England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Greens Norton St Bartholomew

The Parish

The parish of Greens Norton lies in southwestern Northamptonshire roughly 2 miles northwest of the market town of Towcester. Greens Norton is located about a mile west of the A5 road from London to Holyhead which largely follows the ancient Roman Road of Watling Street and here forms the straight eastern boundary of Greens Norton parish. Greens Norton is a large village sitting in the valley of the River Tove, it has expanded in recent times, too, as modern developments have lead to its westwards growth, the older part of the village sits around the main "T"junction of lanes from Towcester and to Blakesley. The economy, like so many in rural England, would have been dominated by farming; here a mixed regime would have existed with cattle grazing the damper parts of the valley and arable on drier ground. Modern developments came and went from Greens Norton, a branch railway line from Towcester westwards to the main west coast railway having been closed and largely dismantled. The Tove drains the parish eastwards eventually merging with the Great Ouse to the north of Milton Keynes, here it turns back northeastwards to eventually reach the North Sea through The Wash. Greens Norton is sited at around 110 metres above the sea in rolling countryside where local heights rise to the north topping out at 162 metres near Cold Higham. Parishes in this part of the county are mostly fairly similar in size, Green Norton was one of those, covering just under 2,300 acres it would have supported a population of close to 800 parishioners. Greens Norton is not specifically mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Bartholomew's church sits on the northern side of Towcester Road about 100 metres or so east of the main "T" junction that forms the centre of the village. The church has a complicated history and traces of an ancient past. Despite Domesday Book not mentioning the village there are pre-Conquest elements within the church's fabric; the characteristic long-and-short work of Saxon times in both northwestern and southwestern quoins of the nave are matched by a triangular head to a window above the chancel arch. Further evidence internally within the arcades show that the church once had a cruciform layout having been later modified to its present nave, chancel & western tower. Whilst later changes have obscured the precise dating of the earlier church it is clear that most of the fabric dates from 13th & 14th centuries before modification. The western tower, in particular, has had a near catastrophic existence, repaired firstly in 1718, the spire rebuilt in 1807 had to be re-done again in 1957. The major restoration of Victorian times took place in the early 1890s when as well as a general refresh the chancel was rebuilt further masking the dating details. Towcester Road is sufficiently wide to permit street parking, the churchyard sits above road height with the church building inset into it along with a sunken pathway leading to the main door. Sadly the church sits very close to the southern boundary so the better views are from across Towcester Road.