England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
West Ilsley All Saints

The Parish

The parish of West Ilsley lies in western central Berkshire roughly 6 miles southeast of the market town of Wantage. West Ilsley is a small and compact village sitting high upon the Berkshire Downs and roughly 1 mile west of the busy A34 road which connects Winchester, in Hampshire, with Newbury. Most properties are built along the broad lane which runs from east to west through the village. At the time of this transcript the parish was in transformation from one dominated by the vast sheep-walks of the Downs to a more arable economy, a process which has almost been completed today. In more modern times the turf of the Downs has proven ideal for training of racehorses and that industry, together with hiking tourism generated by the nearby Ridgeway Trail, dominates the local landscape. As the village sits upon a great depth of porous chalk there is no surface drainage until the spring-line at the foot of the nearby escarpment from where small streams merge into the River Thames, the latter heading through the capital to the North Sea. West Ilsley is sited at around 130 metres above the sea and sits in something of a hollow within the Downs, land rises to the north reaching 180 metres at The Ridgeway whilst to the southwest it rises to a little over 200 metres. West Ilsley parish is fairly typically sized for the Berkshire Downs, covering a bit over 3,000 acres it would have supported a population of close to 400 parishioners. In Domesday times both East & West Ilsley were recorded as one, the combined parishes being shared three-ways could offer a mere 10 ploughs and a small meadow.

The Church

All Saints' church sits on the southern side of the lane which runs from east to west through the village, here named Main Street, and just east of the main "T" junction that forms the centre of the village. Whilst the church is medieval it has been so restored and rebuilt as to be almost a complete Victorian church, only minor traces remain of the original fabric and these indicate a mixture of both Decorated and Perpendicular styles from the 14th and 15th centuries. Even in Stuart times the church was re-roofed, the nave roof carrying a 1652 date whilst the chancel roof is inscribed 1669. But it is to the Victorians that much of today's church is credited, the chancel was rebuilt in brick in 1844 and this was followed by further restorations in 1857 and a more prolonged campaign spanning 1875 to 1881. Main Street is sufficiently wide to permit street parking away from the junction, the churchyard has a brick surround broken by a double-gated lychgate granting entry. Sadly the churchyard is rather constrained by trees which make the angles available a limited selection challenging the photographer to adequately capture this building.