England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Anmer St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Anmer lies in northwestern Norfolk roughly 11 miles northeast of the port of King's Lynn. Anmer  sits about a mile northwest of the B1153 road, a linking road between Flitcham on the A148 (King's Lynn to Fakenham) and Brancaster on Norfolk's coastal road, the A149. Anmer  is an estate village, the entire parish dominated by the parkland of its eponymous Hall, residence of the local Coldham family and in the early 21st century Prince William & Kate. A small stretch of properties line the lane that connects Anmer  with the B1153 but otherwise it consists merely of a scatter of farms and cottages. Anmer  has a ling history, to its east is the Neolithic trackway of Peddar's Way, nowadays part of a National Trail, its surroundings dotted with tumuli. In medieval times sheep dominated this landscape providing the wool that drove the county's economy, today most of the land is set to arable within large and hedge-less fields interrupted by shelter belts to protect pheasants and partridges for the shooting industry. A porous geology leads to very little surface drainage with most water draining sub-surface into the nearby Babingley River which heads to the North Sea through the Wash. Anmer  is sited at around 70 metres above the sea in gentle terrain where the local high point is barely 10 metres higher. At just under 1,400 acres Anmer  parish was typically sized for its area, within that acreage it would have supported a population of close to 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Anmer was equally small, shared between Count Eustace of Boulogne & William de Warenne it could muster just 6 ploughs, a small meadow and, surprisingly given it wasn't on the coast, a fisher and a salthouse.

The Church

St Mary's church sits within the parkland setting of the grounds of Anmer  Hall, accessed by a track from the main lane through the parish. Whilst the church has its origins in the late 13th and early 14th centuries it is one which has been significantly altered in more modern times, largely at the expense of the owners of the estate, and by late medieval changes. From the 13th century, the period of Early English Gothic, the best example remaining is that of the southern doorway, parts of the nave, too, show styling from that period but largely masked by later work. There is little evidence of the short Decorated period having influence but the Perpendicular which followed saw the addition of the western tower, the extension of the nave to the west and replacement of many of the latter's windows. The finest example of this 14th century work which survives is that of the southern chapel showing the curvilinear tracery of that period. Three distinct phases of Victorian restoration wrought significant change, the first of 1856 tackled the chancel, almost a complete rebuild, the second of 1876 saw a re-roofing of the church whilst the final phase in 1888 restored the western tower. The track to the church leaves the through-lane at the former gate house, it is roughly surfaced and lined with post & rail fencing characteristic of estates, a rough parking area has been left for a car or two outside the churchyard. Sadly for the photographer St Mary is deeply embedded in thick foliage with all of the favoured southern aspects removed and making for a challenging subject on a sunny day.