England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Harpswell St Chad

The Parish

The parish of Harpswell lies in western Lincolnshire roughly 8 miles east of the market town and inland port of Gainsborough. Harpswell sits on and mostly south of the A631 road which connects Gainsborough with Market Rasen. Harpswell is a small settlement, one of a string of spring-line villages sitting basally to the low escarpment of the Jurassic limestone which crosses the county from south to north, consisting of a single lane of less than a quarter mile running south from the A631. Like most Lincolnshire parishes Harpswell is an arable farming parish, most of the parish west of the village sits on heavy clays with the eastern portion on limestone, some pastures would have been present at the time of this transcript but with the advent of modern machinery most is now arable. Harpswell is drained southwards by a series of meandering small brooks which coalesce into the River Till, nearer to Lincoln the Till has been canalised as has the Witham which it joins in the city, the Witham has a dead-straight course headed for Boston and the North Sea. Harpswell is sited at around 40 metres above the sea, here the escarpment is only a slope gaining 20 further metres with the highest ground northeast of nearby Hemswell reaching 73 metres. Covering just under 2,200 acres Harpswell parish was a little larger than many in its county, nevertheless that acreage would have only supported about 100 parishioners. Domesday Harpswell was little different from today, shared between King William and Lambert's son Jocelyn it mustered 8 ploughs and some large meadows.

The Church

St Chad's church sits on the eastern side of Harpswell's only lane just south of its junction with the A631. The western tower is one of the oldest in its county showing Anglo-Saxon work and probably dating from the 11th century, it is a testament to the builders that it still stands but much restoration has kept it thus. Much of the main body of the church is later and 13th century Early Gothic in style, this is shown well in the 3-bay southern arcade where double-chamfered arches are well displayed. Further 13th century work is shown in the plate tracery of the southern aisle although many other windows were replaced in the 14th century. Both the southern porch and the tower's arch to the nave are also 14th century with Pevsner hesitant to give an exact dating. Like most churches a thorough Victorian restoration, here in 1892, made many changes with the nave's northern wall rebuilt and the tower's bell opening renewed, the major work was, however, the replacement of the chancel with today's version. Whilst the lane passing the church is narrow there are a few spots where careful parking prevents a blockage. The churchyard is above road height with ramps leading up the tower from both north and south, once within there are no significant obstacles for the photographer.