England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Illston on the Hill St Michael

The Parish

The chapelry of Illston on the Hill, its mother parish being Carlton Curlieu (curiously Illston on the Hill is actually a larger settlement than Carlton Curlieu today), lies in southeastern Leicestershire roughly 9 miles north of the market town of Market Harborough. Illston on the Hill sits about a mile west of the B6047 road which links Market Harborough with Melton Mowbray. Illston on the Hill is a small village with a compact head and a long southwestward running tail in Main Street leading past the village's church and inn. As its name suggests the village sits atop a hill with commanding views across a landscape beloved by the hunting fraternity, tiny pastured fields separated by thick hedges; a few more fields are turning arable and enlarging in lane with national trends of modern times. Illston on the Hill is drained southwestwards by a small tributary of the River Sence, when that river is met water turns south and then back west to meet the Soar in southern Leicester, the Soar is one of the main tributaries of the Trent which is joined to make the long journey to the North Sea arriving through the Humber Estuary. Illston on the Hill's summit reaches 176 metres the highest ground for some distance in rolling countryside. Roughly 1,300 acres, a normal size for a small parish in this area, was assigned to Illston on the Hill chapelry which would have supported a population of close to 150 parishioners. Domesday entries for Illston on the Hill are complicated by a regional entry but the remainder, shared 3 ways, probably represents the manor, itself. Just 6 ploughs and some meadows as assets reveal a similar small rural farming settlement.

The Church

St Michael's church sits on the western side of Main Street just over 100 yards from the main junction within the core of the village. The western tower is the most elderly of the remaining fabric in the church, there was a major restoration, almost a rebuild, in Victorian times; the tower has lancet styled belfry windows which confirm its date to the 13th century Early English Gothic period. Contemporary with the western tower some Geometrical styled tracery confirms that some of the chancel windows remain from the 13th century despite the restoration. Other traces remain of the later Perpendicular period notably the clerestory and windows on the northern face of the nave and in the aisles. The Victorian restoration of 1866-7 was a thorough affair which gave particular attention to the chancel, rebuilding both eastern and northern walls of that feature as well as refreshing much else around the building. Main Street is adequately wide enough for safe on-street parking outside the churchyard which is walled by a pretty brick wall made of differing coloured bricks in a patterned effect. As the church sits close to the southern edges of the churchyard the better landscape views, avoiding the impressive mature tree in front, lie from the road but otherwise most angles are available for the photographer.