England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Breaston St Michael

The Parish

The chapelry of Breaston, its mother parish being Sawley, lies in the extreme southeast of Derbyshire separated from the county's borders with both Leicestershire & Nottinghamshire by a strip of its mother parish territory. Breaston is located about 7 miles east of the county town of Derby and sits on and mostly north of the A6005 road which links Derby with Long Eaton. Breaston is a place that has grown markedly in modern times, at the time of this transcript it was a small and compact village grouped around its church and wholly west of today's Sawley Road. Growth to the north & east is mainly due to the village's excellent communications and only the nearby M1 motorway only prevents it joining with Long Eaton and forming a continuous stretch of urban development along the A6005. Breaston sits within the flood plain of the merging of the Rivers Trent & Derwent, a situation which have it access to rich grazing pastures and pastoral farming of cattle provided the main income. The Trent heads off determinedly eastwards on its long journey to the North Sea arriving through the Humber Estuary. Breaston is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in its valley setting, land rises northwards away from the Trent to local high points topping 130 metres. Around 1,250 acres of Sawley parish was assigned to Breaston and that acreage would have supported a population of close to 700 parishioners; given the low volume of marriages recorded here it is likely any you find missing took place at the mother church.In Domesday times Breaston was shared by no fewer than 4 landholders, its assets of 18 ploughs together with typical meadows & woodland made it a larger than normal rural holding.

The Church

St Michael's church sits on the southern side of the A6005. here named Main Street, opposite to the Chequers Inn and a small shopping centre. The church has ancient origins a mere pinprick of which survives today in the form of the jambs and impost band of the chancel arch which are identified by National Heritage as being of the 11th century, a rare survival. More fabric, however, is retained from the dominant period of the church's history namely the 13th century. Early English Gothic fabric remains notably in the western tower in 2 contrastingly differing stages and topped by a short broach spire. Lancet styled windows betray the period on both western & northern faces. Also 13th century and similarly styled is the southern aisle showing dog-tooth ornamentation to its, now blocked, southern doorway. The chancel's eastern window shows Decorated styled tracery placing it into the early 14th century whilst the clerestory is a typical 15th century Perpendicular insertion. Victorian restoration came late to St Michael being conducted in the very late 1890s and adding a vestry whilst performing a general refresh. Main Street is busy and has no parking immediately close, there are side streets and the shopping centre permits short-term parking. A low stone wall is breached by a neat lychgate for entry into a churchyard that has a few close trees and is rather compact making for a slightly challenging shoot for the photographer.