England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Addlethorpe St Nicholas

The Parish

The parish of Addlethorpe lies in the extreme east of Lincolnshire and forms a very short stretch of the coast with the North Sea. Addlethorpe is located about 4 miles north of the seaside resort of Skegness and sits a half mile west of the A52 coastal main road which connects Skegness northward to Mablethorpe. Addlethorpe is a small and compact village clustered around a crossroads and sitting within largely a man-made landscape with much reclamation from the sea, a process occasionally interrupted by incursions from that sea. The local landscape is flat and at or near sea-level, the grazing marshes providing the majority of farming but some arable occurs on the drier patches of the parish. There are numerous man-made drains which take water to the North Sea, less than 2 miles to the east, most emerging at Ingoldmells Point. Addlethorpe is sited at just 2 metres above the sea and land is at or even below that level for many miles. Addlethorpe parish is fairly typically sized for this area, covering close to 2,000 acres it would have supported a population of just under 250 parishioners. In Domesday times Addlethorpe was an altogether much more important place, its population then saw it in the largest 20% of settlements recorded within that book; the parish was shared by no fewer than 7 landholders, collectively their holdings could offer 17 ploughs and extensive meadows.

The Church

St Nicholas' church sits on the northeastern edge of the village close to the A52 but set back in a cut-off lane, Old Church Road. The church is entirely Perpendicular in origin and probably dates from the late 14th into early 15th century. The church is, however, curiously foreshortened as the chancel was demolished and removed in 1706 due to impoverishment of the parish caused by coastal erosion. The remainder consists of a nave augmented by northern & southern aisles with a western tower. The building makes much use of ashlar blocks giving it a plain facing but is diversified by extensive battlements on all upward facing surfaces. Parking can be found either in Old Church Road or around the corner in Church Lane where a substantial pull-in is sited. The hedged churchyard hides the church from the roadside but once within there are no obstacles to photography.