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

The Parish

The parish of Laughton lies in central East Sussex about 5 miles east of the market town of Lewes. Laughton is a small and rather dispersed settlement which sits on the B2124, a road which shortens the distance between Lewes and Hailsham connecting A22 & A26. Much of Laughton is spread across the adjacent areas of Laughton Common to the north of that B road. At the time of this transcript Laughton would have been a farming community albeit there was some local quarrying of "Sussex marble" for ornamental stonework. The parish contains parts of the unproductive Wealden sands and also parts of the marshier ground formed by numerous small streams draining slowly westwards into the Glynde Reach (Laughton Levels), each habitat would have been more suited to pastoral farming. Those numerous streams drain the parish westwards, the Glynde Reach joins the Sussex Ouse to the south of Lewes and thence to the English Channel through the port of Newhaven. Laughton is sited between 10 and 30 metres above the sea, the area around the church being lower, land rises gently to the Weald to Laughton's north with local heights rising only to 50 metres or so within a few miles. Laughton parish, like many of the Weald, was fairly large for a southern parish, it covered almost 5,100 acres and would have supported a population of around 800 parishioners. In Domesday time laughton was a much more significant place, among the largest 20% of settlements recorded in that book. Shared between the Count of Eu and Robert of Mortain the parish collectively could offer an impressive 33 ploughs and no fewer than 16 salthouses making for a very wealthy holding.

The Church

All Saints church sits on the southern edge of the village accessed along the narrow Church Lane southwards for almost a half mile from the B2124. The church consists of three main ages of construction. The nave is the earliest portion, its pair of lancet windows betraying its Early English Gothic origins which place it to the 13th century. Both the western tower and the chancel arch are Perpendicular and late 14th or early 15th century in date. The chancel was, however, rebuilt in the late 18th century and is the latest portion of the building. The styling of the chancel is confusing as its fits neither the Perpendicular date of the arch nor the typical style of the 18th century. The church sits behind a low flint wall on the eastern side of Church Lane, there is a small pull-in for parking by the gates. The churchyard has a few scattered trees mostly bordering the site so thus not interfering with photographic angles.