England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Brinkley St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Brinkley lies in southeastern Cambridgeshire roughly 6 miles south of the horse racing town of Newmarket, only a tiny strip of land in Burrough Green Parish prevents it forming part of the border with neighbouring Suffolk.  Brinkley sits on the meandering B1052 road which links Newmarket with the Essex town of Saffron Walden. Brinkley has some presence on the B1052 but the majority of its properties sit towards its east along the barrow lane headed toward Carlton. Brinkley is one of a number of curiously shaped parishes that line the B1052 in this part of the county, all are narrow from north to south yet extend for a much greater distance from east to west, the purpose is to ensure each parish gets a share of the differing land-use types available. The western ends have their feet in the edges of the Cambridgeshire Fens, their rich peaty soils excellent for tillage, the eastern ends rose to the relatively higher ground of the county's border and, prior to modern machinery, would have been dominated by sheep-runs. Evidence of early settlement is rich in the area with the modern Icknield Way local hiking trail tracing the former route of that ancient track-way through these thin strips of parishes. Brinkley sits on  a watershed, rain falling to its west is taken by way of the Little Wilbraham Beck, the Cam & Great Ouse to the North Sea through the port of King's Lynn, whilst rain falling to its east meets the infant headwaters of the Essex Stour and heads to the North Sea arriving between the twin ports of Harwich & Felixstowe. Brinkley is sited at around 110 metres above the sea on some of the highest ground in its county, land is barely 7 metres higher at the local high point to the south. Despite its thin strip, Brinkley parish was fairly typically sized for a lowland parish, covering close to 1,500 acres it would have supported a population of around 350 parishioners. Brinkley is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Mary's church sits east of the B1052 and north of the village's High Street accessed by a dead-end lane. Like so many churches St Mary was extensively restored in Victorian times which has removed much dating detail, the chancel, in particular, which was the earliest part of the church barely retains its earliest features of c1300. The east window dates from that time and is the only evidence remaining of the church's earliest era. The remainder of the church expresses the Perpendicular style of late 14th century and later, the 4-bay arcades showing the earliest Perpendicular styling of the late 14th century whilst the western tower is dateable by Pevsner to the 15th century, a neat band of flushwork decoration at its base is an attractive feature, The extensive restoration came in 1874 making many changes including the complete re-facing of said chancel. A small white sign indicates the way to the church with its stub of lane providing for careful parking. The churchyard is a neat square with no obvious obstructions for the photographer.