England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Norton Canon St Nicholas

The Parish

The parish of Norton Canon lies in western Herefordshire roughly 8 miles southeast of the market town of Kington. Norton Canon sits immediately south of the A480 road which connects Kington towards Hereford. There is not much to modern day Norton Canon, a narrow lane heads south from the A480 holding the church and some farms and cottages, the remainder of the parish has scattered farmsteads and cottages with no real village. The parish sits below the resistant sandstone knoll of Burton Hill and largely consists of a plain overlain with glacial deposits suitable for the growing of arable crops, modern Ordnance Survey mapping also shows many orchards around the parish with traditional cider apples dominant. Modern developments have come and gone from the parish. a branch railway line once linked Hereford with Hay on Wye and passed through it has closed and been largely dismantled. Of historical interest within the parish lie sections of the original route of Offa's Dyke, the modern National Trail takes a more westerly route avoiding the plain. Norton Canon is drained westwards by small brooks feeding into the River Wye, the latter returns water southeastwards, passing through the city of Hereford and onwards to eventually meet the sea through the port of Chepstow and the outer Bristol Channel. Norton Canon is sited at 110 metres above the sea but overlooked by the knoll of Burton Hill summitting at 294 metres immediately northeast. Norton Canon parish was typically sized for this area covering just under 2,100 acres and would have supported a population of close to 300 parishioners. In Domesday times Norton Canon was, as its qualifier suggests, a holding of the Canons of Hereford, it offered 9 ploughs and a small meadow.

The Church

St Nicholas' church sits on the western side of the southward running lane, tucked away behind a farmstead. St Nicholas is a church with very little remaining from the medieval period as it was largely rebuilt in the early 18th century and, internally, refurnished during a Victorian restoration of 1868. The major piece remaining from the medieval period is the blocky northwestern tower capped by its pyramidal top, the tower dates from the latter stages of the 13th century when Early English Gothic was beginning to transform into the Decorated style during the short Transitional era. Several mason's incised markings and documents record the rather drawn out rebuild of the early 18th century, the chancel carries a date of 1706 whilst one of 1717 mentions the work as "not quite finished". The nave, chancel and stubby transepts were all rebuilt in brick but most of the windows were reused from the 13th century originals. The Victorian restoration saw the rebuilding of the chancel and transept arches in alternating cream and brown stone as well as refreshing the internal finishings. The churchyard is accessed to the north of the farm where a parking spot is placed outside the wooden gates, a path curves around the farmstead boundary to the churchyard, views of the church are fairly restricted, trees crowd both the western and eastern ends such that only from due north or south are clear views for the photographer.