England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Ryhall St John the Evangelist

The Parish

The parish of Ryhall lies in the extreme east of Rutland, part of a peninsula of Rutland land which penetrates into that of neighbouring Lincolnshire, Ryhall parish crosses that peninsula from north to south thus forming 2 border with Lincolnshire. Ryhall is located roughly 2 miles north of the Lincolnshire town of Stamford and on and mostly east of the A6121 road which links Stamford with Bourne. Ryhall is enclosed on 3 sides by a meander of the River Gwash, the main road and the lane headed for Greatford enclose it to the south, the village forms a rough oval within those enclosures. In addition to the mid-sized village of Ryhall the parish also included the subsidiary settlement of Belmesthorpe sitting across the Gwash to the southeast. The parishes location on the edges of the floodplain of the Gwash gave it access to richer riverside pastures for cattle whilst the drier areas to the south are intensely arable with the usual cereals, oil seed and beet dominant. Modern developments did come to the parish but have gone, a branch line once reached Stamford from the northeast joining the main East Coast Main line but it has closed leaving only bridges, embankments and cuttings. Ryhall is drained southwards by the Gwash the short distance to meet the Welland which heads off eastwards across Fenland to reach the North Sea through The Wash. Ryhall is sited at around 30 metres above the sea in its valley setting, land rises across the Gwash to the north and west, a spot height of 83 metres marking the highest ground. Ryhall parish was typically sized for Rutland covering just under 2,600 acres it would have supported a population of close to 850 parishioners. Domesday Ryhall was equally a mid-sized farming manor, held by Countess Judith it offered 11 ploughs backed by meadows & woodland and the Gwash powered 3 mills.

The Church

St John's church stands on the western side of Church Street which forms the main north to south artery through the village, the church is towards the northern end of the village. Later medieval work on the church gives it the appearance of being a Perpendicular church of the late 14th or 15th centuries, internally a differing story emerges. Pevsner identifies the chancel, the tower arches and the 3-bat arcades as being 13th century Early English Gothic in style, a similar date emerges for the tower and its broach spire. Historic England places both the tower & southern arcade as mid 13th century with the northern arcade perhaps preceding them. The major addition of the 14th century was the completion of the spectacular double sedilia within the chancel dating from c1330 to c1340. The exterior of the chancel and aisles appears to have been reworked in the Perpendicular style at or close to c1400 with the southern porch added soon after. Most else appears to have been reworked at the same time creating the external visual appearance. A typical Victorian restoration came in 1857 without adding significantly to the overall layout. St John's Close sits opposite the church offering quiet on-street parking, the churchyard is raised to shoulder height above the road level with accesses at both northern and southern ends, the churchyard has a few clumps of trees, often in inconvenient locations, meaning some searching is required by the photographer to find the better angles.