England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Sibbertoft St Helen

The Parish

The parish of Sibbertoft lies in northwestern Northamptonshire forming a short stretch of the border with neighbouring Leicestershire. Sibbertoft is located roughly 5 miles southwest of the Leicestershire market town of Market Harborough and sits almost 3 miles south of the A4034 road which connects Market Harborough with Lutterworth. Sibbertoft is a nucleated settlement, compact and grouped around a triangular intersection of narrow lanes. The countryside hereabouts is what would be termed "hunting country" a rolling landscape of mixed farming with small fields divided by tall hedges. Sibbertoft has a distinct heritage regarding drainage, the long length of the River Welland begins its course in the western section of the village, making its way northwest and then turning east to make its way through Stamford and Spalding to The Wash. Given its position at the headwaters it is not surprising that Sibbertoft sits almost at the highest grounds around, standing at 170 metres above the sea land rarely rises significantly higher for many miles. Sibbertoft parish was fairly typically sized for this area, covering almost exactly 2,000 acres it would have supported a population of just under 450 parishioners. In Domesday times Sibbertoft was a relatively small place, one of the many holdings of Count Robert of Mortain it could muster just 4 ploughs and a small meadow.

The Church

St Helen's church sits on the northern edge of the villahe on the west side of the lane leading towards Theddingworth. This is a church which received a major rebuild in Victorian times such that much would be unrecognisable to the participants of this transcript. Traces of the medieval remain only in a few places, Pevsner sites the chancel as originally of c1300 (e.g. Decorated in style) whilst the northern chapel retains its Perpendicular style. All else is as a result of a substantial rebuild in the early 1860s which largely replaced the original church with today's building. The lane is narrow but in places wide enough verges allow safe parking, entrance is at the southern edges of the site and the churchyard is open and uncluttered with few obstacles for the photographer.