England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Pentney St Mary Magdalene

The Parish

The parish of Pentney lies in west central Norfolk about 8 miles northwest of the market town of Swaffham. Pentney lies south of the busy A47 road, between 1 and 2 miles south, which crosses Norfolk from Great Yarmouth to King's Lynn. Pentney is a long straggle of a village, most of the village lies along a stretch of east to west running lanes but there are scattered properties all the way to neighbouring Narborough and the A47. Pentney lies on the northern banks of the River Nar albeit with a degree of distance to it as the ground was once marshy and liable to flooding before man-made drainage. Pentney's origins lie with the foundation of the Augustinian priory roughly 2 miles west of today's village and sited much closer to the river. Pentney Priory, was founded by 1135 and held between 15 & 20 canons, today it is largely a ruin. Pentney's farming community, being sited on the Nar's flood-plain was rather more diverse than many in Norfolk,a roughly 50-50 mixture of arable and pastoral unlike most Norfolk's parishes. Modern developments did come temporarily to Pentney, the branch railway line between King's Lynn and Swaffham which once served the village is little more than a map trace having been closed and dismantled. The River Nar drains the parish westwards, running out into Norfolk's Fenland to join the Great Ouse and thence the North Sea through The Wash. Pentney is sited at just 10 metres above the sea in a rather flat area of the county where local heights barely rise to 20 metres within many miles.Parishes in the west of the county tend to be larger than those in the east and Pentney was typical of that trend, covering almost 2,500 acres it would have supported a population of just under 600 parishioners. In Domesday times Pentney was a holding of one Roger Bigot, a mid-sized place holding just 8 ploughs and a small meadow, more profitable was its 3 mills and 1/3rd share in a salthouse making for a valuable small holding.

The Church

St Mary Magdalene's church sits at the western end of the village where a complex junction of lanes is met. At its core is a small Norman Romanesque church which has been lengthened during later periods. That 12th century core of nave and chancel is visible internally where the former termination is marked by stone quoins within the extended nave. The church is built from a curious mixture of materials, Pevsner cites carrstone and clunch in addition to the normal flint and ashlar. The Decorated style western tower was built in the early 14th century at which point the nave would have been extended to join with it. Later still is the western window to the tower, a Perpendicular addition. For once Pevsner does not mention an extended Victorian restoration with work probably restricted to a general refresh and the construction of the rather dull uninterrupted slate roof covering both nave and chancel. The church sits on the northern side of Bilney Road at the junction with a triangular green opposite made suitable for parking. The churchyard has a mixture of borders, flint & brick wall in part and post & rail fencing to the west. The churchyard is open and uncluttered with no obstacles to photography.