England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Holwell St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Holwell lies in the extreme southeast of Bedfordshire forming a stretch of the border with neighbouring Hertofrdishire, indeed the parish was administratively moved into the latter county following reorganisation in 1974. Holwell is located roughly 3 miles north of the Hertfordshire market town of Hitchin and sits a half mile west of the A600 road which links Hitchin with Bedford. Holwell has a curious shape for a village, the lane heading westwards from the A600 performs a pair of right-angled bends through the village forming a "z" shape, all village properties line that lane with scattered farms and cottages across the wider parish. Like most communities in this area, which stands on chalk beds, arable farming was the speciality with the majority of the acreage set to cereals supplemented by beet and oil-seed in modern times. Holwell is drained northeastwards by a small brook which soon joins the River Hiz, the latter heads north merging with the Ivel to the south of Biggleswade and then the Great Ouse before heading across Fenland to the North Sea arriving through The Wash. Holwell is sited at around 60 metres above the sea, immediately around is fairly level but to the southwest the chalk rises into the prominent escarpment of Deacon Hill along which the Icknield Way, an ancient trackway, runs. Holwell parish was also peculier in being split into 3 small portions all totalling merely 550 acres making it one of the smallest parishes in its county, within that tiny acreage it would have supported around 200 parishioners. In Domesday times Holwell was shared between two Abbeys, that at Ramsey sharing with that at Westminster, collectively their assets of 11 ploughs, meadows and 2 mills made for a comfortable rural settlement.

The Church

St Peter's church stands within the crook of the easternmost right-angled bend that the lane performs whilst passing through the village. Early gazetteers describe an ancient edifice from the Early English Gothic period but that is not the church that stands today. Today's church replaced that medieval predecessor being built in 1879 and is thus not the venue in which these marriages took place. Today's church, built with flint pebbles and limestone dressings, consists of a standard nave and chancel augmented by a southern aisle and completed with a tower, topped with a pyramidal cap, which is placed to the southwest rather than the usual western location. A few fragments of fabric from the old church were included the largest piece being the 15th century doorway, now blocked, of the original. Despite the late build there has been time for modification as a vestry was added to the southeast in 1907. Street parking outside the churchyard is possible given the width of the lane, away from the sharp bend is recommended. The entrance through metal gates is rather shady but everything opens out into a churchyard which is open & uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.