England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Stapleford St Andrew

The Parish

The parish of Stapleford lies in southern Cambridgeshire roughly 5 miles south of the county town of Cambridge. Stapleford sits on the A1301 road which links Cambridge with the A11 (Norwich to London) road and the M11 southbound. Stapleford is completely joined together with the slightly larger village of Great Shelford with both having lengthy presences on the A1301 but forming an L-shaped extension eastwards. The pari of villages sit where the eastern branch of the River Cam meets with the Granta. Both villages are quite large with Stapleford covering a rough oblong of a half mile of the A1301 with a quarter mile of development eastwards. Like most Cambridgeshire parishes Stapleford was intensely arable with early gazetteers mentioning only a token presence of pastureland, today the parish is little changed with the exception that the fields are now much broader in extent to accommodate modern machinery. Modern developments have some to Stapleford with the Cambridge to London railway line which cuts through the twin villages granting the pair a station. Stapleford is drained northwards by the eastern Cam which merges with its western counterpart before passing through Cambridge, north of that centre of learning the Cam meets the Great Ouse, passes Ely and reaches the North Sea through the Norfolk port of King's Lynn and The Wash. Stapleford is sited at around 20 metres above the sea, a distinctive ridge rises to its east forming the Gog Magog Hills which rise to 72 metres at the Wandlebury Camp Iron Age Hill Fort. Stapleford parish was typically sized for the area covering almost 1,700 acres and supporting a population of close to 450 parishioners. Domesday Stapleford was also an arable powerhouse, held by Ely Abbey it offered solely ploughs as its assets but there were impressive number for a small rural manor, 16 in all.

The Church

St Andrew's church sits on the northern edge of the village on Mingle Lane which runs parallel to the A1301. The church has early fabric indeed, the chancel arch is 12th century Norman Romanesque richly decorated with dovetailed crenellation. The arch leads in to 13th century Early English Gothic chancel showing the characteristic lancet windows albeit from two differing builds during the same style era. Whilst the nave too has 13th century fabric it is later than the chancel and has had 14th century windows inserted presumably in a later medieval rebuild. Also 14th century is the western tower and the arcades. Building continued into the later medieval period with the transept added in the 15th century and properly Perpendicular in style. Pevsner documents a whole series of modern interventions beginning in 1803 with belfry opening inserted into the tower in brick, that work was followed in 1866 which added the battlementation and the short spike as well as a southern porch, the chancel was restored in 1873, a vestry added in 1926 and extended in the 1970s at which time clashing Portland stone facings were added to the Early English Gothic purity of the chancel. Mingle Lane is quiet enough to allow on-street parking outside the churchyard, the site is, however, a major challenge to the photographer with thick tree cover severely restricting the views available except directly from the road and the northwest.