England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Nunburnholme St James

The Parish

The parish of Nunburnholme lies in southern Yorkshire, west of the central part of the East Riding and roughly 5 miles north of the market town of Market Weighton. Nunburnholme sits a little over 2 miles south of the B1246 road which connects Pocklington through towards Great Driffield. Nunburnholme is a small strip village built long the the valley-side of the Nunburnholme Beck, most properties lie along the narrow lane that parallels the river. The "nun" of its name originates with the priory of Benedictine nuns which was founded here in c1150 and, of course, dissolved during Henry VIII's dissolution, today only a few earthworks remain to document the priory. Today the area is largely arable farming but at the time of this transcript sheep would have grazed the upper lands of the Wolds. The Nunburnholme Beck drains the parish westwards, joining with other small becks before reaching the Derwent, here matters turn southwards and the Derwent, like most Yorkshire rivers exits to the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Nunburnholme is sited at around 40 metres above the sea but land rises onto nearby Wolds reaching 165 metres on nearby Nunburnholme Wold. By Yorkshire standards Nunburnholme parish was on the small side, covering just under 1,500 acres it would have supported a population of close to 250 parishioners. In Domesday times Nunburnholme was a really small place, held directly by King William it could muster just  a pair of ploughs and a small wood but did have a mill.

The Church

St James' church sits at the western end of the strip of properties on the southern side of Church Lane. Whilst the church has been extensively modified over the centuries Pevsner is able to isolate the earliest fabric and note it origins in the immediate post-Conquest period. The nave dates to the 12th century and shows the Norman Romanesque architecture of that period. The chancel is later, from the first half of the 13th century and Early English Gothic in style, having dais that most of its windows were replaced in the Decorated style of the latter half of the same century leaving a single lancet. The Victorian restorers, in this case in the 1870s, thoroughly restored both nave and chancel and also added the southern porch. Work was not, however, complete, restorers in the 18th century had created a small bell-turret for the western end and in 1901 this was removed and today's western tower built to replace it, the tower echoes the Decorated style of the chancel windows. Church Lane is narrow but has sufficient verge to allow careful parking by the gates. A neatly cropped hedge surrounds the site broken by metal gates at the eastern end allowing entry to a churchyard with no obstructions for the photographer.