England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Bucknall St Margaret

The Parish

The parish of Bucknall lies centrally within Lincolnshire and roughly 7 miles west of the market town of Horncastle. Bucknall sits on the meandering B1190 road which links Horncastle with the city of Lincoln. Bucknall is a small village with properties lining the B1190 and with a small northern extension opposite to the church. Bucknall sits upon low-lying ground within the flood-plain of the nearby River Witham, that river gave pastures to the parish in something of a little diversification to the normal arable landscape of this area, today these peat-rich soils are more cropped with table vegetables as well as more traditional cereals. Bucknall is drained southwards to the River Witham by the Catchwater Drain, its name indicative of man-made intervention for drainage, the Witham heads southeast passing through the port of Boston en route to the North Sea. Bucknall is sited at just 10 metres above the sea in largely flat terrain, a few low hills rise to just over 30 metres between the village and Horncastle to its east but there is nothing dramatic in this landscape. Bucknall parish covered almost 2,500 acres being towards the larger end of the scale for a rural Lincolnshire parish, that acreage would have supported  a population of close to 300 parishioners. Domesday Bucknall was shared between Crowland Abbey and Earl Hugh of Chester, each having roughly an equal share of its assets which amounted to just 4 ploughs with typical meadows & woodland, a small rural manor, indeed.

The Church

St Margaret's church sits at the heart of the village on the southern side of the B1190 as it passes through. This is a church whose histriy lies largely masked by 19th century restoration, indeed Pevsner goes so far as to state that "the external features almost entirely date from the restoration of 1884". Beneath this relatively modern facade, however, lies the usual historical mish-mash of a medieval church, the earliest parts date from the 13th century and include both the southern door, a scatter of lancet styled windows in the Early English Gothic styles and the piscina. The core of the main body is later with 14th century windows remaining in place despite the restoration. The western tower is late-Perpendicular and probably from the 16th century, prior to the restoration it was unclad in limestone. Besides changing the external face of the church to squared green-stone with limestone rubble and ashlar the restoration also added today's timber porch. A small lay-by east of the site enables a safe parking spot allowing an extended visit, the church sits almost flush to the churchyard alongside the road with wooden gates towards the western end granting access, trees to both west and east somewhat restrict the angles available to the photographer but the main southern aspects is readily available.