England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Glapthorn St Leonard

The Parish

The parish of Glapthorn lies in eastern Northamptonshire not too far from its border with neighbouring Huntingdonshire. Glapthorn is located about 2 miles north of the market town of Oundle. Glapthorn is a small village built largely around a triangle of lanes sitting about a mile north of the A427 road which connects Oundle with the New Town of Corby. The area around Glapthorn would largely have been used for arable farming at the time of this transcript and today little has changed with cereals, beet and oil seed predominant. A small brook drains Glapthorn eastwards to join the nearby River Nene which makes its way to the North Sea to reach it through The Wash. Glapthorn is sited, in its little valley, at around 30 metres above the sea, the landscape around gently undulates from that height to around 60 metres or so. Glapthorn parish was relatively small by Northamptonshire standards it covered roughly 1,400 acres and would have supported a population of just over 400 parishioners. There is no specific mention of Glapthorn in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Leonard's church sits on the southern side of the triangle of roads that forms the village, it sits amongst cottages alongside that lane. St Leonard's is rather a rarity in being a church almost entirely from a single period in time and that date in this case is the 13th century which makes the building relatively early for this county. This century saw the evolution of styles from the Early English Gothic to the Decorated period and this is illustrated by the early and later parts of this church. The chancel which Pevsner dates to the late 13th century illustrates the latter whilst most of the building is in the Early English style. The church follows the standard layout of nave, chancel and western tower augmented by aisles to north and south. The church sits behind a low local stone wall and an arched metal gateway at the eastern end of the site grants access to the churchyard. The site is relatively open to the north of the church but there are many trees to its south which rather restrict the angles available for photography.