England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Cockley Cley All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Cockley Cley lies in west, central Norfolk about 3 miles southwest of the market town of Swaffham. Cockley Cley sits just over 2 miles west of the A1065 road which connects Swaffham through to Brandon. Cockley Cley is a small and compact village which sits in a shallow valley formed by the headwaters of one of the River Wissey's tributaries. The village sits on the edge of Norfolk's share of Breckland, an area of sandy glacial deposits which are relatively infertile land for this normally richly arable county. Whilst arable farming still dominated the parish there were also extensive sheep pastures and , something of a local phenomenon, rabbit warrenries. Today much of the parish land is set to forestry plantation, viewed as better use of the poorer quality land by owner as the light soils have a great tendency for wind erosion when dry. The Wissey's tributary heads off southwest to join it east of Stoke Ferry then making its way into Fenland and the Great Ouse, reaching the North Sea through The Wash. Cockley Cley is sited ar around 30 metres above the sea in fairly gentle terrain which rises steadily to local heights of just over 60 metres by the time it reaches the outskirts of Swaffham. Breckland parishes are often larger then those in eastern Norfolk and Cockley Cley was one of those, it covered just over 4,400 acres and would have supported a population of close to 250 parishioners. In Domesday times the majority of Cockley Cley was held by King William, himself, whilst smaller holdings were with William de Warennes. Collectively the parish could muster 5 ploughs, the usual meadows & woodland but there were 2 mills.

The Church

All Saints' church sits on the northern side of the lane, which heads for Oxborough, next to the village inn, the unusually named Twenty Churchwardens. The first aspect of the church which immediately grabs attention is the remains of the western, round, tower which fell in 1991. A round tower is usually indicative of an early church and Pevsner tentatively places the origins into the late Norman Romanesque period of the 12th century while indicating that the tower had also been rebuilt during the 14th century. As the chancel is in the Early English Gothic style with lancet windows it is clear that the original Norman church was gradually replaced from east to west, first the chancel in the first half of the 13th century then the nave and that tower in the early 14th century whilst retaining many features from the first building. A major restoation in the 1860 saw many further changes with the removal of the 14th century clerestory and the addition of a northern aisle but it is for that more recent calamity that the church is most remembered. A gravelled pathway leads to the church almost from the gardens of the inn, passing in front of the church before curving around ro the southern entrance. Because the church sits almost flush to this pathway and then the road the better views are actually from the lane itself with no major obstacles to photography.