England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Worlaby St Clement

The Parish

The parish of Worlaby lies in the extreme north of Lincolnshire roughly 5 miles south of the town of Barton upon Humber. Worlaby sits on and mostly east of the B1204 which links South Ferriby through towards Brigg. Worlaby is one of a number of spring-line settlements sitting at the base of a shallow escarpment , their parishes extending west onto the marshlands bordering the River Ancholme and east onto the higher ground above. Worlaby is quite a large village  with a run of properties lining the eastern side of the B1204 but with more of the village lying between that road and the rise to higher ground in a network of out-and-back lanes. The parish was a farming parish with early gazetteers estimating almost equal parts arable and pastoral, the patter mainly to the west, the former to the east. Modern developments have come to the parish, the access road to the Humber Bridge, the A15, has been upgraded to modern high-speed dual-carriageway highway and passes through the eastern end of the parish. Worlaby Carrs sit to the west and have the village drainage, totally changed by man's influence as the Ancholme is now by no means the main drain taking water northwards to the Humber Estuary and thence to the sea. Worlaby sits at around 10 metres above the sea at the B1204, the church some 20 metres higher and the top of the escarpment rising to 87 metres as the highest ground around. Worlaby parish was typically sized for the area, covering almost 2,800 acres it would have supported a population of close to 400 parishioners. In Domesday times Worlaby was shared by 3 landholders with assets of 12 ploughs.

The Church

St Clement's church stands on the eastern edge of the village, part way up the escarpment and accessed from The Hill by a short dead-end lane. The church is one which was almost totally rebuilt in Victorian times, the work being completed in 1877,, the current building is thus one that would be barely recognisable to the participants in these marriages. The builders did, however, reuse much material from the original medieval predecessor. The reused tower arch shows that church to have been from the earliest times of stone-built churches being 11th century Saxo-Norman in style. In addition both northern and southern arcades were preserved and both show the early 14th century style of the Decorated period. Much else, however, is the product of the rebuild including the statement western tower complete with its short spire. The lane which heads for the church trends northwestwards from The Hill and allows careful parking outside the churchyard, there are a few trees gathered around the west end but most angles are readily available for the photographer.