England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Ingworth St Lawrence

The Parish

The parish of Ingworth lies in northeastern Norfolk roughly 2 miles north of the market town of Aylsham. Ingworth sits on the former route of the A140, which thankfully now bypasses a mile or so to the east, road which links the city of Norwich with the coastal resort of Cromer. Ingworth is a small and rather linear village, its southern edge starts where the former A140, now Cromer Road, crossed the River Bure and runs parallel with that river for a quarter of a mile or so northwards. Like most Norfolk parishes Ingworth would have been, and still is, a largely arable parish; so much so that early gazetteers estimate as much as 85% of the parish acreage as set to arable. Ingworth is drained southwards by the Bure which joins the other Broadland rivers in the combined estuary of Breydon Water before passing through the port of Great Yarmouth to the North Sea. Ingworth is sited at around 15 metres above the sea in gentle terrain where a local high point of only 37 metres is the highest ground for some distance. Ingworth parish was one of a number of tiny parishes in this area of northern Broadland, covering only a little over 500 acres it supported a population of just 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Ingworth was a slightly larger community than today's small village, shared between Roger Bigot and Ivo's son Reginald it offered 12 ploughs, the usual meadows & woodland and the Bure powered 2 mills and a share in a third.

The Church

St Lawrence's church stands on the eastern side of Cromer Road at the junction with the lane leading toward Banningham. The stump of its former western round tower is what immediately catches the eye, it is a stump due to the tower falling in 1822, the remains today function as a vestry. Round towers are typical of early churches in Norfolk and this one originates in the 12th century of the Norman Romanesque era, the Norman style arch between tower and nave remains. The nave, too, is early and 12th century but has been modified in the 15th century by the replacement of its original windows with Perpendicular styled ones. Lancet windows in the chancel indicate it is later and of the 13th century showing the Early English Gothic of that century. The work on the nave from the 15th century is reflected too in the southern porch which is also Perpendicular in style albeit the gable was reworked in brick and given the stepped edging in the Tudor period. For once Pevsner fails to mention a Victorian restoration so if one occurred it was light and sensitive. When Cromer Road was the main A140 parking would have been a problem but today traffic is much lighter, nevertheless consideration is still required. The church sits upon a raised churchyard with grassy slopes falling away to the road, the main entrance lying just into the Banningham lane where a gravel path leads to the church. Once within the churchyard there are no obstacles for the photographer.