England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Queniborough St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Queniborough lies in central Leicestershire about 6 miles north of the city of Leicester. Queniborough is a substantial village lying just east of the former route of the A607 road which connects Leicester with Melton Mowbray. Much of Queniborough is built along a lane running to the southeast of that road which now bypasses to the west of both Queniborough & Syston. Queniborough has expanded noticeably in recent times as a commuter village for the city of Leicester. At the time of this transcript this would have been a farming community with a mixed regime of both arable and pastoral farming, nowadays there is a predominance of arable fields surrounding the village. Queniborough Beck drains the parish northwestwards to join the River Wreake, this heads for and soon joins the Soar and thence the Trent to reach the North Sea through the Humber estuary. Queniborough is sited at around 60 metres above the sea at the northwestern end of a low ridge of land which rises gently towards Tilton on the Hill at over 200 metres above the sea. Queniborough parish was of a fairly typical size for a Leicestershire parish, it covered almost 2,100 acres and supported a population of just over 500 parishioners. In Domesday times Queniborough was held by one Geoffrey of La Guerche and could offer 9 ploughs and a mill.

The Church

St Mary's church sits almost at the eastern end of the village, on the northern side of the southeast running lane (here called Main Street). St Mary's is rightfully known for its superb spire, a landmark for the area and much praised by Pevsner. The tower is built of a pink granite probably obtained from Charnwood Forest and its steeple is impressive indeed. The oldest part of the church is the chancel, much lower than the remainder of the building, here a few Norman features can be found. The arcades are 13th century and the aisles of the 14th, there being much in the Decorated style. From the Perpendicular era comes the nave. The Victorians merely refreshed the building in the 1850s without major changes leaving the building as we see it today. The churchyard is fringed by some very tall trees but access is through wooden gates at the western end of the site. Once through the screening vegetation there are few impediments to photographic angles.