England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Harlaxton St Mary & St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Harlaxton lies in southwestern Lincolnshire not too far from its border with neighbouring Leicestershire. Harlaxton is a moderately large village which is located about 3 miles southwest of the town of Grantham and which sits on, and to the south of, the A607 which connects Grantham with Melton Mowbray. Harlaxton largely consists of a U shaped lane running out and back from the A607 on which most properties are grouped. The parish, however, is dominated by the former Harlaxton Manor one of the major houses of its county but nowadays a college of education run by an American University. The parish economy would have been a mixture of the estate's needs and those of the village, farming predominating and with a mixed regime; the local ironstone was extensively quarried both for building and road stone and provided employment for some. Modern developments did come to Harlaxton, the Grantham Canel connecting the town with the Trent runs through the northern part of Harlaxton parish whilst the bust A1, Great North Road, has its Grantham bypass running a couple of miles to Harlaxton's east. A tributary of the nearby River Witham, modified for the interest within the estate's parkland, drains the short distance northeastwards to meet the Witham at Grantham, here begins a long journey north to Lincoln and thence to the North Sea through the port of Boston. Harlaxton is sited at around 90 metres above the sea, land continues to rise to the south reaching 140 metres within a couple of miles. Harlaxton parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering close to 2,000 acres it would have supported a population of just over 400 parishioners. In Domesday times Harlaxton was already a substantial settlement, held by King William, himself, it could offer an impressive 16 plough, a substantial meadow and 2 mills and was one of the largest 20% of settlements recorded in the book.

The Church

St Mary & St Peter's church sits centrally within the U shaped lane as mentioned above. The local ironstone is used to great effect on the building giving it a russet colour from the oxidation of the iron content. The church is one which was substantially restored in Victorian times making for a challenge to Pevsner to accurately distinguish between real medieval and faux. The earliest elements identified are the northern & southern arcades which are in an apparently original Early English Gothic style and probably early 13th century or at best late 12th. Most of the remaining fabric is Perpendicular in style and reflects a significant rebuild covering the late 14th and early 15th centuries. It is to the Victorian era that we owe much of today's church, the southern porch was initially rebuilt in 1858 as part of a general restoration but in 1890 a further and substantial restoration results in most of what one sees today, including the largely 19th century internal furnishings. The church is accessed by a short spur off Church Street, a sign then points to a substantial car park within the large churchyard. Given the height of the spire it is welcome that the churchyard is extensive and with no significant obstacles to photography/