 | The rood screen and almost all the stained glass that had survived the Reformation were destroyed, as well as many ancient monuments.
The walls were removed from the Anglo-Saxon arches in the nave, and new round arches cut through the Anglo-Saxon walls to replace the narrow doorways. The old box pews were removed and replaced with high box-pews of deal. The floor of the church was raised to the level of the chancel. A central three-decker pulpit was installed. The singers' gallery at the west end was enlarged. |
| 1802 | The steps outside the north door of the crypt were rediscovered and replaced.
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| early C19 | The stairway to the parvise (now a schoolroom) above the porch was replaced.
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| 1842 | Side galleries were built in the south aisle.
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| 1848 | Side galleries were built in the north aisle.
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| 1854 | The four round arches at the east end of the nave were replaced by the present arches on hexagonal columns, to match the 14th century arcade. The Anglo-Saxon columns were removed and later placed in the porch.
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| 1858-59 | Repton School chapel was built in 1858, and officially opened in 1859.
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| 1885-86 | The roof of the nave was repaired.
The wall of the south aisle was rebuilt where it bulged badly, and a doorway moved from the south aisle to the Fynderne chapel. The blocked Early English lancet window in the north wall of the chancel was opened out. The stonework on the north doorway and a number of windows were repaired. The floor throughout the church was lowered to its former level. The top 4 steps of the north flight to the crypt date from this time. The galleries above the aisles and the west end of the nave were removed, and the west end opened up. The floor of the ringers' chamber was removed and bells rung from ground level. The deal pews were replaced with oak. It seems likely that the parapet around the roof was built at this time. |
| 1886 | The present pulpit replaced the central three-decker pulpit of 1792.
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| 1887 | The lectern was installed.
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| 1913 | Two blocked 13th century lancet windows were re-opened, one in the west wall of the south aisle, and one near the north-east angle of the nave.
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| 1921 | Electric light installed.
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| 1926 | The spire was repaired and the bells were re-hung.
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| 1927 | Central heating installed.
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| 1931 | Restoration work was done to the church roof.
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| 1935 | A new altar of English oak replaced the existing deal table.
The old altar rails, removed fifty years earlier, were reinstated and the chancel panelled in oak. The floors of the chancel and the choir were paved with stone in place of the deal boards and modern tiles.
The pulpit was provided with new steps and a handrail. Several pews were removed, and there were minor alterations at the East end. In the porch, the plaster ceiling was removed, and the windows were repaired and reglazed. The bells were overhauled and re-hung on new bearings. Two new bells completed the current peal of eight. |
| 1937 | An oak altar table was placed in the North aisle (now St Catherine's Chapel).
Rails were provided beside the crypt stairway. |
| 1939 | A Consistory Court held in the church granted a faculty to remove the centuries old plaster from the chancel.
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| 1939-40 | A new vestry was built at the west end of the north aisle.
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| 1940 | Plaster was removed from the chancel, revealing the stonework and also patches of ancient plaster; these were left undisturbed. A blocked 16th century window in the south wall of the chancel was exposed together with vestiges of a 13th century lancet like that in the north wall, and restored to match that in the north wall.
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| 1950 | The pipe organ was removed from the south transept and replaced by an electronic organ. The area was repaved and furnished as the Fynderne Chapel.
The south-west stairway from the crypt was opened out and repaired. |
| 1973 | The electronic organ was replaced by a pipe organ, the console situated between the choir and the Fynderne Chapel, and the organ at the west end of the north aisle, surrounded by an oak screen.
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| 1974 to 1988 | Following investigations and archaeological excavations in and around the church under the direction of Martin Biddle, Birthe Kjølbye Biddle and Harold Taylor, the area to the north of the chancel was landscaped and a flight of steps built to replace the nineteenth century flight destroyed by the excavations.
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| 1998 | A major restoration of the crypt.
The organ was replaced and relocated to the Fynderne Chapel, standing against the east wall of the south transept. |
| 2003 | A new lighting cupboard in the Fynderne Chapel, matching the organ case.
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| 2006 | The vestry was partly refurnished.
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| 2009 - 2010 | The pipework of the 1973 organ, now redundant, was replaced with a kitchen and toilets, standing on the same footprint in the north-west corner, and a storage area with matching book shelves was created in the south-west corner.
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| 2013 | Work on the spire and tower. Weather cock re-gilded.
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| 2016 | The chancel was reroofed using existing tiles.
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