England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Runham St Peter & St Paul

The Parish

The parish of Runham lies in eastern Norfolk roughly 6 miles west of the port of Great Yarmouth. Runham sits about 2 miles north of the A47 road which connects Great Yarmouth with the city of Norwich, separated from that road by the course of the River Bure and its adjoining grazing marshes. The story of Runham is a story of decline from importance into obscurity, Domesday Book recorded it amongst the largest 20% of settlements in the book and it was still sufficiently large to merit the granting of a market by King John. Today Runham is a small village within Norfolk's Broadland sitting on the southern edge of the former island of Flegg. The local economy, at the time of this transcript, would have been typical of riverside settlements in Broadland, cereal growing on drier land, grazing on the marshes as well as some river traffic, wildfowling & reed harvesting. The Bure drains the parish eastwards, its flow supplemented by the host of wind-pumps draining the marshes, to reach the sea through Great Yarmouth. Runham is sited at between 5 & 10 metres above the sea, its lower properties edging the marshes, local heights rarely rise above 15 metres for many a mile. Runham parish was fairly typically sized for a Broadland parish, covering close to 1,700 acres it would have supported close to 300 parishioners. As already mentioned Domesday Book describes Runham as a significant settlement, shared in the main by King William and with smaller holdings for 2 others it could muster an impressive 36 ploughs extensive meadows and an equally impressive 18 salthouses.

The Church

St Peter & St Paul's church sits just west of the main portion of the village set into Church Lane off the Stokesby Road. The story of this church mirrors that of the village, constructed during the 14th century it had declined bt the time of Pevsner 1962 edition when he described it as "becoming derelict & boarded up". Like many churches in Norfolk it is a mixture of both Decorated and Perpendicular styles from the early 14th century through to the mid to late 15th century. The church has been much modified over the years with much dating detail lost, the remnants show the early 14th century windows of the nave whilst the tower is Perpendicular with bequests for its construction dateable to the period 1473 - 1505. Multiple restorations in every decade from 1850 through to 1884 have modified much. The church sits in isolation dominating the flat landscape around it, a small car park sits opposite, brick walls surround the churchyard which is free of ibstructuons to the photographer.