England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Cadeby All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Cadeby lies in southwestern Leicestershire about 5 miles north of the industrial town of Hinckley. Cadby is a small and compact village which sits on the A447 road which connects Hinckley through to Ibstock. Cadeby is not a large settlement just a cluster of properties grouped around the church and mostly sitting on or west of the A447. Like so many small villages Cadeby would have earned its income from farming and here a mixed regime of both arable and pastoral would have prevailed, the latter dominant. Cadeby sits on a small watershed, westerly streams head for the River Sence and via Anker & Tame to the Trent in Staffordshire whilst eastwards flowing streams make their way via the Soar to join the Trent further east, both then have a long journey to reach the North Sea through the Humber estuary. Cadeby is sited at around 120 metres above the sea and is what passes for a high point in fairly gentle terrain. Cadeby parish was one of the smaller in extent within its county, covering almost exactly 800 acres it would have supported a population of close to 350 parishioners. In Domesday times Cadeby was a tiny place, mustering just a pair of ploughs and some woodland for its landholder, Hugh de Grandmesnil.

The Church

All Saints church sits enclosed within the narrow lane (Church Lane) that runs around the churchyard providing access to the A447 for the village. Despite the extensive Victorian restoration enough remains of the original fabric to deduce that the church was built over the period when Decorated style transformed into Perpendicular, a period which largely covers the 14th century. Started in the early 14th century and completed and reworked in the latter half the church shows window tracery characteristic of both styles. The Victorian restoration was, however, "extensive and unappealing" according to Pevsner and much of today's church dates from that restoration of 1867. Church Lane leads around both the churchyard and also many of the village properties which lie enclosed within its course, the lane is narrow but space for a car sits outside the entrance. A low local stone wall surrounds the churchyard with a lychgate for entry, there are no material obstacles within to photography.