England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Skeffington St Thomas a Becket

The Parish

The parish of Skeffington lies in eastern Leicestershire not too far from its border with neighbouring Rutland. Skeffington is located roughly 10 miles east of the county city of Leicester and sits beside the A47 road which links Leicester with Peterborough. Skeffington has a minor presence on the A47 with most properties lining an out-and-back lane to the south of that road. Skeffington is almost entirely set within a mixture of pastures and copses of woodland, a landscape of small hedged fields typified as "hunting country", there is little by way of arable. Modern developments came and went from the parish, the branch railway line from Uppingham to Melton Mowbray skirted the parish but has now closed leaving only its infrastructure to mark its former course. Skeffington is drained southeast by the Eye Brook which becomes confined as Eyebrook Reservoir before merging with the River Welland, the Welland passes through Stamford and Spalding en route to the North Sea through The Wash. Skeffington is sited at around 190 metres above the sea in rolling countryside where the local high spot, to the northwest, reaches 226 metres at Life Hill. Skeffington parish was typically sized for this area covering around 2,100 acres which would have supported a population of close to 200 parishioners. Whilst Skeffington does have a Domesday entry aa held directly by King William the entry is clearly one for a region showing 90 ploughs and 6 mills against a settlement of just 23 households.

The Church

St Thomas' church stands at the heart of the village on the northern side of a prominent bend in Main Street. Whilst there is medieval fabric remaining within the church most of the church we see today comes from an extensive restoration/rebuild of 1860. Pevsner's examination finds the chancel arch as the earliest fabric remaining and assigns a date of c1300 to it. The remainder of the church, before the Victorian intervention, was entirely from the later Perpendicular era and is represented well by the northern chancel chapel which carries a fine 5-light western window. The rebuilding of the aisles and chancel were the main features of the 1860 restoration which also refreshed the remainder of the church. Immediately west of the site is a broad parking area allowing a couple of vehicles to safely park. The churchyard is one which will give many problems to the photographer being extremely compact and well-wooded, only views from southwest and northeast are available to the photographer.