England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Washingborough St John the Evangelist

The Parish

The parish of Washingborough lies in central Lincolnshire about 2 1/2 miles east of the city of Lincoln. Washingborough and its sister settlement of Heighington form a substantial village sitting on the southern banks of the River Witham and sits on and mostly south of the B1190 road which connects Lincoln with Horncastle. Whilst Washingborough & Heighington were discrete settlements, with their centres over a mile apart in modern times suburban growth occasioned by their proximity to Lincoln has expanded both villages such that they have coalesced into a combined settlement almost 2 miles by 1 mile and which is bordered on the north by the B1190 and to the south by the modern development of the Lincoln to Sleaford railway line. Washingborough's economy, at the time of this transcript, would have been dominated by farming and the parish consisting of higher & drier land around the twin villages as well as the extensive reclaimed area of Washingborough & Heighington Fens would have excelled in both cereal production as well as market gardening of vegetable crops on the fen. Today the twin villages are still surrounded by cereal fields but the villages are largely commuter settlements for their near city. The River Witham drains the parish, supplemented by numerous man-made drainage channels, eastwards to reach the North Sea through the port of Boston. Both settlements lie at around 10 metres above the sea with land rising steadily westwards to the escarpment at Bracebridge Heath which reaches a little over 70 metres. Lincolnshire parishes are traditionally small, Washingborough with its extensive reclamation was not one of those, covering almost 4,900 acres it would have supported a population of almost 1,100 parishioners. Neither Washingborough or Heighington is mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St John the Evangelist's church sits at the heart of Washingborough village centre roughly 150 metres south of the B1150 and west of the High Street. Much of this church dates back to the Early English Gothic period that was the height of church fashion during the first half of the 13th century, Pevsner speculates, however, that the basal sections of the western tower are from the prior Transitional period of the late 12th. Whilst the basic fabric of that tower is Early English Gothic, the bell openings are in the Decorated style and the stair turret, pinnacled top and western window are later still and Perpendicular indicative of much later re-working. This theme of Early English Gothic reworked in later styles is repeated throughout albeit much masked by the changes wrought by the Victorians, Pevsner points to the four bay arcades and chancel as examples of these changes. The substantial Victorian restorations of both the 1850s and 1860 made substantial changes and hide much dating detail, the clerestory added in the latter changes in particular falls foul of Pevsner who describes it as "regretted". From the High Street a short Y-shaped lane leads to both church and hotel, parking may be found on the right hand branch which leads to the wrought-iron gates of the churchyard. The churchyard is expansive to the north of the church but slightly cramped to its south which limits the favoured southeastern aspect a little.