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

The Parish

The parish of Drayton lies in the northern part of western Berkshire, nowadays it is part of Oxfordshire following Local Government reorganisation in 1974. Drayton lies about 2 miles south of the market town of Abingdon. Drayton is a compact village which formerly sat on the busy A34 road, which thankfully now bypasses the village to its west. Most of Drayton sits alongside the former main road, now the B4017 but an extension also heads eastwards along the B4016 which runs towards Sutton Courtenay. Drayton is located on the flood plain of the River Thames and as such would have been involved mainly in pastoral farming on the rich grasslands growing on the silty plain. Nowadays these villages are important commuter villages for Oxford which lies only a few miles to the north. All of the local drainage is headed eastwards towards the Thames which here describes a large meander before itself heading eastwards towards London. Drayton is sited at about 60 metres above the sea and there are not too many contours hereabouts as it sits on a broad plain. Drayton parish was of a typical size for parishes on this plain, at about 1,700 acres it would have supported around 500 parishioners. In Domesday times the land was shared between one Hascoit Musard & Earl Hugh of Chester but it supported only a meager 2 ploughs plus a small patch of meadow.

The Church

St Peter's church can be found adjacent to, appropriately enough, Church Lane, this lane heads northwards off the B4016 a couple of hundred yards east of Drayton's main crossroads. St Peter's is very much a church of the Perpendicular period but was extensively rebuilt in 1872. The rebuilders unusually choose differing strategies for nave and chancel, the nave was refenestrated and kept the original masonry but the chancel was rebuilt but with the original windows emplaced. There are a few features which indicate that the Perpendicular building was also a renovation, there is a 13th century doorway in the chancel as well as similarly aged piscina. The western tower of St Peter sits tight to Church Lane separated by a low flint wall, alongside a lych gate gives entry to the churchyard. The site is relatively narrow north to south which does restrict photographic angles but not unduly.