England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Great Hale St John the Baptist

The Parish

The parish of Great Hale is located in south central Lincolnshire. Great Hale is a large village located about 6 miles southeast of the market town of Sleaford. Great Hale and its smaller (absorbed) neighbour Little Hale sits on the B1394 road about 3/4 of a mile and 1 1/2 miles respectively south of the A17 road which connects Sleaford with the Norfolk port of King's Lynn, the B1394 heads southwards heading towards Bourne. Great Hale is largely built along and just east of the B1394 and is almost contiguous with its larger neighbour Heckington. The area around is rich arable farmland and this would have provided the main income, the parish also had extensive reclaimed lands to the east in the low Fen and bordering the South Forty Foot Drain, one of the major drainage routes for The Fens; here extensive market gardening predominates on the rich peaty soils. Modern communications take the form of the busy A17 just north as well as the rail line heading towards Boston & Skegness. Great Hale's drainage is almost totally man-made and most streams make their way shortly to the above-mentioned drain and thence through Boston to join the Witham and reach the North Sea through The Wash. Great Hale is sited at just 7 metres above the sea, the land is more-or-less flat for many miles rising gently to the west as you leave the Fens for the Jurassic limestone country around Sleaford. Great Hale parish was large, a product of reclamation, and covered over 6,200 acres, it would have supported a population of almost 1,000 parishioners across its two villages. In Domesday times Great (and Little) Hale was held by one Gilbert of Ghent, its assets were relatively few - just 15 ploughs are mentioned - but the taxation level of over 8 geld units indicates a rich and prosperous parish.

The Church

St John the Baptist's church sits just east of the B1394 a few yards into Church Street and on the southern side. St John's is a rather early church as Pevsner is quick to point out, the western tower is Saxo-Norman and he dates it to the 11th century. Few churches in Lincolnshire survive with features of such a date. The remainder of the church is a little late showing a mixture of early English Gothic & decorated styles which place the build around the turn of 13th into 14th centuries. The arcades show the earlier style well whilst the southern aisle is representative of the latter. A temporary misfortune befell the church in the mid-17th century as the mediaeval chancel collapsed and the present replacement date from that century. As is usual there was a 19th century refurbishment, in this case in the 1890s to result in today's building. The church is slightly elevated above Church Street and is separated from the pavement only by a low wall, the northern face of the church sits almost flush to the road and the best views are obtained from the south within an extensive and unobstructed churchyard, with the exception of some conifers grouped to the western end.