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England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Catmore St Margaret

 

The Parish

The parish of Catmore lies in central western Berkshire, in that part of the county which lies on the chalk hills of the Berkshire Downs. Catmore lies about 2 miles west of the busy A34 road, which links Winchester & Oxford, about 3 miles west of the downland village of East Ilsley. Catmore is a tiny place, little more than a scatter of cottages and farms lying by a narrow lane that climbs the Downs northeastwards from the B4494 (Wantage to Newbury) road. This was not always so, Catmore was, in the 14th century, granted a market but either the fates decided it should shrink or the local landholders decided to restrict access and the parish population gradually reduced. The centre of Catmore lies at about 180 metres above sea level in a dry valley rising to the top of the Downs (around 220 metres above sea level). Due to chalk substrate there is little surface drainage, what waters there are eventually make their way southwestwards to join the River Lambourn, a tributary of the Kennet and ultimately the Thames. The area, at the time of the transcript, would have been dominated by sheep, the poor soils being too stony for arable farming. Nowadays heavy machinery and fertilisers makes a more divers agriculture possible. Catmore parish was rather small for the area, at just over 700 acres it supported fewer than 100 parishioners. As mentioned it was not always so, in Domesday times the parish, held by one Henry of Fyfield, supported a mere 4 ploughs but was worth 5 exemption units which was quite large.


The Church

St Margaret's church is tucked away to the east of Catmore's lane behind some farms. On the surface it appears to be a genuine Norman church but Pevsner unpicks that veracity and attributes most of these features to a restoration sometime prior to 1850. There are undoubted Norman features which are genuine but as Pevsner puts it it is "showy Norman" and down to the restorers. St Margaret's is hidden from the road by a few farm buildings but a prominent gateway marks its entrance, a long tarred driveway giving access to a rather open and unrestricted graveyard making for easy photographic angles.


The Records

Register No Covering Dates Deposited With Register Style Quality Standard Comments
1 3rd December 1754 - 14th February 1811 Berkshire Record Office - Reference - D/P/31/1/2 Plain unruled book with combined Banns & Marriages Grade 2 register - not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of misreads None
2 7th May 1814 - 18th February 1837 Berkshire Record Office - Reference - D/P/21/1/3 Rose style preprinted and prenumbered Marriage register Grade 1 register - few issues noted and a low likelihood of misreads None


Farnborough All Saints
Farnborough All Saints
West Ilsley All Saints
West Ilsley All Saints
Farnborough All Saints
Brightwalton All Saints
East Ilsley St Mary
Brightwalton All Saints
Peasemore St Barnabas
Beedon St Nicholas

1760 1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830

Register Reference Date Groom Forename Groom Surname Groom Status Groom Abode Bride Forename Bride Surname Bride Status Bride Abode
03/12/1754 John BENNET     Martha MAY    
28/01/1759 William FIELD   Newnham Murren, Oxfordshire Mary ANDREWS    
09/11/1760 Mathew JONES Widower   Martha CLARKE    
11/08/1764 William HAWKINS   Wantage Sarah HERBERT    
12/10/1766 Roger GEYER   Brightwalton Martha CUSSELL    
06/09/1767 Vincent GREEN   Beedon Elizabeth ELKINS    
02/09/1768 William SMITH     Ann HERBERT Single  
04/11/1770 William MARCHAM     Elizabeth BRADLEY    
12/10/1772 William DAY     Ann HAMBLIN    
11/10/1773 John BROWN     Ann BRADLEY    
11/09/1775 William STANBROOK   Chilton Mary DANCE    
14/10/1776 John ROWE   Chilton Martha ELKINS    
29/06/1778 Robert MILLS   East Lockinge Sarah HAMBLING    
20/11/1783 Timothy BEW     Mary JONES    
11/02/1790 John FISHER   Chieveley Mary WHITE    
13/05/1790 George BARTHOLOMEW   Aldworth Mary STEPHENS    
22/11/1790 John CLARK     Hannah COZENS    
04/04/1791 Abraham COOPER   Aldworth Hannah DANCE    
29/10/1792 Henry OAKLEY Single East Ilsley Sarah DANCE Single  
06/12/1794 William WASE     Sarah DUCKET    
21/11/1795 Edward TULL Single West Ilsley Elizabeth STEPHENS    
05/12/1795 Henry MARCHAM     Mary PRINCE    
22/02/1796 Zebulon BRAND     Elizabeth GOODCHILD    
05/03/1797 Richard WINNEY Single Sulhampstead Bannister Martha WHITE    
13/05/1805 John LANGFIELD     Hannah BUTLER   Kingsclere, Hampshire
27/10/1805 Joseph HAMBLIN     Rachael SEYMOUR    
02/01/1806 Benjamin APPLEBY   Aldworth Elizabeth APPLEFORD    
07/04/1806 George FIDLER     Sarah LAMBOURNE    
31/08/1807 John GREEN     Betty GILBERT    
19/12/1808 Joseph FISH   East Lockinge Martha CHAMP    
28 28/08/1810 William INGE   East Ilsley Dinah BROWN    
11/10/1810 John SIMS   Aldworth Elizabeth HEATH    
14/02/1811 John SHEPPARD     Hannah LONG    
1 07/05/1814 John MASLIN     Sarah BROWN   East Ilsley
2 09/05/1814 William BUCKSEY     Elizabeth FISHER    
3 04/06/1814 Richard CLAY Single Newbury Sarah DARLING Single  
4 30/04/1815 William BARRETT     Phoebe STREAM    
5 28/07/1817 Thomas MASLIN     Lucy MARCHAM    
6 20/10/1817 John MASKELL   Ashampstead Sarah CALLESS    
7 04/03/1818 Benjamin HOPE     Mary NEALE    
8 06/04/1820 Thomas NEWMAN     Mercy SHUREY    
9 22/11/1824 Thomas WILLMON Single   Ann APPLEFORD Single  
10 19/03/1825 Henry KIMBERY Single   Ann HOPE Single  
11 08/11/1828 William WICKS Single Brightwalton Mary CLARKE Single  
12 30/03/1829 Richard LEWENTON Single   Hannah HAMBLIN Single  
13 08/03/1830 Joseph CLERK Single Farnborough Mary HUGHES Single  
14 22/11/1832 John BRIND Single   Anne STEPTOE Single Sunningwell
15 20/01/1834 George HUGHES Single   Ann LOOKER Single  
16 05/02/1834 William DEWE Single Hampstead Norreys Martha DEWE Single  
17 18/02/1837 Joseph GORING     Sophia HAMBLIN    

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