England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Kelham St Wilfrid

The Parish

The parish of Kelham lies in east central Nottinghamshire not too far from its border with neighbouring Lincolnshire. Kelham is located about 2 miles northwest of the large market town of Newark on Trent and sits on the banks of that river. Kelham is a small and compact village sitting astride the A617 road which connects Newark on Trent with Mansfield and sitting on the western side of its crossing of the Trent on a picturesque bridge of brick built in 1857. Most of the village sits on the northern side of that road but the parish is dominated by the estate of Kelham Hall now a "venue" as a a country club & park. Kelham Hall has a certain notoriety as the last place slept by Charles I prior to surrendering to the Scottish Army during the English Civil War. Kelham would largely have earned its living, at the time of this transcript, from pastoral farming; cattle grazing on the flood plains of the Trent would have predominated. The Trent drains eastwards and eventually enters the sea through the Humber Estuary. Kelham is sited at just 10 metres above the sea and is surrounded by the broad flat plains of the Trent valley. Kelham parish was of a fairly typical size for the area, it covered just over 2,000 acres and would have supported about 170 parishioners. In Domesday times Kelham was shared by no less than 5 landholders, including, and rather unusually, a small portion still held by a Saxon. Kelham could offer 13 ploughs plus substantial meadows and woodland.

The Church

St Wilfrid's church sits in the ground of Kelham Hall, now a country club, and is best reached on foot from that venue's car park. The church is essentially entirely Perpendicular in style and probably represents a single build during the late mediaeval period of the 15th or early 16th centuries. The Lexington chapel was added to the building in the 18th century at the funding & behest of Robert Sutton, Lord Lexington, who died in 1723. The church is substantial as befits wealthy benefactors and comprises nave, chancel & western tower augmented with arcades. To reach the church, park in the Hall car park and with the hall facing you head right (south) along a tarred track to the churchyard which is not enclosed except by trees. Once inside there are few obstacles to photography.