England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Stanford St Nicholas

The Parish

The parish of Stanford (usually named Stanford on Avon today to distinguish it) lies in the extreme northwest of Northamptonshire forming a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Leicestershire, Warwickshire, too, is not too far away. Stanford is located roughly 5 miles southeast of the Leicestershire town of Lutterworth and stands a mile north of the A14 road which crosses the area from Kettering to the M1 & M6 motorways. Stanford is a tiny place, sitting on the banks of the infant River Avon, it consists of a winding lane running south from the Avon's bridge for a few hundred yards. Stanford is a deserted village with the area of the former settlement now merely grassy mounds and humps and bumps in fields northeast of the church, the parish has the further deserted village of Downtown to the east adjacent to the Grand Union Canal, both are believed to mark the effects of the 1350 plague event. Stanford sits on a rather stiff and sticky clay hence the parish is almost totally pastoral being difficult to work before modern machinery. Modern developments abound, the Grand Union Canal between London & Birmingham passes through the east of the parish, a former railway line between Market Harborough & Rugby was created but has closed and the A14 is now a fast dual-carriageway highway with no exit for Stanford. Stanford is drained by the infant Avon which passes through much of Warwickshire and Worcestershire before meeting the Severn at Tewkesbury, the latter turns water southwards to eventually meet the Bristol Channel. Stanford is sited at around 100 metres above the sea in gently undulating terrain where Downtown Hill to the east marks the highest ground at 160 metres. Whilst Stanford was a typically sized parish of almost 2,100 acres it supported fewer than 50 parishioners. In Domesday time Stanford was equally small, held by Guy de Raimbeaucourt it offered merely 4 ploughs and a meadow.

The Church

St Nicholas church stands in the fork formed by Stanford Road and South Kilworth Road and almost on the banks of the Avon. The church is large and impressive, totally out of proportion to the size of its congregation. The core of the church is firmly within the period of the Decorated era having been largely built in a single campaign estimated to have run from c1300 to c1350. The church consists of an aisled nave, a dominant chancel and a western tower all built in a mixture of limestone, lias and ironstone with ashlar dressings. The church is noted for its fine array of medieval glass with examples from the 14th through to the 16th century. It is believed that the church was entirely Norman and whilst the chancel was adapted in the 14th century the remainder was completely rebuilt. The church has since escaped major changes with only the 16th or 17th century addition of pinnacles to the western tower disturbing the form, there is no record of a Victorian restoration. The grassy verges of the lane headed for South Kilworth provide safe parking adjacent to a churchyard which has no obstacles for the photographer whatsoever.