England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Evington St Denys

The Parish

The parish of Evington lies almost centrally within Leicestershire and roughly 2 1/2 miles east of the city of Leicester. Evington sits about a mile south of the A47 road which links Leicester through to Peterborough. Evington is a much changed place, early maps show a discrete small village lying along a winding lane and surrounded by open fields. Today, as Leicester has expanded, that small village has become merely one of the city's easternmost suburbs, there are open fields still to the east but westwards lies the urban area of the city. Early gazetteers describe a rural farming community where both arable and pastoral methods were operational and where the latter was dominant. To the southwest of the church at Piggy's Hollow lies the former moated manor house site which Pevsner describes as one of the best in its county, today it is adjoined by a golf course. To the west lies the site of the original Roman town, Ratae, that became Leicester in due course. Evington's drainage seems to have been largely re-routed sub-surface but heads westwards to meet the Soar and turn north to meet the Trent at Long Eaton and join the long journey to the North Sea and the Humber Estuary. Evington is sited at around 100 metres above the sea with land rising still higher eastwards where Leicester's Airport sits on a low hill at 145 metres the local high spot. Evington parish was typically sized for its area, covering 2,400 acres it would have supported a population of around 300 parishioners. In Domesday times Evington was just sufficiently large enough to enter the top 20% of settlements by population, shared between Hugh de Grandmesnil and Robert de Bucy its assets of 10 ploughs, a small meadow and a mill were typical of a modest rural farming manor.

The Church

St Denys' church stands at the southern edge of Evington on the western side of Church Road where it enters open countryside. The church is a product of the 13th and 14th centuries with 3 styles represented in the majority of its fabric, overlaid upon the medieval are a number of Victorian and modern adjustments and additions. The 13th century Early English Gothic period begins the story and is represented by both the southern aisle doorway, the aisle's windows and also by the basal stages of the western tower, the bell openings of the tower are lancets, the characteristic window format of that style. The early 14th century style of the Decorated is well represented by the great west window and also by the windows of the southern aisle. By way of contrast the east window of the chancel is from the following Perpendicular style as is the clerestory which shows it was a late insertion to improve internal lighting. Much of the chancel, however, stems from the Victorian restoration of 1867 whilst much else was restored in a further Victorian effort of 1884. Even into the 20th centuries changes were being made with the northern porch added in 1919 and the vestries attached as recently as 1958. Outside the churchyard gate there is a small lay-by where a car or two may safely park. A sloping path leads up into the churchyard which is beset with trees leaving very few viewpoints to take in this church, a head-scratcher for the photographer.