England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Brinklow St John the Baptist

The Parish

The parish of Brinklow lies in northeastern Warwickshire roughly 6 miles east of the cathedral city of Coventry. Brinklow sits on the B4027 road which connects Coventry with the Leicestershire town of Lutterworth. Brinklow  has a lot of history, it sits on the ancient and very important Roman Road of Fosse Way which connected Gloucester with Lincoln, it was important to the Romans and where they created a garrisoned fort to defend this strategic route. Years later the same site drew attention from the Normans and they constructed a typical motte and bailey castle on top; only the impressive earthworks remain today of this former castle. In the reign of King John Brinklow  was of sufficient importance to be granted a market but this has long disappeared overwhelmed by the importance of nearby Coventry. Brinklow  has an odd shape a reversed "L" shape with most properties lining either the B4027 or the ancient Fosse way, itself. Brinklow, at the time of this transcript, would have been a typical farming community, early gazetteers estimate the balance as 2:1 in favour of pastoral over arable methods. Modern developments have come to the parish, the Oxford Canal was first to arrive passing east and then north of the village, the Trent Valley Railway line between Rugby and Nuneaton soon followed and took a rather similar route. Just grazing the northern edge of the parish is the modern M6 motorway on its way to the north of the country. To Brinklow's northwest lay a large extra-parochial area of Camberfields, most working this area were, however, based in Brinklow village. Brinklow  sits just a few miles north of the River Avon to which numerous small streams run, the Avon heads westwards until meeting the Severn at Tewkesbury and turning south to eventually reach the Bristol Channel through the Severn Estuary. Brinklow  is sited at around 90 metres above the sea in what is the highest ground for some distance in a plateau-like area. Covering just under 1,400 acres Brinklow  parish was fairly typically sized for its area, that acreage would have supported a population of around 800 parishioners. DEspite all of the above history Brinklow  is not actually mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St John's church sits on the eastern side of the route of Fosse Way towards the northern edge of the village. The church has two distinct medieval eras revealed by Pevsner's interpretation. The earliest part of the church is its eastern end where the chancel is of the 13th century Early English Gothic styling, lancet styled windows characteristic of this period are shown on both northern and southern faces. Everything west of the chancel arch, however, is later and Perpendicular in style dominated by the great western tower which looms above the road. The arcades give the clue to the age of the rebuild, being narrow, a feature of the 15th century rather than the latter half of the 14th. The church sits upon a sloping site as shown by the rising floor levels from east to west. A typical Victorian restoration was received, here in 1862 and whilst mainly respectful of the medieval it did introduce some whimsical touches such as the "pastry-cutting" surrounds to some windows. The Crescent is wide enough for careful parking outside the churchyard which is entered by a rising footpath from metal gates at the northern end, the churchyard is mostly free of obstacles for the photographer.