England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
KIngsey St Nicholas

The Parish

The parish of Kingsey lies in western Buckinghamshire forming a short stretch of the border with neighbouring Oxfordshire. Kingsey is located roughly 2 miles east of the Oxfordshire market town of Thame and sits on the A4129 road which connects Thame with Princes Risborough. Kingsey is a small place, little more than a hamlet with a presence on the A4129 but otherwise just a scatter of farms and cottages grouped loosely around the estate of Tythrop House, home of the Earls of Pembroke. The area has fairly stiff soils but despite this disadvantage the majority of the parish acreage would have been set to arable crops with cereal production the major yield. Modern developments have made an impact upon Kingsey as the London to Bicester rail line passes through the north of the parish. The Cuttle Brook drains the parish westwards the short distance to join the Thame, the latter merging later with the Thames to pass through the capital to the North Sea. Kingsey is sited at around 70 metres above the sea in fairly gentle terrain, the Chiltern Hills stand away to the south and close by land barely rises much more than 10 metres higher. Even by Buckinghamshire standards, Kingsey parish was small, covering just 1,400 acres one of the smallest within its county, that acreage would have supported close to 250 parishioners. In Domesday times KIngsey was a middling sort of place, held by Nigel d'Aubigny it could muster a substantial 14 plough as well as the usual meadows & woodland.

The Church

St Nicholas' church sits on the northern side of the A4129 immediately east of its junction with Kingsey's main lane. Sadly this is not a church the brides & grooms of this transcript would have recognised having been built in the last decade of the 19th century, even then it replaced only a church of 1780 which might have been familiar to the later marriage couples. Of the earlier St Nicholas-es there is no trace. Built utilising the styles fashionable in the 14th century (Decorated & Perpendicular) the basic structure of nave & chancel is augmented by a combined southwestern porch and tower topped by a shingles spire which Pevsner does find rather attractive. A tricky church to arrive at, the A1429 is fast and parking is limited to a small area to the west of the site as the side lane is approached - park with extreme care. An arched set of wrought-iron gates grant access through the hedging that borders the A4129, the churchyard is relatively free of obstructions except for a tight group of trees gathered around the eastern end which remove the favoured southeastern aspect.