England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Boyton The Holy Name

The Parish

The parish of Boyton lies in the extreme east of Cornwall forming a lengthy stretch, which here curves westwards away from the River Tamar, with neighbouring Devon. Boyton is located roughly 5 miles north of the market town of Launceston and sits about 2 miles east of the B3254 road which links Launceston all the way through to the A39 at Kilkhampton. Boyton is a small and compact village built around a "Y" shape of lane, the shape lying on its side; a north-south running lane forms its western edges with a lane running east holding most of the village's properties. One minor oddity is that the hamlet of Northcott, east of the Tamar and in Devon also fell within Boyton parish. Like most rural parishes in this area Boyton would have earned its living largely from pastoral farming. Boyton sits on a ridge of land that protrudes between the Tamar and Cornwall's Tala Water, the latter providing the main drainage for the parish before curving east to join the Tamar, both flow southwards to reach the English Channel underneath the iconic Tamar road and rail bridges west of Plymouth. Boyton is sited on a rising site between 125 & 145 metres above the sea, the ridge continues rising more gently northwards before reaching 169 metres at the tumuli adjacent to the B3254. Boyton parish is extensive at around 4,200 acres within which it would have supported close to 600 parishioners. In Domesday times Boyton was a meagre kind of place, a holding of  Count Robert of Mortain it could only muster a pair of ploughs together with small acreages of pasture & woodland.

The Church

The church of The Holy Name stands north of the junction of the main eastward running lane, Braggs Hill, with Under Lane set around 100 metres into the latter and on its eastern side. Whilst there has been a church here since before the arrival of the Normans there is nothing remaining from that early building. The earliest evidence in today's church belongs internally to the 13th century piscina, a rather crude affair according to Historic England. Most of the fabric of the church dates from the 14th century, the basal stages of the tower showing the Decorated styling of the early portion of that century whilst Perpendicular tracery adorns the nave, chancel  and southern aisle, perhaps late 14th or more probably 15th century in date. Also from the 15th century one finds the waggon-style roofs and also the southern arcade. Later work includes the partial rebuild of the western tower in the 1690s and a more thorough restoration of the 1870s in typical Victorian intervention. Under Lane is narrow but carries little traffic allowing courteous street parking outside the churchyard. Whilst the western tower sits flush to the western edge and looms over the lane with best views from the street, the remainder of the church can be well appreciated from the open & uncluttered churchyard.