England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Hethersett St Remigius

The Parish

The parish of Hethersett lies in the eastern part of central Norfolk roughly 6 miles southwest of the city of Norwich. Hethersett sits on and mostly north of the the B1172, this road was until quite recently the A11 road from Norwich to Thetford but has been downgraded to "B" road status following the completion of a speedy dual-carriageway to its south. Hethersett is a large village, it was always a large to mid-sized village, that has expanded markedly in modern times due to its proximity to the city of Norwich making it especially popular as a commuter settlement, a favourite of academics of the nearby University of East Anglia. At the time of this transcript Hethersett was concentrated to the north of the former A11 along the village's Queen's Road and adjacent streets, today the village is large enough to be called a town and extends for almost a mile and half along the Norwich Road and for a depth of almost a mile to its north. Hethersett sits in a richly fertile area of the county and would have been almost exclusively an arable farming community, early gazetteers estimate as much as 82% of the parish acreage as set to arable. Twin small tributaries of the nearby River Yare drain the parish, one goes north to meet the Yare at Marlingford, the other eastwards to meet the same river at Keswick, the Yare skirts the southern edges of Norwich before heading eastwards to reach the North Sea through the port of Great Yarmouth. Hethersett is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in very gentle terrain, local high spots are rarely much more than 55 metres. By the standards of Norfolk, Hethersett was a large parish, covering a little over 2,600 acres it would have supported a population of around 1,100 parishioners, many more than that today. Even in Domesday times Hethersett was a large settlement, large enough by population to be recorded in the largest 20% of settlements in that book; held between Count Alan of Brittany, with the larger share, and a steward Godric its assets of 15 ploughs were supplemented by meadows and woodland and there was also a mill making for a very profitable holding.

The Church

Unlike most of its village St Remigius' church sits to the south of the B1172, the former A11, parishioners would once have had to cross what was a very busy main road. St Remigius is a church of the early 14th century albeit much altered by mainly Victorian restoration work. A large church, as befits the size of its congregation, the basic nave & chancel with western tower is augmented with a plethora of aisles and transepts. The basic structure dates from the early 14th century and features Decorated styling throughout. There are few later modifications until the Victorian changes, a Perpendicular style porch to the north was added in either the late 14th or early 15th centuries and the southern arcade had bracing brick buttresses added in the 18th century to correct for a rather dramatic lean. The major restoration came in 1874 and was a thoroughly large effort, the chancel and both transepts were largely rebuilt, most of the windows and roofing was replaced and a clerestory inserted amongst numerous other more general refreshing works. Even though the B1172 is a downgrading from its former status it still carries a large volume of traffic so it is to be grateful that large gates onto that road give way into a substantial roughly surfaced parking area from where a diagonal pathway leads to the churchyard. A few tress are gathered around the western tower but otherwise there are few obstacles to concern the photographer.