England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
North Collingham All Saints

The Parish

The parish of North Collingham lies in the extreme east of Nottinghamshire forming a stretch of the border with neighbouring Lincolnshire, the parish is unusual in sitting to the east of the River Trent, which frequently provides the county boundary, thus more in common with Lincolnshire than its mother county. North Collingham is located roughly 5 miles north of the large town of Newark on Trent and sits on the A1133 road which follows east of the Trent from Newark through towards Gainsborough. The twin parishes of North & South Collingham are united today into a single rather large village which spreads along the A1133 for over a mile with most properties either along that road or to its east, incongruously both parish churches sit to its west. North Collingham sits at the break of slope where land rises gently away from the flood-plain of the Trent, just sufficient height to keep dry during historical flooding events. The riverside location gave North Collingham a mixed farming regime, the western part of the parish being pastoral, the eastern arable. Modern developments have come to the area, the branch railway line between Newark & Lincoln passing through and giving Collingham a station. In addition the ancient Roman Fosse Way, now followed by the A46, has been upgraded to fast dual carriageway between those two places. The Trent drains the parish northwards, merging with Yorkshire's Dales rivers to meet the North Sea through the Humber Estuary, North Collingham is sited at around 10 metres above the sea in rather gentle terrain where a spot height of 36 metres on the A46 represents the highest land hereabouts. At just over 1,,800 acres North Collingham parish was fairly typically sized for its area, within said acreage would have been roughly 900 parishioners. In Domesday times too the Collinghams were recorded in one entry, shared bu Peterborough Abbey & Ralph de Limesy the population was sufficiently large to be amongst the largest 20% of settlements recorded in that book, the combined assets included 16 ploughs, the usual meadows & woodland and 2 mills, presumably on the banks of the Trent.

The Church

All Saints' church sits west of the A1133 in the smaller area of the village, but roughly centrally within the bounds of North Collingham, it is usually accessed along Church Lane which heads a short distance west from the A1133. All Saints shows some traces of the earliest periods of church building, pre-Conquest long-and-short work being exhibited in the first stage of the western tower has a late 11th or early 12th century date. The highlights of the church, namely its elaborate arcades come from the 13th century, each differing in design but both are Early English Gothic in style. The Early English Gothic also can be found in the chancel responds whilst two round-arched windows proudly displayed on the southern face are 12th century Norman Romanesque. The church has received two major rebuilding events since those early times, one medieval and the other the usual Victorian intervention. The late 14th century through to the 16th century saw many Perpendicular style additions or replacements, most windows were replaced, the new top & pinnacles appeared on the tower and latest still a clerestory was inserted. By contrast the two Victorian campaigns, of 1859 & 1897, did relatively little to change the overall appearance of the church although the nave roof was replaced in the latter phase. Church Lane meets Low Street and the church sits in the corner between them, Low Street is adequately wide enough for street parking. A neat lychgate sat at the junction grants entry to the churchyard, sadly there is a plethora of trees around, in particular removing the favoured southeastern aspect and making for a challenging subject for the photographer.