England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Redmile St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Redmile lies in the extreme northeast of Leicestershire forming a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Nottinghamshire, indeed only the extra-parochial area of Belvoir Castle separates from Lincolnshire too. Redmile is located roughly 9 miles west of the Lincolnshire market town of Grantham and sits a little over 2 miles south of the A52 road which links Grantham with Nottingham. Redmile is a small and compact village sitting on the southern banks of the Grantham Canal with lying either side of a lane which heads arrow-straight toward Belvoir Casrle. Redmile would have been, and indeed still is, a farming parish, equal parts arable and pastoral if early gazetteers are to be believed, nowadays a much more arable methodology dominates. Modern developments arrived with the Grantham Canal although parts have fallen into disuse and it no longer connects Grantham with Nottingham and the wider canal network. Redmile is drained northwards by the oddly name "The Grimmer" which eventually joins in turn the River Whipling and then the River Smite becoming the Devon before reaching the Trent at Newark, the Trent continues northwards to reach the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Redmile is sited at around 40 metres above the sea but the landscape is dominated by the isolated knoll on which Belvoir Castle sits which tops out at 148 metres on the Terrace Hills to the south. Redmile parish at around 1,700 acres was a typical rural farming parish and supported a population of around 500 parishioners. In Domesday times Redmile was a tiny holding of Robert de Tosny so small it had only a half share in a plough as an asset.

The Church

St Peter's church sits on the northern side of the main street just before it crosses the canal. Whilst externally the church is apparently rather modern this is the result of later Victorian work. Beneath this facade lies a typical medieval church with its nave and southern aisle dating from the very end of the 13th century during the brief Transitional period. Both the western tower and the chancel to the east come just a little later and are 14th century and Decorated in style. During the Perpendicular period  a clerestory was inserted above the nave with triangular headed windows. Pevsner fails to date the restoration of the 19th century but it was a major affair which altered the external appearance much more than it did the basic fabric. On-street parking may be found to the south of the church which stands in a thickly wooded churchyard on a corner site. The trees create a real challenge for photographers to adequately record the church.