England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Catthorpe St Thomas

The Parish

The parish of Catthorpe is the most southerly in Leicestershire meeting at a 3 counties meet the borders with both Warwickshire and with Northamptonshire. Catthorpe is located roughly 4 miles south of the market town of Lutterworth and sits just under a mile east of the A5 (London to Holyhead) road which follows the ancient Roman Road of Watling Street and which forms the parish and county border. Catthorpe is a small and compact crossroads village with most properties gathered around a T-junction, the village sits on the northern edge of the Avon flood-plain in its upper reaches. Catthorpe had two main strings to its economy, the farming was heavily weighted towards pastoral methods dominating arable by roughly 2:1, in addition 3/4s of the villages were engaged in ubiquitous East Midlands business of Frame Work Knitting. Modern developments abound around the village, a branch railway line from Rugby to Market Harborough has closed and been largely dismantled but Catthorpe sits at the main junction of modern highways, the M1, M6 and A14 all meet in a crucial intersection to the village's northeast. Catthorpe is drained southwestwards by the Avon which passes through Rugby and onwards to eventually meet with the Severn at Tewkesbury from where the latter makes its way south to the Bristol Channel. Catthorpe is sited at around 110 metres above the sea in rolling countryside where a few spots approach the 130 metre contour. Catthorpe parish is one of the smallest in its county covering merely 625 acres which would have supported a population of around 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Catthorpe was an extremely small manor held by a Breton, Mainou, offering just a single plough, a half share in a second but did have a mill.

The Church

St Thomas' church sits west of the main junction within the village and is set back a little from the road. The church owes much of its structure to the 14th or 15th century although there is disagreement between Pevsner and Historic England about the dating of its very earliest features. Pevsner places the nave as borderline between Early English Gothic and Decorated periods whereas Historic England confidently place it into the early 14th century. Whereas the nave is largely in the Decorated style and has a blocked doorway of that style, the western tower is late and 15th century in the Perpendicular style. There was clearly some major work in rebuilding at this time as the southern face of the nave also has Perpendicular styles windows some with transoms. The dating of the chancel is uncertain following the extensive Victorian restoration of 1886 which re-faced that element as well as restoring the remainder. The Main Street is of sufficient width to allow parking outisde the churchyard which is entered through a covered gateway. There are many trees within the churchyard which  markedly limit the angles available to the photographer making for a tricky subject to record.