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

The Parish

The parish of Gimingham lies in northeastern Norfolk about 4 miles north of the market town of North Walsham and forming a tiny stretch of Norfolk's northeastern North Sea coastline. Gimingham is located roughly 2 miles west of the B1145 road which connects North Walsham with Mundesley. Despite its near coastal location Gimingham, like so many Norfolk parishes, is and was a farming parish with the majority of the land set to arable production, broad fields of cereals, oil seed and beet dominate the landscape today. Modern developments came and went for Gimingham, a branch railway line connecting Mundesley with Cromer for the Midland & Great Northern Line has long been removed with parts being utilised for the local footpath network. Gimingham is drained the short distance to the North Sea by a small stream, unnamed on OS maps, which enters the North Sea at the southern end of Mundesley. Gimingham's properties sit either side of that shallow valley at a height of around 30 metres above the sea land rises to the south reaching close to 50 metres in gentle terrain. Gimingham parish was fairly typically sized for this area, covering just under 1,500 acres it would have supported a population of close to 400 parishioners. In Domesday Times Gimingham was a substantial holding of William de Warennes offering 10 plough, the usual meadows & woodland but possessed an impressive 4 mills.

The Church

All Saints' church sits just south of Gimingham's stream on the eastern side of the lane leading towards Trunch (Church Street). The church is a very typical Norfolk church showing evidence of a build which begins in the early 14th century and extends through into the latter stages of that century. As a consequence both Decorated and Perpendicular styles are both seen, the chancel, clearly built first, is in the earlier Decorated style whilst the nave & western tower are later and Perpendicular. The latter is shown in documentary evidence of bequests to have been built or more probably restored during the period from 1470 to 1506 whilst timber donations to the chancel dated 1529 are clearly for a later rebuild. Restoration in Victorian times is also fairly typical and All Saints was no exception with major work completed in 1862. Whilst Church Street is narrow the verges are sufficient for safe parking, the churchyard, surrounded bu a brick-topped flint wall have metal gates granting access. Sadly the churchyard abounds with mature trees making for something of a challenge to the photographer especially when the deciduous ones are in leaf.