England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Little Chishall St Nicholas

The Parish

The parish of Little Chishill is one which has changed county as a result of boundary transfers, at the time of this transcript it sat in the extreme northwest of Essex forming a three counties' meet with both Hertfordshire and with Cambridgeshire, the parish along with others in this corner of the county were transferred to Cambridgeshire in 1895. Little Chishill is located roughly 5 1/2 miles southeast of the Hertfordshire town of Royston and sits about a mile south of the B1039 road which links Royston through towards Saffron Walden. Little Chishill is a tiny village of a single run of properties lining a narrow lane, most of the parish consists of a thin strip of land extensively bordering Hertfordshire and carries dotted farmsteads and cottages. Little Chishill sits on highly fertile chalky ground and almost the entire parish acreage is set to arable cereal growing. Little Chishill is drained northwards by a small stream following the county boundary, this meanders for quite a way until meeting the River Cam at Barrington, the Cam passes through Cambridge and onwards to Ely where it meets the Great Ouse for its last few miles though Fenland to reach The Wash through the Norfolk port of King's Lynn and thence to the North Sea. Little Chishill sits in a shallow valley at around 110 metres above the sea, land rises to a spot height of 147 metres to the west just into Hertfordshire the highest ground around. Covering just under 1,200 acres Little Chishill parish was one of the smaller in its area, that acreage would have supported a population of close to 100 parishioners. In Domesday Book Little Chishill was recorded in tandem with its much larger neighbour Great Chrishall, it is impossible to assess the asset contribution from the smaller entity.

The Church

St Nicholas' church sits on the western side of the narrow lane passing through the small village, it is tucked away behind fronting properties and accessed by a narrow footpath. St Nicholas has fabric dating back to the earliest times, the chancel having been largely built in the 12th century Norman Romanesque period. There was an extension in the early 14th century adding Decorated styled windows to the earlier structure whilst the east window is a late Perpendicular replacement. The nave and western tower appear also to be Perpendicular and from the 15th century, the nave being given a tentative c1400 date by Pevsner, the tower is of more uncertain dating but both the brick belfry openings and the tower arch are Perpendicular in style. The church porch is also Perpendicular but inside is the original door, again of uncertain vintage but clearly ancient. A typical Victorian restoration of 1872 mainly replaced windows without adding any significant new structural elements. The lane passing through is very narrow so considerate and careful parking is required when visiting, a narrow footpath rises through flowery banks to access the churchyard, it passes through shady woodland but the churchyard is relatively open with few obstacles for the photographer.