England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Caldecote St Mary Magdalene

The Parish

The parish of Caldecote lies in northern Huntingdonshire about 6 miles east of the Northamptonshire market town of Oundle and southwest of the Northamptonshire city of Peterborough. The parish forms part of the boundary of Huntingdonshire with neighbouring Northamptonshire. Caldecote sits in some narrow lanes just of west of the busy A1 which links London to Scotland. The parish is a curious linear feature, barely 500 metres wide north to south it stretches for almost 4 miles east to west. The rationale for this curious shape was to assign land of various qualities to each parish. Thus Caldecote has its eastern feet in the Fens yet its western boundary lies on the limestone escarpment of the Jurassic. There is no village as such to Caldecote, just a collection of farms and cottages along a narrow lane. The notional centre of the parish is around 30 metres above sea level. The parish was historically rather small barely supporting 50 parishioners. Despite this tiny size Caldecote has a long history meriting a short mention in Domesday Book where it supported 5 ploughs.

The Church

St Mary Magdalene church was deconsecrated in the late 20th century and is now a private house. The church was a modern one built to replace an earlier building in 1874 and consisting of a nave with chancel and double bellcotes. Pevsner describes the building as incorporating fragments of an earlier 13th century original building. AS this is private property photographic opportunities are limited by lack of access.