England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Thorpe Malsor St Leonard

The Parish

The parish of Thorpe Malsor lies in the northern part of central Northamptonshire. Thorpe Malsor is about 2 miles west of the town of Kettering. Thorpe Malsor lies just south of the major A14 route which crosses the East Midlands. There is little to Thorpe Malsor just a collection of cottages and farms gathered close by to its hall on a loop road south of the Kettering to Loddington lane. The landscape hereabouts is quite rolling with small fields dominated by pastoral farming albeit with a good portion of arable thrown in for variation. Thorpe Malsor sits at about 110 metres above sea level on a low ridge above two small reservoirs, Thorpe Malsor Reservoir to the north and Cransley Reservoir to the south. Both dam small tributaries of the River Ise a river which eventually flows through Kettering and joins the Nene at Wellingborough. The parish is a relatively small one even by southern standards being around 1,000 acres in extent and supported just under 300 parishioners. In Domesday times the parish was equally small, being held by one Fulcher of Paris and supporting a mere 3 ploughs.

The Church

St Leonard's church sits on the southern side of the loop road at the edge of the parkland of Thorpe Malsor hall, it is clear the hall had much influence in the parish, this was probably a closed parish as a result. Pevsner dates the building to a period covering the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The main style of the building is that of the Decorated period which places the building at an early phase of church building in the region. The rather tall spired tower seems to dominate being rather too tall for the rest of the building. The church was much altered by an 1870s restoration which added the north chapel and some features carrying Early English style details out of kilter with the rest of the building. St Leonard's sits behind a low local stone wall with entrance gained by a pair of iron gates leading to a tarred pathway. The site is open to the north but rather enclosed on the other sides making for tricky photography given the sun angles.