England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Brington All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Brington lies in the extreme west of Huntingdonshire forming part of the county's border with neighbouring Northamptonshire. Brington is located roughly 5 miles north of the small town of Kimbolton and stands about a half mile north of the busy A14 road which links Huntingdon with Kettering. Brington is a small village built around a "Y" shaped set of lanes, the main properties line the dead-end western branch which heads for the church with a few more on the eastern branch. A whole new development has recently been created close to the edge of the former airfield of neighbouring Molesworth expanding the village.  Like most parishes in this area Brington is an arable farming parish, the soils sitting on the ironstone of the Jurassic era providing very suitably for the growing of cereals. The upgrading of the A14 road to modern fast dual-carriageway is the only modern development to come to the parish, this road takes heavy traffic from the East Coast ports to the motorway network of M6 & M1. Brington is drained southeastwards by small brooks which meet the Great Ouse at Huntingdon, from here water crosses the Fens to reach the North Sea through the Norfolk port of King's Lynn and The Wash. Brington is sited at around 50 metres above the sea in gently rolling countryside, to the north on the former airfield is the highest land close by at just over 70 metres. Brington parish is small and thin on an east to west basis, covering just over 1,00 acres it would have supported a population of around 150 parishioners. Domesday Brington was equally a small rural farming holding of Ramsey Abbey, it offered 7 ploughs and a small meadow as assets.

The Church

All Saints' church sits on Brington's western lane (Church Lane) which ends just beyond the site but continuing westwards as a footpath to neighbouring Molesworth. All Saints is largely a product of the early 14th century, the Decorated era being dominant in its construction. The church's stand-out feature is, of course, it slender tower and spire purely in the Decorated style but with throwback lancets on its western face. Also from the same time period is the nave with a sumptuously detailed southern window. Completing the Decorated elements is the southern doorway. There is no doubt that the chancel, too, was originally from a single early 14th century build but it received the attention of the Victorian restorers in 1869 when it  was entirely rebuilt, the height of the chancel is unusual in standing taller than the neighbouring nave giving a curiously odd skyline. Church Lane is narrow but thankfully has a turning area by the churchyard and parking in an access path to the gates. The churchyard stands above road height with a sloping path rising to the church. Whilst there are trees in the southern aspects they are readily avoided by the photographer.