Documentary and cartographical evidence suggests that there has been a church on the site for centuries, the parish of St. Werburgh being one of the two oldest parishes in Derby. It was also the ecclesiastical centre of the Saxon settlement that flourished to the south of the Markeaton Brook, the line of which defined the eastern edge of the churchyard right up until the building of the Bold Lane car park c.1970 (a run of cottages fronting the churchyard were also cleared at this time). The brook was culverted 1850–1880, and diverted to run along Bold Lane c.1970. Boden Pleasaunce occupies the site of buildings that sat on its far bank (cleared c.1910), on the edge of which is the brick box of an electricity sub–station that was presumably erected at around the same time as the creation of the culvert and the construction of the multi–storey car park.
The exact form of the churchyard has expanded and contracted over the years, with its boundary having been walled and railed in 1825–26. These walls and railings survived the extension of the Old Church in 1850 and — with minor alterations — the building of the New Church, though most the ironwork was removed sometime after 1942; their supporting walls survive almost intact (a portion was re–aligned using old stones c.1970). It is assumed that the erection of the railings that separate the churchyard from Boden Pleasaunce (not shown on 1967 OS map) also date from this time; it is not known from where they were removed. Minor alterations, including the provision of new pedestrian surfaces, were made at the time of the creation of the shopping centre.
It was a flood that precipitated the reconstruction of the Old Church in a classical style, the older medieval church having almost totally collapsed (the only survival is the lower part of the tower, itself repaired after a gale). Comprising a nave with narrow aisles attached to the Tower and what is now the Old Chancel, work continued from about 1698 to 1712.
The nave was of three bays, the westernmost bay of the south aisle being taken up by the main entrance and its door case. It was roofed with a hemispherical dome supported on four Corinthian columns. Galleries were added over the course of the 18th century and the dome glazed. The marriage of Dr. Johnson is recorded to have taken place in here 1753.
In 1850 the south portico was replaced by a window and a new west portico constructed in its stead. The North Aisle was added, and the north gallery extended into the new space. Ventilation was improved and the whole church re–pewed. The south porch was also added at this time, H. I. Stevens being the architect. The church was re–pewed in 1874 before the demolition of the nave to make way for the New Church in the 1890s, its chancel arch and adjacent bay being re–modelled in a Gothic style. Repairs were carried out to the tower in 1862, 1892 and 1958. The next major change occurred in 1971 with the creation of the new doorway in the east wall. The church was closed in 1984 and divorces from the New Church by the infilling of the separating arcade in 1989. Monuments and fittings were relocated from the New Church to the Old Church.
The New Church was consecrated in June 1894, with some of the finer fittings (including screens to both the Chancels, the mosaic reredos and most of the decorative glass) following over the next decade. Other than various changes to the heating system in 1908 and re–roofing in 1954, little else happened until in 1971 when a two–storey timber–clad ‘box’ was built within the northernmost two bays of the Nave, along with the Toilet Extension (the new doorway to the Old Church formed a part of this package of work).
Although St, Werburgh’s still retained a thriving and expanding congregation, the lack of facilities that were seen as vital for a Christian church in the 1980s (including lack of office accommodation, meeting rooms, car parking) combined with little scope for on–site development and the continued growth of the Derby City Church on nearby Curzon Street led in 1984 to its discontinuation as a parish building. The need for a Christian presence on the St. Werburgh’s site was seen as no longer justified, and the pastoral function of the church was transferred to the modern church of St. Alkmund in Kedleston Road.
The New Church was separated from the Old Church in 1989, with monuments and fittings being relocated to the still–consecrated Old Chancel and associated aisle. It was then leased to a developer who converted it into a shopping centre, work that involved the insertion within the Nave of a massive steel–framed structure supporting three concrete upper floors, staircases and a lift. Parts of the aisles were also sub–divided, as were the Organ Chamber and Vestry (the organ was removed); the arcades were in–filled with glazed timber and metal screens. A new window was inserted in the north wall of the Organ Chamber, and the door to the north of the Vestry enlarged; the doorway and window to the West Porch were also transposed. Damaging changes were made to accommodate heating and ventilation services, and the original wood–block floor was partially replaced in screed and terrazzo, a finish that was extended into the Sanctuary, obliterating the original marble and tiled floor, now disrupted by a crudely–formed access ramp cut into its depth. The venture failed and the New Church has sat empty since the mid–1990s, with vandalism and lack of repair pressing ever more heavily on the architectural quality of the fabric.