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

The Parish

The parish of Cabourne lies in northeastern Lincolnshire roughly 2 miles east of the small town of Caistor. Cabourne is a small village sitting on the side of the A46 road which links Caistor with Grimsby. Most properties lie along the main road with farms and cottages dispersed across the wider parish. Cabourne has indications of being of much greater size, its Domesday entry when seen with the humps and bumps in nearby fields reveals a much reduced settlement, today it is little more than a hamlet. Cabourne sits within the Lincolnshire Wolds on a base of chalk, which was quarried for use on the fields and in the past on the roads, the main economy is, however, like most Lincolnshire parishes strongly arable. In the northern area of the parish sits Pelham's Tower, 128 feet in height, and built to commemorate the paintings of the artist, Yarborough, much of this northern area is today wooded. As the village sits on permeable chalk there is no obvious surface drainage until nearby Rothwell where intermittent streams eventually coalesce northeastwards into the River Freshney just before the North Sea is reached at Grimsby. Cabourne sits within a dry valley at around 80 metres above the sea, to the north land rises reaching a spot height of 141 metres north of Caistor. Cabourne parish was quite extensive in a county of often small parishes, it covered almost 2,500 acres and would have supported a population of close to 150 parishioners. Cabourne's Domesday entry records 39 households, just sufficient to place today's tiny settlement into the top 20% of settlements by population at that time, shared between 5 landholders its assets of 10 ploughs backed by some meadows does indicate a more modest rural manor than the rating suggests.

The Church

St Nicholas' church stands on the northern side of the A46 as it passes through the small village. The church is a mixture of both ancient and relatively modern, the western tower is dated by Pevsner to the 11th century Saxo-Norman period but has been much renewed over the centuries. Contemporary with the tower is the western doorway showing massive chamfered imposts. There is very little else of the medieval remaining in the church, Pevsner notes an Early English Gothic lancet from the 13th century on the southern face of the chancel but it almost certainly reset. The main walls of the church, both nave and chancel, were rebuilt during the substantial restoration of 1872 replacing most of the windows, the tower had its height increased and the top-most stages and bell-openings we see today created, the porch was added and most of the interior fittings replaced in a dramatic change to the church. It is unsafe to park on the A46, it is a very busy main route, to the east of the site a farm track gives access to a small verge allowing safer parking. The photographer will find the church difficult to view given there are copses of trees to both east and west such that only a very limited set of angles are available.