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

The Parish

The parish of Beeston lies in central Norfolk about 6 miles northwest of the market town of east Dereham. Beeston sits, in lanes, midway between the A47 (Norwich to King's Lynn) road and its smaller and parallel road the B1145 (Bawdeswell to King's Lynn) road being roughly 2 miles north of the former and south of the latter. Beeston is quite a large village but curiously dispersed, most properties can be found around a "B" shape of lanes that tilts slightly westward but there is a distinct lack of a village centre with typically church, shops and green. Beeston was almost totally a farming place, it was estimated that 3/4 of the parish acreage was set to grain with smaller pastures mainly meeting local needs. Beeston had a brief moment in the spotlight, its World War 2 airfield being part of the war effort but now set as a small light industrial estate. Beeston is drained northwestwards by a small tributary of the River Nar, this heads westwards to joining the Great Ouse to the south of King's Lynn and thence to the North Sea through The Wash. Beeston is sited at around 70 metres above the sea and sits on a broad plateau of similar height for some distance. Beeston parish was fairly typically sized for mid-Norfolk, covering just over 2,000 acres it would have supported a population of close to 650 parishioners. Beeston is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Mary's church sits well west of the village over 1 1/2 miles west of some of the properties within Beeston. The church is unusual for Norfolk in carrying a spire, one of only two in the county. The church is almost totally built in the Decorated style which dates its build to the early 14th century albeit Pevsner ventures the work was commenced in the prior century citing the tower arch as being 13th century in nature. A big church with nave & chancel augmented with substantial aisles to both north & south, it would have sat a much larger congregation than today. The church is also unusual in having a Decorated style clerestory, these features were designed to add more light to the interior and were usually added in the Perpendicular period. That period saw the bell-stage and spire added to the tower, it also believed that those massive arcades were added or rebuilt 50 years after the completion of the main build. As is usual a Victorian restoration made changes, the spire being rebuilt in 1873 as well as the usual refurbishments. Church Road heads westwards through vast cereal fields, lacking hedges nowadays and St Mary sits alone amongst the singing skylarks. The churchyard is set back from the road, fronted by a thick hedge with space to park at the eastern end thereof. Sadly the church is tightly enclosed by trees to east, west & south making for a challenging subject once the sun is shining.