England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Hadstock St Botolph

The Parish

The parish of Hadstock is the most northerly in Essex, just beating Great Chesterford by a few yards, and thus forming part of the border with neighbouring Cambridgeshire. Hadstock is located just a mile and a half south of the small Cambridgeshire town of Linton and stands on the B1052 road which links Linton with Saffron Walden. Hadstock is a junction village formed where the lane running westwards from nearby Bartlow meets the B1052n which forms the main street of the village, the B-road performs 2 right-angled bends through the village and most properties lie within that series of corners. Hadstock sits on prime agricultural land, its rich soils ideal for the growing of wheat & barley such that broad arable fields dominate the parish. Hadstock, however, does have history, the Icknield Way (a pre-Roman trackway) runs through the parish, now followed by the Icknield Way local trail, whilst a Roman villa has been found by archaeologist to the northeast on the southern banks of the River Granta. Modern developments have come and gone from the parish, the railway line which once connected Haverhill into Cambridge having closed and been largely dismantled. Hadstock is drained northwestwards by the Granta which meets both branches of the Cam to the south of Cambridge before passing through that university city, water here turns northwards to meet the Great Ouse and thus to the North Sea through the Norfolk port of King's Lynn and The Wash. Hadstock is sited at around 70 metres above the sea, a spot height west of the village touches 114 metres the highest point in the area, on both the Icknield Way and the county border. Covering 1,800 acres Hadstock was typically sized for this area, that acreage would have supported a population of around 500 parishioners. Domesday Hadstock was a typical southern farming manor, held by Ely Abbey it offered just 4 ploughs backed by typical meadows and woodland.

The Church

St Botolph's church sits on the eastern side of the B1052 as it leaves the village headed southwards, it can be accessed from that road but the better approach is by Church Path. It is claimed by experts that the church was created as a minster at the behest of King Canute following his victory at the Battle of Assendun in 1016, archaeologists excavating the site have, however, discovered it is the site of a 7th century Saxon church supposedly founded by St Botolph in 654. Whatever the true origins the basic structure dates from the 11th century and is Saxon & Saxo-Norman in style. The Saxon church was cruciform in structure, a rarity in those times with an 11th century crossing tower which sadly collapsed in the 13th century. Following the collapse the old masonry of the transepts was reused to recreate them in the Early English Gothic style. There were minor changes through the remainder of the 13th and early 14th century until in the later 14th century the Saxon chancel was rebuilt, the chancel has gone through many changes, it acquired a polygonal apse in 1790, that was rebuilt in the Victorian era. Today's western tower was a later addition of the 15th century in the Perpendicular style, until the 18th century it was topped with an octagonal timber spire, later removed but the supporting timber remain. The Victorian era saw an extensive restoration in a phase lasting from 1881 to 1887 which, in addition to the chancel's changes, added the southern vestry & organ chamber. A church which has received 14 centuries of change to reach its present condition. Church Path leaves the Bartlow Road via a triangular area where parking may be found, it is a short walk from there to the churchyard, sadly for the photographer the church sits tight to the southern edge leaving only the less favoured aspects and making for a tricky subject on a sunny day.