England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Whixley The Ascension

The Parish

The parish of Whixley lies in south central Yorkshire within the West Riding but close to its border with the North Riding, Whixley is located about 6 miles east of the large town of Knaresborough and sits just over a mile north of the A59 road which connects Knaresborough through to the city of York. Whixley is a substantial village split into two distinct clumps by the small beck, Whixley Cut, that runs through the centre, the southeastern portion of the village sits on an ancient Roman Road, Ebor Way. The parish was a rich farming district, mainly arable with cereals and root crops dominating on the rich loam soils. Today Whixley is still very much a rural community despite the modern A1M motorway running just over 2 miles to its west. The Whixley Cut drains eastwards soon joining the Yorkshire Ouse, passing through York this reaches the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Whixley is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in gently undulating terrain with local heights rising to little more than 60 metres within a few miles. Whixley parish was fairly typically sized for this area, covering just about 2,200 acres it would have supported a population of close to 950 parishioners. In Domesday times Whixley was almost frontier country, nominally held by Osborn d'Arques it was described as largely "waste" but with potential for 13 ploughs. 

The Church

The church of the Ascension is rather tucked away within the northwestern segment of the village accessed by a dead-end lane heading northwards and sitting behind the grounds of the hall. Whixley Hall is a 17th century house, the seat of the prominent local Tancred family. Ascension church has its origins in the 12th century albeit only a single window survives from that era. The remainder is almost completely a rebuild from the period 1300 to 1310 and described as a rarity by Pevsner as it is unusual for a village church to be of a single building phase. The period of build sits squarely within the time period of the Decorated style and those motifs dominate the building. Later work includes just the belfy stage to the tower in Perpendicular style whilst the usual restoration in Victorian times, in this case the 1860s, saw the roofing replaced on the nave. Ax you head northwestwards along West Lane a wooden signboard indicates the dead-end lane leading to the church where some parking is present. A lychgate grants entry to a churchyard which has numerous obstacles restricting the photographic angles available and making for a tricky subject.