England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Knotting St Margaret

The Parish

The parish of Knotting lies in the extreme north of Bedfordshire forming a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Northamptonshire.  Knotting is located roughly 4 miles southeast of the Northamptonshire market town of Rushden and sits a mile east of the A6 road which connects Rushden with Bedford. Knotting is a tiny place consisting of two hamlets, Knotting itself and Knotting Green just under a mile further south. The parish has always been linked with Souldrop to the west and following the closure of St Margaret the two were united. Like most parishes in this area Knotting would have been and still is primarily a farming area with arable the main form utilised, cereals, beet and oil-seed now dominate but a more rotational method would have been used at the time of this transcript. Within the parish's domain there are several forestry blocks which would have been managed for woodland products too. Knotting sits a few miles north of the River Great Ouse and weak and irregular drainage heads south to that major river. After passing through Bedford the Great Ouse crosses Fenland to reach the North Sea through the port of King's Lynn and The Wash. Knotting is sited at around 90 metres above the sea with Knotting Green some 10 metres lower, land hereabouts is rather gentle with local high point of Sharnbrook summit being only just at 100 metres. Knotting parish covered just over 1,700 acres so was typically sized for its area, that acreage supporting a population of close to 150 parishioners. Domesday Knotting was held by Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances and was another small rural holding offering 7 ploughs together with typical meadows and woodland.

The Church

St Margaret's church sits on Melchbourne Road within the community of Knotting, itself. The church has ceased to be used for regular worship and is now managed by the Churches Conservation Trust. Like many small and rural churches St Margaret has very early fabric still remaining and relatively undisturbed. The nave is 12th century Norman Romanesque in style with small windows and thick masonry. The 13th century saw much change with the chancel rebuilt in the Early English Gothic style of that century and a south chapel also added. Presumably a contemporary western tower also existed at that time but today's tower was rebuilt in the 17th century and carries an inscribed date of 1615. In adding the western tower the western end of the nave and tower arch were also heavily modified. A series of restorations are recorded in Pevsner's account, a typical Victorian affair in 1876 was followed by a more thorough piece of work in the 1920s. On acquisition of the church by the Trust major works were also carried out between 2009 & 2011 to render the church able to survive a further few centuries. An extensive grassy verge sits outside the entrance allowing careful parking, the entrance of wooden gates stands at the junction of Melchbourne Road with a short dead-end lane. Trees stand close at both eastern and western ends limiting the views available to a straight northward aspect from the gates.