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

The Parish

The parish of Bourne lies in the extreme south of Lincolnshire not too far from the county's borders with the neighbouring counties of Rutland, Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire. Bourne is located some 36 miles south of the county town of Lincoln and 12 miles north of the Northamptonshire city of Peterborough, it sits on the route of the A15 road which connects the two, it now bypasses partially to both east and west. The A15 follows the ancient Roman route of Ermine Street alongside the rising ground west of the Fens, Bourne has associated ancient origins with tessellated pavements and villas found by archaeologists in the past. Bourne is the regional market town for southern Lincolnshire, a centre for trade and exchange of goods as well as specialist skilled trades. In addition the vast Fenland provided the resources to support a major industry in the town for many years, namely tanning and the production of leather. This trade has long since disappeared along with the associated stink of the materials used. The parish is one of the most extensive in its county and has two contrasting styles, eastwards lie the Fens with vast grazing areas as well as intense agriculture of high value vegetables whilst on rising ground westwards a more typical eastern arable system predominates.Modern developments have come and largely disappeared from the town, canalisation via Spalding to the east enabled trade to become water-based developing a small inland port but railway connections to Peterborough have been closed and largely disappeared. Modern Bourne thus has returned to its traditional status as a regional market town of some size with small light industrial businesses directed into the agricultural nature of the area. The parish is drained eastwards by the Bourne Eau which meets the River Glen before becoming embroiled into the vast drainage systems of Fenland eventually emerging into the North Sea through Spalding and the Welland. Bourne is sited at just 10 metres above the sea but land rises steadily westwards to local high points of around 60 metres close to nearby Edenham. Covering almost 10,000 acres the broad parish would have supported a population of close to 3,350 parishioners. Even by Domesday times Bourne was a substantial settlement large enough to be placed in the largest 20% of settlements recorded in that book. Shared between no fewer than 5 landholders its assets of 14 ploughs backed by typical meadows and woodland would be substantial, the profitable assets of mills and, particularly, fisheries seem confusedly recorded with lots of repetition across landholders, a realistic count seems to be 5 mills and between 12 and 30 fisheries making for one of the wealthiest towns of the land at that time.

The Church

St Peter & St Paul's church sits in the southeastern quadrant of the town east of the A15 as it heads for Peterborough and sitting within an enclosed space with properties surrounding. The church's origins are well-documented with a foundation date of 1138 whence it was a priory for Augustinian monks. All of the associated living quarters lies below ground today to the northwest of the present church, The earliest portions of the building still date from those 12th century Norman Romanesque period, the 4-bay arcades, in particular being pointed out by Pevsner as surviving intact. To this fragmentary but still substantial 12th century core a major expansion took place c 1200 in the Early English Gothic style; this build program included an ambitious plan for a twin-towered western frontage to support and compliment the central crossing tower that already existed. Only the southwestern of the two towers was completed and both show curiosities where work in progress was halted such as the springers in the northern wall for a vault never built.There matters rested until the later great church building era of the Perpendicular when the southwestern of these towers was given its Perpendicular top and the incomplete northeastern tower strengthened and, according to Pevsner, made "shapeless". Also 14th century are the Decorated southern porch and Perpendicular clerestory. By the 19th century reports describe the chancel as ruinous and so a typical Victorian restoration campaign series of phases began, Pevsner reports work in 1854, 1868, a rebuild of the northern aisle in 1870, further restorations in 1883 and 1892 to bring the church back to its present glory. A complex building meriting a full days inspection, but definitely one to approach from a town car park for leisurely times. Perhaps the finest approach is along Church Walk from the south opening out into the churchyard, only views from the northeast are compromised by foliage the western front is also closely hemmed from the west otherwise leaving much choice for the photographer.