England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Great Houghton St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Great Houghton lies in southern Northamptonshire roughly 2 1/2 miles southeast of the county town of Northampton. Great Houghton sits between a hundred yards and almost 3/4s of a mile south of the A428 road which links Northampton with Bedford. From that statistic it can be derived that Great Houghton is a linear village with properties mainly lining its High Street which runs southwards from the A428. Great Houghton sits on the southern edge of the floodplain of the River Nene with much of the parish acreage pasture land as a consequence, indeed early gazetteers estimated only 20% of the parish acreage as set to arable, the percentage has certainly increased on the drier areas of the parish. Modern developments have come and gone from the parish, a branch railway line linking Northampton to Olney in Buckinghamshire passing through but now closed and largely dismantled with only a few bridges and cutting to remind of its past presence. A small stream connects Great Houghton with the River Nene through some gravel pits, the Nene heads eastwards and then northeastwards passing Wellingborough & Peterborough before crossing the Fens to the Wash and the North Sea. Great Houghton is sited on the slopes of the Nene's valley rising from 60 to 100 metres above the sea during its 3/4s of a mile length, once away from the valley much of the land sits between 100 & 110 metres above the sea in gently undulating terrain. Covering just under 1,800 acres Great Houghton was typically sized for its area, that acreage would have supported a population of close to 350 parishioners. In Domesday Book Great Houghton was returned together with its smaller neighbour Little Houghton collectively they made it into the top 20% of settlement by population, shared principally by Bishop Odo of Bayeux and Countess Judith their assets of 11 ploughs backed by meadows & woodland and 2 mills made them a moderately wealthy holding.

The Church

St Mary's church sits towards the northern end of the village on the western side of the High Street. The church is a relatively modern construction having been completed almost at the same time as the commencement of the transcript period, in 1755. The western tower is the church's showpiece, it begins as a typical square tower then erupts into an octagonal stage filled with Tuscan-styled columns leading up to a more typical spire. The main body of the church consists of a 3-bay nave with no aisles leading to a chancel with Venetian styled windows. Despite the relatively modern construction the Victorian era saw a restoration which receives some criticism from Pevsner for modifying the Georgian windows by inserting faux-Norman subdivisions. The church stands above road height with the road passing difficult of parking, on-street parking may be found in The Cross opposite. Ramps lead from north and south to the gates to a churchyard which has some thick trees close to the southern side of the church restricting the favoured aspects to views along the church, further trees hug the northwestern corner of the church but most other angles are free for the photographer.