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

The Parish

The parish of Antingham lies in northeastern Norfolk not too far from its North Sea coast. Antingham is a small and compact village lying about 3 miles northwest of the small market town of North Walsham. Antingham sits just east of the A149 road which connects North Walsham with the seaside resort of Cromer. Most of Antingham sits between the A149 and the rail line which connects Sheringham to the city of Norwich. The economy of Antingham, both at the time of this transcript and today, is dominated by arable farming. Antingham is drained by the headwaters of the River Ant, one of the Norfolk Broads major rivers, it drains initially southeast to join the Bure near Horning and eventually reach the North Sea through the port of Great Yarmouth. Antingham is sited at around 40 metres above the sea, the land hereabouts being fairly gently undulating between 25 & 50 metres above the sea. Antingham parish was of a fairly typical size for one in Norfolk's Broadland, its covered around 1,500 acres and would have supported a population of just under 300 parishioners. In Domesday times Antingham was shared between one Roger Bigot and St Benet's Abbey, the parish was able to offer 18 ploughs, small meadows & woodland and an impressive 4 mills.

The Church

St Mary's church sits almost alongside the busy A149 road but adequately hedge from it to reduce noise. The church shows an unusual continuity of build have been largely erected in the mid 14th century. The windows show a majority in the Decorated style with reticulated tracery characteristic of that period albeit the belfry windows on the western tower are just across the fashion transition into Perpendicular style. The church received a major restoration in 1864 which added the northern porch. Church Lane on which the building sits is now cut by the modern A149 but is a quiet dead-end lane as a result. St Mary's sits in a right-angled bend of that lane behind tall hedges with a metal gateway granting access to the churchyard. The churchyard is fairly open with few impediments to photography. To the south of St Mary may also be seen the remains of another church within the same churchyard, St Margaret being now in ruins.