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

The Parish

The parish of Thurning ois something of a geographical oddity, it has patrt of its area within Huntingdonshire but also part within Northamptonshire. Thurning sits on the western edge of Huntingdonshire albeit nowadays it is part of modern Northamptonshire following reorganbisation in 1974. Thurning sits, in lanes, about 5 miles southeast of the small Northamptonshire market town of Oundle. Thurning is somewhat rural, the closest significant road the B660 (Ramsey to Kimbolton road) sits over two miles away to the east. A the time of this transcript Thurning would have been an arable agricultural settlement and little has changed today Thurning remains a small and compact village surrounded by predominantly cereal fields. Thurning is drained towards the southeast by small trinutaries of the Alconbury Brook which makes their way to join the Great Ouse at Huntingdon and thence to the North Sea through the Wash. Thurning is sited at around 60 metres above the sea in an area of gently undulating countryside, local heights reach barely 10 metres higher. Thurning parish was small, a typical southern parish in size it covered around 1,000 acres and would have supported a population of just over 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Thurning was shared three ways, the Abbeys of Crowland and Peterborough claiming small holdings while the majority was in the hands of Eustace the Sheriff. The parish offered just 6 ploughs and small meadows.

The Church

St James the Great stands at the heart of Thurning alongside the junction of its main staggered crossroads. The church has early origins, Pevsner cites Norman features in the chancel arch and places the northern arcade at around 1200. Similarly the southern aisle carries a 13th century date whilst the chancel is later and 14th century. The church, however, was drastically restored/modified in 1880 when the spired bell-turret was added making the western face (unattractive says Pevsner) and changing much else within the building. The church stands in a slightly elevated site, a low local stone wall contains the churchyard and entrance is by gates just into Thurning Lane. The church is quite hemmed in to the south making for a tricky subject to adequately photograph.