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

The Parish

The parish of Normanby lies in central Yorkshire, within the North Riding but close to its southern border with the East Riding. Normanby is located about 4 miles southwest of the market town of Pickering. Normanby sits on the western banks of the River Seven, its main properties running either side of the main street (Malton Road) which parallels the river, a small village and quite strung out on a north to south axis. Normanby sits within a broad area devoid of significant numbered roads, the closes being the A170 road (some 3 miles to the north) which connects Pickering with Helmsley & Thirsk. A small farming settlement, Normanby would have been largely arable but being close to the Seven would have enabled pastures alongside and within the water-meadows. The Seven drains the parish southwards soon joining the Rye and then the Derwent as it makes its way towards the Humber Estuary, shortly before reaching this the Yorkshire Ouse takes the final reaches to that estuary. Normanby is sited at around 30 metres above the sea in its riverside setting, it sits at the foot of an isolated rounded hill, a glacial remnant known as a "drumlin", there are several in this area reaching local heights of a little over 70 metres in otherwise fairly flat countryside. Normanby parish was one of the smaller in this area, covering just 2,300 acres it would have supported a population of close to 250 parishioners. In Domesday times Normanby was largely held  by one Hugh the son of Baldric with a small share retained by the King, a small place even then it could offer just 7 ploughs but was assessed as having greater potential.

The Church

St Andrew's church sits at the heart of the village on the eastern side of Malton Road. A simple church, as befits a small community, consisting of nave & chancel topped by a double bellcote. Given the work that has occurred during Victorian times it is difficult to assess the age of the building but Pevsner does note traces of the 12th century Norman Romanesque, the northern arcade and chancel arch plus scattered remnants elsewhere are of this era. A single Perpendicular window reset into the chancel north wall was obviously the main east window at one time. Everything else dates from the restoration of the 1890s, Pevsner describes this tartly as "re-mediaevalised" . Malton Road is broad enough for careful parking, the church sits within a churchyard bounded by a low local stone wall and the churchyard is relatively free of photographic obstacles.