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

The Parish

The parish of Stotfold lies in the extreme east of Bedfordshire forming a lengthy stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Hertfordshire, in addition Cambridgeshire is not too far away to the northeast. Stotfold is located roughly 2 1/2 miles northwest of the Hertfordshire market town of Baldock and sits on the former route of the A507 (it nowadays bypasses Stotfold to its south) which links Baldock through to Shefford & Ampthill. Stotfold is a large village much expanded in modern times, early maps show a compact centre around the church with extensions to the north and west thereof, this core has expanded largely to the northwest and to the southwest with modern development making Stotfold comparable with small town status. Like most rural parishes at the time of this transcript the local economy would have been dominated by arable farming, in addition the resultant straw fuelled the traditional Bedfordshire trade of hat making. Modern developments have come to the parish with the nearby A1, which follows an ancient Roman road nowadays having been upgraded to motorway status. Stotfold is drained northwestwards and then north by the River Ivel which passes through Biggleswade before joining the Great Ouse on its long journey to the North Sea arriving through the port of King's Lynn at The Wash. Stotfold is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in gentle terrain, land rises with underlying chalk to the southeast of nearby Baldock reaching local high points of close to 150 metres. At close to 2,400 acres, the parish was a narrow strip east to west by extended to both north & south, Stotfold parish was a large parish with sufficient assets to support a population of just over 1,000 parishioners. In Domesday times Stotfold was equally large, sufficient in population to be amongst the largest 20% by population recorded in the book. Held by Hugh de Beauchamp its assets recorded were impressive too, 22 ploughs are recorded backed by meadows and no fewer than 4 mills.

The Church

St Mary's church sits in the southeastern corner of the built area south of the point were Church Road performs a sharp right-angled bend. Pevsner calls the church "confusing" as its exterior fails to match the underlying history of the church, outwardly entirely Perpendicular in style but within a complex and much older history is revealed. The earliest core of the church predates c1300 still evidenced by a western window on the southern aisle, this early core was expanded in stages during the following 2 centuries. Firstly added in c1300 was a northern chapel followed by that southern aisle in a later Decorated style. The western tower shows a round-headed lancet from Early English Gothic styling which may too be originally of the 13th century. The extensive work in the Perpendicular style of the late 14th and 15th centuries began with an extension to both nave and northern chapel, the work effectively turning the latter into a northern aisle. Later but in the same style that typical Perpendicular feature, a clerestory, was inserted to improve internal lighting. The eastern end was extensively modified during the typical Victorian restoration, as well as general refresh the chancel was completely rebuilt during the work of 1889-90. The normal entry is from the northern stretch of Church Road where on-street parking may be found and from where a path leads beside the Roecroft Centre to the churchyard. Once within the extensive churchyard there are no obvious obstacles for the photographer.