England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Butterwick St Andrew

The Parish

The parish of Butterwick lies in eastern Lincolnshire, indeed it forms a small section of Lincolnshire's eastern (North Sea) coast. Butterwick is located about 4 miles east of the market town of Boston. Butterwick is a compact village which is located in lanes to the south of the A52 road which connects Boston to Skegness. Butterwick is one of a string of small villages which grew up on the edges of Lincolnshire coastal marshes, between the village and The Wash lie around 2 miles of grazing marshes. Most of the parishes, Butterwick included, are aligned from northwest to southeast in this area such that each parish has a share of the grazing marshes and also the drier land further inland. Butterwick would have thus had a mixed agricultural regime, dominated by pastoral farming on the seaward side yet with arable field close by to the village. Most of the drainage hereabouts has been modified and redirected by the hands of man but most is headed into The Wash although often by means of pumps and sluices. Butterwick is sited at a mere 3 metres above the sea and there is not much land higher for miles, the distant tower of Boston Stump dominates the flat lands of the parish. Most of the parishes were also of relatively similar size, Butterwick at almost 1,800 acres was no exception, the parish would have supported almost 600 parishioners. In Domesday times the land was held by one Guy of Craon and supported 17 ploughs and extensive meadows.

The Church

St Andrew's church is located, not surprisingly, alongside Church Road, a lane which heads southwestwards from the main village crossroads. St Andrew's is something of a hotchpotch (like most churches) with a juxtaposition of early, the northern arcade Pevsner dates to the Early English period, to the relatively modern, the brick western tower is eighteenth century. As usual the Victorians got to work and there was an extensive restoration of 1880 which altered much. Church Road is a wide land and has a magnificent view of the church in its open site on the northern side. The church sits enclosed by a waist high hedge and wooden gates at the western end give access. The graveyard is almost totally unobstructed making for east photography.