England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Broughton in Craven All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Broughton, the suffix "in Craven" added to distinguish from other parishes of the same name, lies in western Yorkshire not to far from the county's border with neighbouring Lancashire. Broughton is located roughly 3 1/2 miles west of the market town of Skipton and stands on the A59 road which links Skipton with Preston in Lancashire. Broughton is a distributed parish with no real village, the hall, long-time home of the Tempest family and begun in the 14th century, sits across the Broughton Beck from the A59 marking the eastern end of a loose aggregation of properties, the parish church stands a half mile west, also south of the A59, accompanied by a farmhouse. The main settlement within the parish is the hamlet of Elslack which sits on the A56 road which heads from the A59 towards Colne and has an inn and a few farmsteads. Broughton sits just west of what is known as the "Aire Gap", a temporary lowering of the Pennine range and a noted route for thoroughfares, the hills around the parish are consequently lower than further south or north. Nevertheless the majority of the parish is pastoral, cattle in the valleys and sheep on the higher ground. Modern developments have had a mixed set of fortunes, the railway line linking Skipton with Colne having closed but that linking to Lancaster is till operational. The Broughton Beck drains the parish the short distance to the River Aire which heads determinedly southeast to Leeds and out onto the Vale of York eventually joining with the other Dales rivers to pass through the Humber Estuary to the North Sea. Broughton is sited at around 100 metres above the sea at the hall with the church some 20 metres higher, land rises southwards reaching 388 metres at Pinhaw Beacon which is traversed by the course of the Pennine Way National Trail which meanders through the parish to cross the A56  to the west of Elslack, the whole area being a network of public footpaths popular with hikers from the cities that surround the Pennines. Like most upland parishes Broughton was extensive, covering 3,950 acres it would have supported a population of close to 400 parishioners. In Domesday times Broughton was shared between Roger de Poitou and Berengar de Tosny and their collective assets totalled 8 ploughs, extensive meadows & woodland and there was a mill.

The Church

All Saints' church stands on Church Lane which links the A59 through to the farms of nearby Elslack. There has been a church on this site since before the Conquest but the earliest fabric that remains is from the 1th century, the southern doorway is a particularly fine piece of Late Norman Romanesque work, a portion of the south wall is also from a similar time period. The early 12th century church was much rebuilt in the classical church-building era of the 14th & 15th centuries, the stubby western tower has early 14th century Decorated style bell-openings whereas the remainder was rebuilt late and in the Perpendicular style. The main additions were the northern aisle and the typical clerestory to improve internal lighting. Two phases of Victorian intervention are recorded, the first of 1845 added the northern vestry and replaced the chancel roof whilst the second of 1873 replaced the nave roof and rebuilt the chancel. Whilst Church Lane is quite narrow there are ample spots where the verge is worn by regular parkers. The churchyard has a small wooden gate leading to a tarred pathway to the church, all of the southern favoured aspects are readily available for the photographer.