England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Bugthorpe St Andrew

The Parish

The parish of Bugthorpe lies in southeastern Yorkshire, within the East Riding but close to its border with the North Riding, roughly 7 miles north of the market town of Pocklington. Bugthorpe sits about 1 mile north of the A166 road which links the city of York with Great Driffield. Bugthorpe is a small linear village sitting in a shallow valley with most properties lining a lane which parallels the Bugthorpe Beck. Many of the properties carry the characteristics of a planned estate village and the village has an attractive sloping village green. Bugthorpe sits on stiff clay soils below the escarpment of the Yorkshire Wolds which rise to its east, that clay gave soils more suited to pastoral farming until modern machinery changed the landscape to more arable. Bugthorpe is drained westwards by the Bugthorpe Beck, this stream changes its name to Skirpen Beck & then Barlam Beck before it reaches the River Derwent. The Derwent heads south eventually meeting the Yorkshire Ouse and passing through into the Humber Estuary and to the North Sea. Bugthorpe is sited at around 50 metres above the sea, eastern views are dominated by the rising ground of the Yorkshire Wolds which climb sharply to 246 metres on Bishop Wilton Wold, the highest ground around. Bugthorpe parish was quite a small parish in this area covering just under 2,000 acres it would have supported a population of close to 300 parishioners. In Domesday times Bugthorpe was shared between the Archbishop of York and a bowman Odo, the assets totalled just 2 ploughs and some meadows indicating a small farming manor of just 5 households.

The Church

St Andrew's church stands at the main junction of the village where Barf Lane meets the Main Street. Whilst there is masonry from the earliest times that early medieval history is masked by later medieval and modern rebuilding. It is only internally that the 12th century Norman Romanesque arch that stands between nave and chancel is revealed, strangely the church has a second chancel arch east of the Norman one, a reflection of partly completed rebuilding. The church was first rebuilt around c1300 when the Decorated style was in vogue, the 4-bat chancel dates from this period as did the northern chancel chapel, that piece shows throwbacks lancets despite being early 14th century before being rebuilt using the original materials in 1905. Later medieval periods are represented by the unbuttressed western tower which is Perpendicular in style. The more modern times reflects a plethora of change at the behest of the local Lord of the Manor, Lord Halifax. The nave was rebuilt and enlarged in 1859, the upper stages of the tower were rebuilt in 1878, the northern chancel chapel restored to its medieval design in 1905 and most of the interior restored and refurbished in 1937. Main Street is of ample width to support on-street parking outside the churchyard which is devoid of significant obstacles for the photographer.