England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Hough on the Hill All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Hough on the Hill lies in southwestern Lincolnshire not too far from its border with neighbouring Nottinghamshire and roughly 7 miles north of the large market town of Grantham. Hough on the Hill sits about 2 miles west of the A607 road which links Grantham with Lincoln. Hough on the Hill sits upon the shallow escarpment of Jurassic limestone, much of the stone can be seen in field walls and buildings within the village, it consists of a slightly leaning "H" shape of parallel lanes joined by the main street as the crossing bar. The village has the remnants of a motte & bailey with the church sitting within the confines of that bailey. South of the church stood a 12th century Augustinian priory of which nothing now survives. The escarpment was clearly a well-known feature for the Saxons of the district as southwest of the village at Loveden Hill archaeologists have excavated one of the largest Saxon burial places in the country. The parish economy, like so many in its county, would have been dominated by arable farming, the thin soils of the limestone ridge also carrying sheep until recent times and modern machinery. Springs rising below the escarpment drain the parish becoming the infant River Brant and heading northwards, the Brant eventually meets the Witham a few miles south of Lincoln and the latter passes through Lincoln before making an about turn and heading southeast to meet the North Sea through Boston. Hough on the Hill is built on the rising slope of the escarpment rising from 40 to 80 metres above the sea, land reaches 114 metres further east as the second stage of the escarpment continues above Normanton on Cliffe. By Lincolnshire standards Hough on the Hill parish was extensive covering around 3,600 acres, it would have supported a population of close to 600 parishioners. In Domesday times today's modest village was large enough to place it in the largest 20% of settlements by population, Count Alan of Brittany had the largest share with a junior partner Gilbert of Ghent, the assets were a match for that status mustering 22 ploughs, a large meadow and a mill.

The Church

All Saints' church, as already mentioned, sits within the bailey of the village's castle site it is tucked away from the main lane passing through and accessed by a short dead-end lane. With all of the Saxon activity in the vicinity it is not surprising that part of All Saints dates back to the first period for stone-built churches; the lower stages of the western tower and its striking semicircular stair projection are Anglo-Saxon in date, certainly as early as the 11th century, Historic England claim the stair turret as 11th century with parts of the tower earlier still. Pevsner notes the height of the nave and concludes it too dates from the same Anglo-Saxon build albeit much modified such that only the portion above the arcades and below the clerestory as original. There are the usual later additions to this early church, the 13th century Early English Gothic period contributed the rather plain southern doorway & porch and the southern aisle is contemporary with lancets. The later medieval Perpendicular period added the clerestory, a typical feature to improve internal lighting, and added today's top-most stage to the tower complete with pinnacles. Much later and 18th century in date is the northern chapel and an 1845 Victorian restoration which did not add further to the layout merely renewing the fabric. A few spots at the start of the dead-end lane, it starts north of the Brownlow Arms, leading to the church allow for parking, the entry is through a neat lychgate which bears a quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson "We are all travellers of this world and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend". A few mature trees are dotted about and impede some of the better aspects but most angles are available to the photographer.