England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Flawborough St Peter

The Parish

The chapelry of Flawborough, its mother parish being Staunton in the Vale, lies in southeastern Nottinghamshire not too far from the 3-counties meet with both Lincolnshire and with Leicestershire. Flawborough is located roughly 8 miles south of Newark on Trent and sits just over 3 miles north of the A52 road which links Grantham with Nottingham. Flawborough is a tiny settlement, a short run of properties lining a narrow lane that sits on a low rise between the River Smite and the River Devon, the lane performs a right-angled bend at the former parish church. Flawborough sits at the northern end of the Vale of Belvoir which sits upon clay meaning the farming is more traditionally pastoral than arable in this area of the county. Modern developments have come and gone from the parish, a branch railway line between Newark and Bottesford having closed and been largely dismantled. Flawborough is drained northwards by the Smite which heads to meet the Trent at Newark joining that mighty river for its course to the Humber Estuary and hence to the North Sea. Flawborough is sited at around 30 metres above the sea in flattish terrain, a few spots to the west breach the 40 metre contour but only by a little. Only 955 acres of Staunton parish were assigned to Flawborough and they would only have supported a population of around 100 parishioners. Domesday Flawborough was shared between Roger de Bully and Walter d'Aincourt with collective assets totalling 9 ploughs and some small meadows.

The Church

St Peter's church was declared redundant in 2009 it is now managed by the Churches Conservation Trust who maintain access to the churchyard too. Whilst there has been a church here since early medieval times, the reset piscina is 13th century in style and the reset doorway on the western side is 12th century Norman, today's church dates largely from a rebuild of 1840 which is proclaimed by an inscription.  The church was rebuilt not in the traditional flint but in brick which includes the western tower where stone pinnacles and the parapet are highlights. Where the lane performs its right-angled bend there is a small parking area outside the metal gates of the churchyard. The church is completely masked from here by thick tree cover and that is also a theme within the churchyard where only careful selection of angles allows adequate views.