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

The Parish

The parish of Narborough lies in southwestern Leicestershire roughly 5 miles southwest of the city of Leicester. Narborough sits on the B4114 road, which follows the ancient Roman Route of Fosse Way, connecting Leicester with Nuneaton in Warwickshire, Narborough is a much enlarged place, early maps show a rather linear village totally lying south of the route of Fosse way and enclosed between that route and the railway line from Leicester to Nuneaton. In modern times Narborough has effectively become a suburb of its larger neighbour, expanding with considerable northern developments such that today it is contiguous with Enderby and with only the air-gap formed by the course of the River Soar separating it from the urban area of Leicester. At the time of this transcript Narborough would have been a typical farming community, almost equal parts pastoral & arable, with incomes boosted by some typical framework knitting characteristic of the area. Modern developments have come thick and fast beginning with the aforementioned railway which grants Narborough a station, to the east now runs the main north to south motorway of the M1 whilst just beyond Enderby lies its southwestern link to Coventry, the M69; Narborough has become a rather urban place, indeed, in modern times. The village sits where the rivers Sence and Soar have their confluence, the Soar after passing through Leicester drains northeast to meet the Trent and join on the long journey to the North Sea arriving through the Humber Estuary. Narborough is sited at around 70 metres above the sea with its northwestern suburbs rising some 30 metres higher, beyond the influence of the Soar's course land does not rise above 120 metres in relatively gentle terrain. Covering 1,500 acres Narborough was a typical rural parish but close to Leicester it supported close to 1,300 parishioners including its dependent chapelry of Huncote. Narborough is not mentioned in Domesday Book but the small manor of Torp with just 3 households and 2 ploughs and held by Earl Aubrey de Courcy showed the small size of the area at that time.

The Church

All Saints' church sits at the northern end of Church Lane roughly 200 metres north of the railway station and north of the main road, Leicester Road. The church has two distinct periods of fabric, medieval in the western ends and entirely Victorian in the west. The battlemented western tower together with the nave and 6-bay arcades is entirely from the late-medieval period of the Perpendicular. Pevsner neglects to document a date but Historic England place it entirely to the 15th century probably replacing earlier versions from both the 13th and possibly an even earlier version from the 10th centuries. In sharp contrast stands the Victorian chancel rebuilt entirely in 1883 but in a 13th century style, the Early English Gothic. The work of 1883 had already been preceded by a typical restoration of 1865 and besides replacing the chancel also added a vestry to the north and the organ chamber to the south. Despite the slightly clashing styles Pevsner actually appreciated the workmanship of the Victorian chancel. Despite Church Lane being rather narrow the cobbled pavement south of the church is used for on-street parking, access from there is alongside a neighbouring cottage. Unfortunately for the photographer the entire southern and eastern faces are embedded in dense trees removing entirely the favoured aspects, whilst the remainder are available they do present a challenge on a sunny day.