England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Great Ryburgh St Andrew

The Parish

The parish of Great Ryburgh lies in northern central Norfolk roughly 4 miles southeast of the market town of Fakenham. Great Ryburgh is located a little over 2 miles west of the B1067 road which links Fakenham with the city of Norwich. Great Ryburgh is a large village stretched along a lane leading from the crossing point over the River Wensum westwards for almost a mile, a few properties line Mill Road running southwards but essentially this is a linear village. Like most Norfolk parishes Great Ryburgh was primarily an arable farming village, its position within the Wensum valley, however, enabled up to 25% of the acreage to be pastureland too varying the farming economy. Modern developments have come and largely gone from Great Ryburgh, a railway branch line linking Fakenham with East Dereham has since closed and despite some plans to revive it seems set to remain that way. The Wensum drains the parish southeastwards to meet the Yare to the east of the city of Norwich, the Yare eventually meets the North Sea through the port of Great Yarmouth. Great Ryburgh occupies a linear and rising site with the river at 28 metres whilst the higher properties to the west are at 45 metres, land is rather gently undulating with local heights of almost 80 metres to the southwest. Great Ryburgh parish is fairly typically sized for Norfolk, covering just over 1,700 acres it would have supported a population of around 500 parishioners. Great Ryburgh is not specifically mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Andrew's church sits at the eastern end of the village at the junction of Mill Road with Bridge Road and close by the bridge crossing the Wensum. The presence of a round tower in this area of the country is usually indicative of an early church and Pevsner confirms that the western tower is 12th century Norman Romanesque in style although the octagonal top stage is a 14th century augmentation. The presence of local carstone in both tower base and the northwestern corner of the nave indicates they were originally contemporary but the main body of the church was radically altered during the 14th and 15th centuries. It seems likely that the cruciform layout with long transepts predates that rebuilding as it is a design more commonly found in early churches. The nave, chancel and their transepts show a typical build period for Norfolk, begun in the early 14th century utilising a Decorated style, as shown in the end wall's windows of the transepts, the work continued into the following Perpendicular style shown well in the nave windows. The addition of the southern porch in the late 19th century appears to be the only significant alteration of the Victorian period whilst the restoration of 1912 was a late one and not particularly severe. Mill Road is better for parking given traffic flow into the village along Bridge Street, it also has the main entrance of metal gates through the typical Norfolk flint & brick-topped wall. The churchyard is compact and busy with trees to both southwest and southeast making for a difficult subject for the photographer especially on a sunny day.