England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Marham Holy Trinity

The Parish

The parish of Marham lies in western Norfolk roughly 8 miles northeast of the market town of Downham Market. Marham sits around 2 miles north of the A1122 road which links Downham Market with Swaffham. There are two aspects to modern day Marham, the original village is a linear settlement lying at the edge of the flood-plain of the River Nar, The Street forming the spine on which most properties sat, that village now runs northeastwards along a gently curving lane for over a mile. Sitting to its east is, however, the far larger "town" associated with the neighbouring military base, a neat square cut off at its southeastern corner by the runways and laid in a grid pattern. Marham airfield was one of the first following the development of air-bases warfare being in situ as early as the First World War, revived for the second war it then became a permanent base to this day and is now shared with US forces as a fighter base. Marham's position gave it access to rather more pastures than would be considered the average for a Norfolk parish, early gazetteers estimating that some 30% of the parish acreage was so managed, the remainder being typically Norfolk arable. Marham is drained westwards by the River Nar which heads out into Fenland to meet the Great Ouse, turn north and pass through King's Lynn to The Wash and the North Sea. Marham's village is sited below 10 metres above the sea with the military town standing at 25 metres to the east, the highest point around is lowly Chapel Hill at just 41 metres. Marham parish was one of the larger in its county, covering almost 4,000 acres it would have supported a population of close to 800 parishioners. Domesday entries for Marham show a settlement large enough, with 78 households, to be amongst the largest 20% of settlements recorded in the book, the manor was shared between 4 landholders and offered assets of 10 ploughs, some small meadows and a mill, a more typical set of assets for a mid-sized rural manor.

The Church

Holy Trinity church stands on the eastern side of The Street towards the southwestern end of the run of properties that form the original village. Whilst much of the church's fabric dates from the later medieval period of the Perpendicular there are remains of earlier work. The earliest fabric recorded by Pevsner is that of the northern doorway which dates from the 12th century and is Norman Romanesque in style, its tympanum is unusual in carrying a lozenge pattern such as is shown in Norwich cathedral's north transept. It is clear that the church received a major rebuild during the 14th century, starting with Decorated forms and being completed in the Perpendicular. The southern porch is from the earlier period but much reworked in Victorian times whilst the east window of the chancel is a mixture of the two styles. The nave too was begun in the Decorated period as shown by the 4-bay southern arcade. The dominating western tower looms over the street and shows early Perpendicular styling yet is documented from bequests to have been built c1450. Pevsner records three Victorian restoration phases, in 1844, 1867 & 1875 all of which made much change to the church, most of the windows being of the 19th century including the west window. The Street is of ample width to allow on-street parking outside the churchyard gates. Such is the compact size of the churchyard and the relatively large church that better views are made from outside the churchyard either from The Street or from Church Lane.