England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Roxby with Risby St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Roxby lies in the extreme north of Lincolnshire not too far from its northern coastline with the Humber Estuary. The ancient parish of Risby was united with that of Roxby in 1717 and its church of St Bartholomew demolished, a single composite register of the 16th & early 17th century is all that survives. Roxby is located roughly 5 miles north of the industrial town of Scunthorpe and stands on and immediately east of the A1077 road which links Scunthorpe with Barton upon Humber and the Humber Bridge. Roxby is a small village with a slight presence on the A1077 but mostly along twin parallel lanes, North & South Street, of Risby only two farm groups, High & Low Risby, remain around 2 miles to the south of Roxby. Whilst arable farming provided the mainstay of the economy, the areas stone was much quarried too for local building work and especially for making drains employing a few. Roxby is drained the short distance to the Humber Estuary by the Winterton Beck which lies below the small escarpment formed by Jurassic strata. Roxby is sited on a rising site, its eastern end sits at 30 metres whilst the western end, at the A1077 is some 20 metres higher, the dip-slope rises westwards to a height of 77 metres west of High Risby before falling steeply away. At 4,000 acres Roxby parish was extensive for Lincolnshire, roughly twice the size of a typical Lincolnshire parish, that acreage saw around 350 parishioners typically. In Domesday times there were 37 households recorded at Roxby, a population of sufficient size as to place it amongst the largest 20% of settlements by population, its assets, however, shared 3 way, were less impressive and more typical of a normal rural holding, 9 ploughs being backed by the usual meadows & woodland.

The Church

St Mary's church stands on the northern side of North Street and towards the lower, eastern end of the village. Outwardly the church seems to be a fairly typical church of the 14th century with the Decorated style of the first half of that century dominant. Pevsner, however, indicates a small and unassumingly crude window on the southern face of the western tower as being of the 12th century Norman Romanesque era and similarly identifies the corner quoins of the nave, undatable perhaps, but certainly early. It is clear, therefore, that a small Norman church was markedly expanded and rebuilt during the early 14th century. Both northern and southern aisles together with the chancel show off that Decorated style to good effect, a style repeated in the more conventional western window of the tower. The Victorians did their usual restoration, here in 1875, and not only rebuilt the northern arcade and tower arch they may also have rebuilt most of the church albeit retaining the original styling. On-street parking is possible on North Street outside the churchyard which is raised above road height and accessed by a flight of 4 steps. The church is placed too close to the southern boundary such that the better views are from across North Street, otherwise there are no major obstacles for the photographer.