England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Fulmer St James

The Parish

The parish of Fulmer lies in the extreme southeast of Buckinghamshire close to the area in which Buckinghamshire meets the counties of Berkshire, Surrey & Middlesex. Fulmer is located about 4 miles northeast of the industrial town of Slough and sits a mile east of the B416 which connects Slough with Gerrard's Cross. Fulmer is a small and compact village which sits in the valley of the Alder Bourne, a chalk stream which cuts into this border area of the Chiltern Hills. The present site of Fulmer village and, indeed, the church lies roughly a half mile east of the medieval position, the result of a substantial rebuild of both by the decree of one Sir Marmaduke Darrell, the local landholder. The local economy would have been based upon farming, a mixture of both arable and pastoral, whilst a local speciality was the harvesting of water cress for the London market. Modern developments have come to Fulmer, the modern M40 motorway cuts through a half mile north on the opposite side of the Alder Bourne's valley en route from London to Oxford.  The Alder Bourne drains the parish eastwards to meet the River Colne at Uxbridge thence to the Thames, through the capital to the North Sea. Fulmer is sited at around 50 metres above the sea, land continues to rise out of the valley to local heights of close to 80 metres. Fulmer parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering close to 1,600 acres it would have supported a population of around 350 parishioners. Fulmer is not specifically mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

As stated above the former medieval church of Fulmer once stood a half mile west of the present church being demolished in 1610 and replaced by present day St James in the new village centre. Built almost totally of brick, the original construction being a nave & small chancel topped by a northern porch and western tower. Even after completion in 1610 the church has received further work, in the 1870s the small original chancel was removed and replaced with a larger version amidst a general restoration, in 1882 a southern aisle was added to increase capacity whilst as recently as 1961 a vestry was added to arrive at today's church. St James sits on the eastern side of the main lane running through the village, parking is tight but there's room for a car by the telephone box if careful not block the gates. The churchyard has a low brick wall surrounding and whilst there are a few trees surrounding that western tower adequate views are available to the photographer.