England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Walcot St Nicholas

The Parish

The parish of Walcot lies in southern Lincolnshire roughly 8 miles south of the market town of Sleaford. Walcot is a small and compact village lying just over a mile west of the A15 road which links Sleaford through to Peterborough. Walcot sits on the dip slope of the underlying limestone which rises to form an escrpment overlooking Grantham, as such it is slightly more undulating than much of the county. The local stone is excavated for road-work but the chief employment is farming, unlike most of the county which is mostly arable, Walcot has, according to early gazetteers, an equal amount of both arable & pastoral modes in its acreage. Walcot is drained eastwards by small streams, when reaching the Fens these streams are largely picked up by the South Forty Foot Drain and carried around to Boston & the North Sea through the last few miles of the River Witham. Walcot is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in gently undulating terrain where local high spots reach80 metres within a few miles. Walcot parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering around 1,700 acres it would have supported a population of close to 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Walcot was largely held by Peterborough Abbey with a smaller share with Gilbert de Ghent, its assets amounted to 7 ploughs and some meadow.

The Church

St Nicholas' church sits on the northern edge of the village on the northern side of "Village Street". The largely Decorated style exterior of the church, faced in ashlar, hides a much earlier church which is only revealed by study of the interior. Whilst fabric from the late Norman Romanesque period can be found in the porch, other pieces, obviously re-used, can be found in the northern arcade and the chancel arch is undoubtedly Norman Romanesque and 12th century. The main body of the church, however, proves to be 13th century within its 14th century shell, Early English Gothic. The most striking feature of the church is the elaborate western tower, also Decorated and early 14th century and with elaborate crockets up its edges. Subsequent to the Decorated period one finds a clerestory of Perpendicular style inserted to increase internal lighting. The usual restoration came late for this church being of 1907. The verge outside the churchyard is well-used for parking, for the photographer, however, gaining an all encompassing landscape view is impossible given the compact churchyard and the church is best recorded from outside the churchyard as a consequence of the height of that tower.