England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Trowell St Helen

The Parish

The parish of Trowell lies in the extreme west of Nottinghamshire, indeed it forms part of the border with neighbouring Derbyshire. Trowell is located about 5 miles west of the city of Nottingham and sits on the A609 road which connects that city with Ilkeston. Much of Trowell is squeezed between the Nottingham Canal and the River Erewash in an almost continuous swathe of built-up area traversed by canal, railways and the modern M1 which forms the southeastern boundary of the village. At the time of this transcript Trowell would have been a farming community, dominated by pastoral farming but with some arable present. The Erewash drains the parish southwards soon joining the Trent to the east of Long Eaton and thence to the North Sea though the Humber Estuary. Trowell, in its valley setting is sited at around 50 metres above the sea, it sits in undulating countryside where local heights rise to over 130 metres a couple of miles to the south. Trowell parish is typical of the smaller parishes found in the southern half of Nottinghamshire, it covered about 1,600 acres and would have supported a population of almost 400 parishioners. In Domesday times Trowell was shared four ways, the Normans, William the usher and Ernwin the priest and rather remarkably two Saxons, Healfdene & Aelfric; collectively the parish could offer 8 ploughs and some small meadows making it still a relatively small place.

The Church

St Helen's church sits at the junction of the A609 with the A6007 which runs southwards to Stapleford. The church's origins lie in the 13th century with features of the Early English Gothic period present, notably the lancets in the north wall of the chancel and unusual detail in the porch. A century later the arcade is more characteristic of the Decorated period whereas the remainder of the building including the familiar western tower is in the Perpendicular style of that great church-building era. Pevsner does not offer a date but 15th century realistic. A significant restoration of the 1890s is also typical of many churches and resulted in today's building. The church sits behind a low local stone wall with entrances on Stapleford Road & Nottingham Road. The church is rather crammed into the northern corner of its site making some images best taken from outside the otherwise open churchyard.