England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Burgh next Aylsham St Mary

The Parish

Burgh is a popular name for a Norfolk village, there being 4 in the county it is necessary to add the qualifier to distinguish this parish which, as it suggests, is located in northeastern Norfolk roughly 2 miles southeast of the market town of Aylsham. Burgh next Aylsham sits a similar distance east of the A140 road which nowadays bypasses Aylsham and connects the city of Norwich with the coast at Cromer. Burgh next Aylsham is a small and compact crossroads village situated on the northern banks of the River Bure, a river which provided employment beyond the normal arable farming economy of the area. Burgh next Aylsham sat upon that portion of the river which was navigable by the flat-bottomed wherries of the Norfolk Broads and which brought grain to its flour mills, a notable local employer. Modern developments came and largely went for the parish, the cross-Norfolk Midland & Great Northern railway line from Melton Constable junction through to Wroxham passes just across the Bure and today is a miniature gauge heritage line. The Bure drains the parish southeastwards, merging with Broadland's other major rivers to reach the North Sea through the port of Great Yarmouth. Burgh next Aylsham is sited at just 10 metres above the sea in very gentle terrain where land rises, away from the Bure, to reach a general level of close to 30 metres. Norfolk's Broadland is a maze of tiny parishes and Burgh next Aylsham was typical of that breed, covering just under 800 acres it would have supported a population of close to 300 parishioners. In Domesday times Burgh next Aylsham was largely held by Drogo de la Beauvriere, his holding mustering 6 ploughs, meadows and woodland plus a mill; Roger Bigot had a further holding carrying an additional plough plus a half share in another mill, presumably shared with neighbouring Brampton across the Bure.

The Church

St Mary's church sits on the southern edge of the village almost upon the banks of the Bure and reached along the out-and-back lane of Church Lane. St Mary's church appears to be a typical Norfolk flint church but closer inspection reveals it to be older than many of these buildings. The chancel shows the lancet windows of the Early English Gothic period and using these features plus internal clues Pevsner dates that area as being from the relatively precise dates of 1220 - 1230, certainly an early date for a church in this area. The other two main features of the church, the western tower and nave are from later periods. The western tower is in the Perpendicular style of the late 14th or early 15th centuries whilst the nave has been so extensively restored as to be almost undateable and must be largely from those Victorian alterations. The Victorian restoration, of the mid to late 1870s, also added three-bays to the chancel but kept the lancet style intact sympathetically. Church Lane is narrow but widens at the church's entrance with sufficient space for a car or two to park, metal gates and a tarred pathway lead through the screening mature trees to a churchyard which is fairly clear of photographic obstacles.