England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Nassington St Mary & All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Nassington lies in northeastern Northamptonshire forming a stretch, here met by the River Nene, of the border with neighbouring Huntingdonshire, it is also close to borders with Rutland & Lincolnshire. Nassington is located roughly 8 miles south of the Lincolnshire market town of Stamford and around 6 miles north of Oundle, it sits about 3 miles west of the A1, the Great North Road linking London with Edinburgh. A prominent broad lane heads south from the A1 at Wansford headed for Oundle, Nassington has properties either along that lane or westwards in a curving right-angle of lanes passing the church. Like most rural parishes in eastern England, Nassington was primarily an arable farming parish, the presence of the water-meadows of the nearby Nene would also have given it rich pastures for the grazing of cattle. Modern developments have come and gone from Nassington, a railway line headed westwards from Peterborough and passing just north of the village has since closes, it is a heritage line, the Nene Valley Railway, as far as Wansford. The Nene drains the parish northwards, crossing the Fens to meet the North Sea through The Wash. Nassington is sited at, on a rising valley-side site, between 15 & 35 metres above the sea with land rising away from the river to local high spots of around 60 metres nearby in gently rolling terrain. Nassington was fairly typically sized for a lowland arable parish, covering close to 1,500 acres it would have supported a population of close to 700 parishioners. In Domesday times Nassington was a holding of King William, himself, and a wealthy one at that; offering 16 ploughs, meadows and extensive woodlands it also had 2 mills along the Nene.

The Church

The parish church, it appears to have fluctuated in dedication between St Mary, All Saints and the combined pair, sits at the apex of the right-angled bend in Church Street which curves sharply from a westerly to northerly course around the churchyard. The church is a very early one, perhaps pre-Conquest in some of its fabric. Pevsner highlights the nave as of Saxon origin, declining to assign a date whereas National Heritage assign it to the 11th century. The impressive western tower is of more certain date with Pevsner placing it in the late Norman Romanesque period, a style which was concurrent during 11th & 12th centuries. The northern doorway is contemporary with the tower whilst the tower's western equivalent shows dog-tooth mouldings of the later Early English Gothic period, early 13th century. The church's aisle were added during what was clearly a major expansion of that period in the 13th century. The 14th century brought more changes, a few windows were replaced in the early 14th century Decorated style but the late 14th century Perpendicular is well-marked in the fabric. That western tower had its upper stages either added or replaced and both chancel and the typical clerestory were added too. The final medieval flourish was the addition of the spire to crown that western tower giving an elegance that was perhaps lacking beforehand. The major Victorian restoration of 1885 is described by Pevsner as "tactful", the closest the great man comes to a complement for such things. Church Street is amply spacious for street parking around the churchyard, which is raised to almost head-height behind a local stone wall. The main entrance rises on a sloping pathway from the northwestern corner, whilst the church has bordering trees enclosing the eastern end that are, just, sufficiently far back to allow adequate views for the photographer.