England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Lincoln St Peter in Eastgate

The Parish

Lincoln is a city and county head for Lincolnshire and is situated around 130 miles north of London. Lincoln sits on the crossroads of two major roads and several minor ones too, the A15 (the former Ermine Street of the Romans) and the A46 (the Romans' Fosse Way). Lincoln is a relatively small city but with a long and distinguished history. Said to have been founded in pre-Roman times Lincoln, situated at the prime crossing of the River Witham and with an easily defensible river cliff setting, grew to importance as the major Roman settlement in this part of the country. After the Romans departed Lincoln became, for a while, the capital of Mercia and was fought over by the English, Danes and Saxons throughout the Dark Ages. Still important in Conquest England the Normans built a large castle and the cathedral on the high ground to the north of the Witham. Granted a market soon after Lincoln became the commercial centre for its county and thrives as a market to this day. As head of a largely agricultural county Lincoln escaped the excesses of industrial development and lacks major heavy industries as a result. Lincoln's early economy would have been in wool, cloth and sundry agricultural produce. In common with most of England's mediaeval cities Lincoln was divided into many small parishes of which St Peter in Eastgate was just one and a small one at that. Eastgate sits just to the northeast of the cathedral and the parish would have covered just a few blocks of the mediaeval city and supported around 600 of its parishioners. Lincoln is drained eastwards by the Witham which heads the relatively short distance to the North Sea reaching it through the port of Boston. Lincoln sits largely on the higher ground above the Witham, which surface is just 3 metres above the sea; St Peter in Eastgate stands at some 60 metres above the river. In Domesday times Lincoln, in its entirety, was a royal property and not specifically detailed as to its assets which were taxed to 13.5 geld units making it a wealthy place as would be expected.

The Church

St Peter's church stands on the northern side of Eastgate, a street that, as its name suggests, led to one of the 4 main entrances to the mediaeval portion of the city. Sadly St Peter is not the original mediaeval building one would expect; it was rebuilt entirely in a three year period commencing 1778. Notwithstanding this rebuild the church was also rebuilt in the late 1860s and southern aisle was added in 1914 to result in today's church. Pevsner is unconvinced by the Victorian work but praises the aisle for its rich Decorated style. Eastgate has time-limited parking sufficient to visit, the church standing behind a knee-high local stone wall is hemmed in to both east and west by properties making for a challenging photographic exercise.