England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Little Clacton St James the Great

The Parish

The parish of Little Clacton lies in the extreme east of Essex not too far from its eastern North Sea coastline. Little Clacton is located roughly 12 miles east of the Roman town of Colchester and sits just east of the A133 road which links Colchester through to the resort of Clacton-on-Sea. Little Clacton is substantial crossroads village, the quiet rural opposite of its brash seaside resort neighbour, with most properties lining the B1441, London Road, and side roads leading east & west from it. Unlike its larger neighbour Little Clacton has remained a rural farming parish, arable farming dominates the local regime. The village has expanded in recent times with modern developments springing up and as Clacton-on-Sea has expanded inland the two have almost become contiguous. Little Clacton is drained eastwards by a small brook which joins the Holland Brook to reach the North Sea through Holland Haven. Little Clacton is sited at around 20 metres above the sea in gentle terrain where land rarely rises even close to 30 metres for some considerable distance. Little Clacton was towards the larger end of the scale for Essex parishes, covering close to 3,000 acres it would have supported a population of around 550 parishioners. In Domesday times Little Clacton was recorded together with its neighbour as a single entity held by the Bishop of London, it formed a joint community which was sufficiently large enough to be amongst the largest 20% of manors recorded in that book with assets of an impressive 32 ploughs, meadows & pasture together with both a mill and a fishery, albeit most of the assets were probably in today's Great Clacton.

The Church

St James' church sits at Little Clacton's main crossroads on the western side of the London Road. The church retains just a trace of its ancient origins, a single, tiny window in the northern face of the chancel shows 12th century Norman Romanesque styling and is comfortably the oldest part of the church. A 13th century piscina from the Early English Gothic period adds a little continuity through to the main body of the church which is of the 14th century. The 14th century is well shown by the timber southern porch as well as most of the remaining windows and both northern & southern doors. The weatherboarded belfry is very much an Essex feature and that of St James is probably from the 15th century, the Perpendicular era. For once Pevsner fails to mention a Victorian restoration so if one occurred it was light and sensitive. In 1993, however, a northern extension was added to the church to complete that which we see today. A substantial triangular parking area sits outside the churchyard which has a mid-height brick wall surrounding and wooden gates. The churchyard has no obvious obstacles to impede the photographer using the normal southern aspects.