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

The Parish

The parish of Harlestone lies in central Northamptonshire about 4 miles northwest of Northampton, Harlestone sits on the A428 road which connects Northampton through to Rugby in Warwickshire. Whilst there are a few properties alongside the main road much of Harlestone is scattered in clusters of cottages and farms with a notable congregation around school and church. At the time of this transcript Harlestone would have been underpinned by farming, here a mixture of both arable and pastoral would have been in place; there was also some employment in the local quarrying of stone for building, that stone seen to good advantage in the church. Modern developments did arrive in Harlestone, the Northampton to Rugby rail line passing to the north of the parish, there being no station here this did not aid development of the village. A small tributary of the River Nene drains Harlestone southeast the short distance to join it, from just south of Northampton it is a long journey to the North Sea to reach it through the Wash. Harlestone is sited at around 90 metres above the sea in rolling countryside, local heights rise a further 50 metres or so within a couple of miles. Harlestone parish was fairly typically sized for this area, covering just short of 2,500 acres it would have supported a population of almost 650 parishioners. In Domesday times Harlestone was shared three ways, King William retained a portion whilst the remainder was held by Count Robert of Mortain & William Peverel, collectively there were 8 ploughs, small meadows but there was a mill.

The Church

St Andrew's church sits west of the A428 and roughly a quarter mile northwest of the notional centre of the village, a complex site surrounded by the grounds of Harlestone School and a major golf club. The church is entirely in the Decorated style albeit modified in later times, in this instance documentary evidence exists which dates the completion of the build to the year 1325, an unusual survival which complements the normal assumptions regarding the period covered by that style. The church was completed in a single-phase build starting with the un-buttressed western tower and flowing eastwards. The only significant changes came in late-Perpendicular times when a clerestory was added to increase the internal light and in Victorian times when the usual restoration took place. The eastern window added at that time is, at least, faithful to a late 13th century period. Church Lane leads westwards from the Church Brampton crossroads on the A428, signed to school and church, it leads to a car park from where one must proceed on foot the 200 metres or so to the churchyard which is open, uncluttered and with no obstacles to photograph.