England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Little Melton St Mary & All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Little Melton lies in eastern central Norfolk about 5 miles west of the city of Norwich. Little Melton is a long straggle of a village which lies immediately west of Norwich's western bypass the A47 and a mile south of the B1108 which connects the city with Watton. At the time of this transcript Little Melton was just a small farming village, typically arable like so many in Norfolk. Its proximity to the city and in recent times its improved road links have made it a growth area for commuters attracted to a village setting yet working at the nearby University & Science Park, as a result modern developments have expanded Little Melton somewhat. A small parish with almost all land devoted to arable ceral production the economy would have been dependent on that harvest. Little Melton is curiously drained northwestwards by a small tributary of the Yare which is joined to the east of Barford, thence matters turn eastwards to reach the North Sea through the port of Great Yarmouth. Little Melton is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in gentle terrain where local heights do not exceed that level for some distance. Norfolk has many small parishes and Little Melton was one of the smaller, covering not much more than 650 acres it would have supported a population of a little over 300 parishioners. In Domesday times Little Melton was equally small and sleepy, held by a steward Godric (presumably a rare Saxon survivor) it could muster just 6 ploughs and an array of livestock.

The Church

St Mary & All Saints' church sits just beyond the western end of the village on the southern side of Mill Road and 200 metres west of the nearest village properties. The church has its origins in the early 14th century and shows evidence of having been built in a single campaign during the height of the Decorated style fashion. The church follows the standard layout of that time of nave & chancel with western tower and is augmented by aisles, in this case mismatched with 4 bays on the southern side yet only 2 to the north. There are some windows which indicate a refresh was carried out a little later, they show the style of the Perpendicular and probably date from less than a century after the initial build. Like most churches there was a restoration by the Victorians, in this case that was fairly late, in 1796, and mainly focused upon the roofing and flooring. The church is shielded by  large hedging and mature trees and is almost invisble behind this barrier, even the lychgate being embedded within hedging. There is parking on the verge opoosite the entrance. Once through the screening trees the churchyard is relatively free from photographic obstacles.