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

The Parish

The parish of Chetwode lies in western Buckinghamshire, indeed it forms part of the boundary with neighbouring Oxfordshire. The village is roughly 5 miles southwest of Buckingham and lies just east of the A421 which links Finmere with the Oxfordshire town of Bicester. There is not mjuch of a village centre to Chetwode it is really little more than a scatter of farms and cottages across a wide almost flat agricultural plain at about 100 metres above sea-level. A network of small brooks feed drainage into the Padbury Brook which eventually joins the Great Ouse. Chetwode is a relatively small parish (acreage unknown) which supported barely 200 parishioners. The area was owned historically by its Augustinian Priory of which the church was part, other remains including moat are present. Despite its small size Chetwode has been around for a long time - it merits an entry in Domesday Book where it was owned by Robert of Thame and boasted 5 ploughs.

The Church

St Mary & St Nicholas' church is sited to the east of the main lane leading through the parish, as stated it is an amalgam of the former priory church and some more modern embellishments. The priory church was founded by the Augustinians in 1245 and the church became the parish church in the late 15th Century. Thus the church has elements of the 13th and 15th century (the strange narrow tower) making for an odd looking mixture.