England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Easton St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Easton lies in western Huntingdonshire about 7 miles west of the county town of Huntingdon. Easton is a small and compact village which sits a half mile south of the busy modern dual-carriageway of the A14 which carries traffic from the east coast ports into the central motorway network. Easton also sits a couple of miles north of Grafham Water Reservoir, a major resource and also a venue for exercise and wildlife. Easton would have been a farming community at the time of this transcript and little has changed since except a switch from a mixed farming regime into something more arable in content. Small brooks drain the parish the short distance to Grafham Water and also eastwards to the Great Ouse near Huntingdon, both end up at the North Sea through The Wash. Easton is sited at around 20 metres above the sea in gently rolling countryside which rises to just over 60 metres within a mile or so. Easton parish was fairly typically sized for this area, covering a little under 1,400 acres it would have supported a population of just under 200 parishioners. Today Easton is a small rural settlement but in Domesday times it was one of the largest 20% of settlements in the country and was shared by no fewer than 7 separate landowners. Collectively the parish could muster 14 ploughs, extensive meadows and pastures plus woodland heavily stocked with pigs, in all a wealthy place even if the resources were spread thinly between the seven.

The Church

St Peter's church sits on the southern side of the village on the southern side of Church Road. St Peter is a splendid example of the Perpendicular style of the late 14th century, it is true that earlier fragments were found by Pevsner but they were mere fragments of what had previously stood here, the head of a small Norman window indicative of a 12th century predecessor reused. As the southern arcade is earlier, Decorated in style, and close in date to the start of the 14th century it is likely the church was a continuous build throughout most of that century, a period when Decorated style gave way to the Perpendicular. The late 14th century western tower is described Pevsner as "of especially fine proportions" and is a major landmark across this area, seen easily from the busy A14. The latest work was the replacement of roofs and addition of clerestory of 1630 before a series of restorations began in Victorian times. Pevsner identifies 4 specific campaigns of restoration which result in today's church. Church Road is narrow but carries little traffic, the verge is adequate provided one avoids the brook running alongside, the church is open, relatively uncluttered and has few obstacles to photography.