England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Shelton St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Shelton lies in the extreme north of Bedfordshire forming a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Northamptonshire, Huntingdomshire is also close to the northeast. Shelton is located roughly 4 miles west of the Huntingdonshire market town of Kimbolton and stands a mile south of the B645 road which links Kimbolton with Higham Ferrers. Shelton is an estate village dominated by Shelton Hall, a 17th century moated house at the end of a dead-end lane. Most properties lie along that lane with a few more around a 3-way junction of lanes which form the village's main access. Shelton sits in prime arable countryside, the area characterised by broad, hedge-less field growing cereals, beet and oil-seed, today, in the past a more rotational methodology would have been in place.Shelton is drained northeastwards by the River Till which joins the Kym which turns southeast to meet the Great Ouse at St Neots, the Great Ouse heads through Huntingdon, into the Fens and reaches the North Sea through the Norfolk port of King's Lynn and The Wash. Shelton is sited at around 50 metres above the sea in gently rolling countryside where local high spots westwards toward nearby Chelveston almost reach the 90 metre contour. Shelton parish was small covering just 940 acres which would have supported close to 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Shelton was a holding of Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances offering 7 ploughs, meadows & woodland and a mill, a typical farming manor then as now.

The Church

St Mary's church stands on the southeastern side of the pretty dead-end lane which leads to the grounds of the Hall. The church has ancient fabric from the earliest times of stone-built churches, the nave is believed to be pre-Conquest and Saxon showing thin walls and rubble quoins characteristic of that period. Like most such churches it also shows features from almost of the subsequent centuries and architectural styles as it has changed through time. The 12th century Norman Romanesque period is represented by the southern arcade, albeit changed in later times, whilst the northeastern respond has a multi-scalloped capital a square chamfered abacus. The following century, the 13th and Early English Gothic, is represented by both the southern doorway and the chancel arch. The Decorated style of the early 14th century saw the addition of the northern chapel complete with its 2-bay arcade, at the same time much of the exterior was re-worked and largely reflects that styling. Even into the Perpendicular era change was still happening with the insertion of a clerestory and windows in the southern aisle and chancel and the addition of the 2-stage western tower. There is no substantial evidence of a Victorian restoration rather a much more sympathetic exercise in the early 1930s which was more a work of conservation than restoration, the early wall paintings being preserved and worth a view. The dead-end lane carries little traffic allowing for safe on-street parking close to the gates, the churchyard is compact but has no significant obstacles for the photographer.