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

The Parish

The parish of Hurley lies in northeastern Berkshire forming an extensive stretch of the border with neighbouring Buckinghamshire, here formed by the course of the River Thames. Hurley is located roughly 3 miles southwest of the Buckinghamshire town of Marlow and sits immediately north of the A4130 road which parallels the Thames connecting Maidenhead with Henley on Thames. Hurley extends as a strip village from Hurley Bottom, which sits on the A4130, right down to the banks of the Thames where sits the church amongst the site of the former priory. The Benedictine priory which was founded in 1086 by Geoffrey de Mandeville occupied a riverside setting and dominated the local economy right until the Reformation and its dissolution. Given the parish's position on the Thames and its adjacent water-meadows its economy was underpinned by a mixed farming regime with grazing of largely cattle beside the river and arable on higher and drier ground. The riverside setting also aided water based transportation of goods and through traffic was an important part of local trade too. Today the river provides a theme for the Thames Path National Trail which skirts the priory site alongside the Thames. The Thames drains the parish eastwards heading through the capital to the North Sea. Hurley is sited at around 30 metres above the sea in fairly gentle terrain, small hills such as Ashley Hill at 144 metres give some elevation in parts. Hurley parish was quite large for a lowland England parish, covering almost 4,100 acres it would have supported a population of around 1,100 parishioners. Geoffrey de Mandeville, as already mentioned, held the parish in Domesday times with profitable assets including 19 ploughs, meadows & woodland, a mill and 2 fisheries making it one of the largest 20% of settlements recorded in that book.

The Church

St Mary's church is constructed from the former nave of the priory church and sits amongst the priory site on the banks of the Thames. Archaeological excavations of the priory & church site have revealed several versions of this church, originally it had a long aisleless chancel with an eastern apse which was altered substantially when the church was lengthened in the 13th century. More intriguingly evidence was also found of a pre-Conquest version which had a crossing tower and turrets or towers sitting to its east, a hotch-potch of churches no less. What remains today is a continuous long nave & chancel with the former topped at the western end by a timber bell-turret. The windows & doorways show the Norman Romanesque styles of the 11th or 12th centuries. The lengthening of the 13th century was followed a century later by a further extension and addition of new chapels. The Victorian restoration of 1852 is described by Pevsner as "brutal" and one wonders how much was lost as a result of its brutality. In more modern times, 1987, a meeting room was added as a final addition to today's church. The priory site is something of a tourist attraction sitting in its picturesque location by the river and as a result an extensive car park is provided for visitors to both the priory and church. At the end of High Street, the church sits to the east open to the road. The churchyard is open and uncluttered albeit a little narrow to fully encompass the length of the church in a landscape orientation.