England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Croxton Kerrial St John the Baptist

The Parish

The parish of Croxton Kerrial lies in the extreme northeast of Leicestershire, indeed it forms part of the border with neighbouring Lincolnshire. Croxton Kerrial is located about 7 miles southwest of the Lincolnshire market town of Grantham and sits on the A607 which connects Grantham with Melton Mowbray. Croxton Kerrial is a substantial village, spread equally either side of the A607, and sitting on a ridge of higher ground overlooking the nearby Vale of Belvoir. The economy of the area would have been, and still, is, dominated by arable farming, albeit the soils on the iron-rich sandstone are thin and crops would have been relatively meagre as a result. Croxton Kerrial is drained northwards by small tributaries of the River Devon which heads northeast to join the Witham at Grantham then by a long and circuitous route reaches the North Sea through Lincoln and then Boston. Croxton Kerrial is sited at around 150 metres above the sea and, as stated, sits on relative high ground, local heights reach just over 20 metres higher to the southwest on Lings Hill whilst land falls away to below 100 metres in the Vale of Belvoir. The parish of Croxton Kerrial was one of the larger in its area, covering about 3,900 acres it would have supported a population of nearly 650 parishioners. In Domesday times Croxton Kerrial was held directly by King William, a prosperous place it could offer 12 ploughs, small meadows but did possess 2 mills.

The Church

St John the Baptist church, other sources than Pevsner state it is St Botolph & St John the Baptist, lies on the northern edge of the village on the eastern side of the lane leading to the Vale of Belvoir. The church is a mixture of two local stones, the ironstone makes up the chancel whilst the rest is the nearby oolitic limestone from further east. The church is entirely built in the style of the Perpendicular period, in favour from the middle of the 14th through middle 16th centuries. Pevsner neglects to give a date, other sources place the building in the 15th century. The design is certainly nonstandard with a central crossing tower but lacking transepts which normally coincide, as such the building looks a little ungainly to my eye. As is usual the Victorians had their restoration, in this case in the 1860s but they did not significantly amend the structure. Church Lane leads east a short distance from the above mentioned lane and leads to a small parking area. The church sits enclosed in a low ironstone wall in open countryside to its east, the churchyard is open and with few obstructions to photography.