England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Hameringham All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Hameringham lies in central Lincolnshire about 4 miles southeast of the market town of Horncastle. Hameringham is small, little more than a hamlet, and lies about a mile south of the B1195 road which links the large village of Spilsby to Horncastle. Most of Hameringham is built along a winding narrow lane with a spur heading southwards down a short dead-end road. Hameringham lies at the southern end of the Lincolnshire Wolds in gently undulating terrain, the principal landuse being arable farming. The parish is drained by a series of small brooks which head westwards to join the Old River Bain which eventually reaches The Wash through Boston. Hameringham is sited at 90 metres above the sea, land slopes gently from heights to the northeast of around 120 metres to the valley of the Old River Bain to the southwest at just 15 metres above the sea. Hameringham parish was typically small, there are a large number of such small parishes in this area of Lincolnshire, it covered just 1,100 acres and supported a population of around 170 parishioners. There is no specific mention of Hameringham in Domesday Book.

The Church

All Saints church sits on the western edge of the settlement on the northern side of the main lane through the hamlet. The church is a late Victorian edifice which encloses remains of the early church and, indeed, reuses some of its stonework. The three-bay southern arcade is Early English in style and thus probably from the first half of the 13th century, this is enclosed by the Victorian structure. Pevsner is rather critical of the building calling it "poor" and it clearly did not interest him unduly as it is dismissed in a handful of lines. The church sits enclosed by clipped hedges, at the western end of the site a paved path runs to the entrance. There are many mature trees around and these do rather restrict the angles for photography.