England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Eye St Matthew

The Parish

The parish of Eye lies in the extreme northeast of Northamptonshire forming part of the county's border with neighbouring Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire & Huntingdonshire are also very close by too. Eye is located roughly 3 miles northeast of the city of Peterborough and sits on the former route of the busy A47 road which links Peterborough with Wisbech & King's Lynn, thankfully the A47 nowadays bypasses the village to its north. Given its proximity to the city of Peterborough it is not surprising that Eye has expanded in modern times with substantial suburban developments, the early village remained clustered around its main crossroads at which sat the church. Eye ist within the small portion of Fenland which is claimed by Northamptonshire, this flat terrain criss-crossed by man-made dykes and ditches was once extensive swampy marshland before reclamation has turned it into some of the most productive agricultural land in the country, whilst staples such as cereals are grown it is high value table vegetables such as onions, leeks and brassicas which form the main crops. Modern developments once graced the parish but have since gone, alight railway crossed the Fens from Peterborough to Wisbech but is closed and largely disappeared. Many gravel pits surround the village having flooded when closed, some have become nature reserves because of their attraction to waterfowl. A network of drains takes water from the parish southwards to the River Nene which has been artificially straightened into a main drain, the Nene eventually reaches the North Sea through the The Wash at Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire. Eye is sited at just 5 metres above the sea a height which is found at or even lower across many miles to the east, parts of Greater Peterborough breach the 15 metres contour but only west of the city does land reach 20 metres. Like many Fenland parishes Eye was larger than typical southern rural parish covering just under 2,700 acres and supporting a population of around 1,350 parishioners. Eye is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Matthew's church stands at the junction of High Street and Eyebury Road at the heart of the original village. Sadly the medieval church which once graced this village and sat here was destroyed by a terrible fire, the replacement church being completed in 1847 is thus not the venue for these marriages. The church is rather plain in its design such that Pevsner terms it "dull" it has a cruciform layout and uses lancets from the Early English Gothic styling. The western end of the church was once capped by a spire but this was removed in the late 20th century, Pevsner says c1982. The only other change following construction was the addition of a vestry in 1914. Parking bays sit west of the church site on the High Street but are often fully taken. The church has a corner site and is close to the roadside with adjacent properties tight to the western tower, images are best acquired from the road rather than the small churchyard.