England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
North Clifton St George

The Parish

The parish of North Clifton, which includes South Clifton, lies in the extreme east of Nottinghamshire forming an extensive length of the border with neighbouring Lincolnshire. North Clifton, together with Thorney parish, project into Lincolnshire territory as a peninsula of Nottinghamshire land to the east of the course of the Trent, geographically the two are more in common with Lincolnshire than their designated county. North Clifton is located roughly 12 miles north of Newark on Trent and 10 miles west of the city of Lincoln and stands a quarter mile west of the A1133, a linking road which links the A156 (Lincoln to Gainsborough) road with the A46 (Lincoln to Newark) road and parallels the course of the Trent. North and South Clifton stands as discrete villages roughly 1 1/2 miles apart, the parish church standing roughly half way in mediation between the two. Both are small compact villages, historically North Clifton was the larger but today South Clifton is slightly larger. Almost 3 miles to the east stands Harby, a chapelry which was not licensed for marriages during the transcript period, a small linear village almost on the county border. Much of the parish acreage sits upon alluvial deposits dropped by the ever-changing course of the Trent in earlier times, today levees protect both communities from the frequent flooding of the past, the resulting soils are rich and fertile supporting roughly equal amounts of arable and pastoral farming. Modern developments have come and gone from the parish, a railway line linking Lincoln with Ollerton having closed and been largely dismantled ran just north of the church on high embankments. North Clifton is, of course, drained northwards by the Trent as it heads for the Humber Estuary and to the North Sea. North Clifton is sited at below 10 metres above the sea, as is most of the parish, the church stands on a small knoll at 10 metres the highest ground for several miles in a flat landscape. North Clifton parish covered almost 4,000 acres so was an extensive parish which supported a population of close to 1,050 parishioners. North Clifton is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

Church Lane connects the two villages and roughly half way along it, where the lane performs an abrupt right-angled turn, stand St George's church. Whilst the church undoubtedly has its origins in the 13th century there was also clearly a major rebuild in the 15th to create today's church. Two main areas of the church show the Early English Gothic style of the 13th century, the chancel complete with a characteristic lancet window and the 4-bay northern arcade with keeled responds. Most other windows of the main body are Perpendicular in style or later. The western tower is from the later Perpendicular period of the late 15th century and comes complete with the battlements and pinnacles which often come with that dating. Apart from a pair of flat-headed windows in the nave's southern wall which are either 17th or 18th century there was little change until a typical Victorian restoration of 1873 which did not add substantially to the fabric. The verge outside the churchyard is worn from frequent parking and provides space for several vehicles. The churchyard, screened from the road by a belt of trees, is entered through an elaborate archway bearing the motto "I am the resurrection & the life", once within there are no obstacles whatsoever for the photographer.