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

The Parish

The parish of Radbourne lies in southern Derbyshire roughly 4 miles west of the county town of Derby. Radbourne is located about 2 miles southwest of the A52 road which links Derby with Ashbourne in the softer southern portion of the county influenced by the course of the River Trent. Radbourne is an estate village dominated by the parkland estate of Radbourne Hall, the seat of the local Pole family and the site of its 18th century mansion. Radbourne's economy would have largely been driven by the needs of the estate with farming the main source of income. Here farming would have been mixed between arable and pastoral methods becoming more arable in modern times with the advent of modern machinery. Modern developments have come and gone from the parish, a former branch railway line running into Derby from the west and connecting with the main Trent Valley routes has been dismantled and nowadays functions as a cycleway. Radbourne is drained southwestwards by a series of brooks, Radbourne Brook being dammed to form "Dog Kennel Pond" within the park eventually merges with Etwall and then Egginton Brooks before reaching the mighty Trent where water turns eastwards on its long journey to the North Sea and the Humber Estuary. Radbourne is sited at around 90 metres in gently rolling countryside where local high points reach around 130 metres in rounded knolls. At 2,200 acres Radbourne parish was fairly typically sized for lowland Derbyshire, that acreage supporting a population of around 250 parishioners. With only 11 households in Domesday times Radbourne, held by Henry de Ferrers, was a typical small rural manor offering 6 plough together with the usual meadows & woodland.

The Church

St Andrew's church sits within the grounds of the estate immediately north of "Dog Kennel Pond" and north of the Hall, it is accessed from the main lane through the parish along the dead-end Church Lane. The 13th century sedilia is indication of a church being present for more than today's fabric would indicate as the majority of what remains appears to be early 14th century or later. Styles from Decorated, through Perpendicular into Tudor are all present over a period covering early 14th through to 17th centuries. Both nave and northern aisle show the earliest style, the Decorated, with the blocked northern doorway from a similar era. The northwestern tower is of the later 14th century style, the Perpendicular, and is ashlar-faced with diagonal buttresses. Both the southern face of the nave and the chancel show a Tudor style of fenestration, all the work of money provided by the Pole family. Later still, and into modern times, a porch of 1792 was added and a typical Victorian restoration of 1889 added to the mishmash of styles presented. A prominent white sign indicates the start of Church Lane which is driveable as far as the Old Rectory where parking may be found. A short walk takes you to the church which has many trees for the photographer to negotiate with only limited aspects available as a consequence.