England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Plumpton St John the Baptist

The Parish

The parish of Plumpton lies in southwestern Northamptonshire about 7 miles west of the market town of Towcester. Plumpton sits in a broad area of the county with no major numbered roads, the closest to Plumpton being the A43 at Towcester as described. There is very little to Plumpton little more than 2 or 3 farms and a few cottages located on the narrow lane running from Weston to Blakesley. The parish would have been entirely arable at the time of this transcript and little has changed today. Plumpton is drained eastwards by the infant River Tove, this river heads southeastwards to join the Great Ouse close to Newport Pagnell and thence to the North Sea through The Wash. Plumpton is sited at around 150 metres above the sea and sits on something of a plateau with local heights barely reach 15 metres higher for some distance. Despite Plumpton's small population, its parishioners being less than 75 in number, it covered a fairly typical acreage of around 1,800 acres. In Domesday times Plumpton was equally small, held by Walter of Flanders its sole assets were 4 ploughs and a small meadow.

The Church

St John the Baptist's church sits behind fronting properties on the western side of the above mentioned lane between Weston & Blakesley. The church is, however, a Georgian rebuilding of the earlier mediaeval version with little retained from that former period. Pevsner notes the tower & chancel arches as being reused but it would seem that the work was otherwise almost a complete rebuild. The church was clearly of little architectural interest to Pevsner as his account is terse and limited to just 3 lines of text. As one approaches from Weston and meet the group of farmsteads marking Plumpton, a small green footpath and wrought iron gates marks the start of the path leading around behind to the church. The church is now maintained by charitable trusts and is open to visiting, the churchyard, once reached is open and free of photographic obstacles.