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

The Parish

The parish of Gayhurst lies in the extreme northeast of Buckinghamshire not too far from its border with neighbouring Northamptonshire and sitting roughly 2 miles northwest of the market town of Newport Pagnell. Gayhurst sits on the B526 road which links Newport Pagnell with Northampton. Gayhurst is the archetype estate parish, a closed community with all land held by a single family and who discouraged inbound migration, the original medieval village was also cleared away to make way for the parkland estate of Gayhurst House. There are a few properties alongside the B526 squeezed between that road and the course of the Great Ouse. Gayhurst House is a late 16th century Elizabethan house built on the site of an earlier 16th century house, its claim to historic fame is it being the home of one of the Gunpowder Plotters, Sir Everard Digby, today the house and its ancillary buildings have been converted to luxury flats but the parkland estate remains dominating the parish. The needs of the estate also dominated the local economy with early gazetteers estimating almost 80% set to pasture. Modern developments have encroached somewhat onto the bucolic setting with the modern M1 motorway passing just west of the estate. Gayhurst is drained northeastwards by the Great Ouse, on which it sits, that river heads off to cross Fenland before finally reaching the North Sea through the port of King's Lynn and The Wash. Gayhurst is sited at around 70 metres above the sea in gentle terrain where local high spots rise gradually westwards to touch the 110 metre contour at nearby Hanslope. Gayhurst parish covered only 894 acres and supported only around 100 parishioners. Domesday Gayhurst was more of a typical rural manor, held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux it offered 8 ploughs, typical meadows and woodland and possessed a mill.

The Church

Not only was the village cleared away to create the parkland estate but medieval St Peter, too, was demolished and today's church built in 1728 close to Gayhurst House. Rather than the traditional church styles St Peter is built in a Baroque style that annoyed Pevsner by being "very awkwardly put together". The western tower is its stand-out feature and comes complete with a lead-covered cupola. The nave uses Ionic elements such as pilasters and attached columns to emphasise its classical credentials, it is 5-bays in length far exceeding the size of its congregation, a statement piece. The chancel is of a lower height and rather than bearing the traditional east window has a blank niche. The church is accessed from the B526 by a lengthy unfenced driveway through parkland, a prominent white sign marks the turn. Just after crossing a cattle-grid the church is found to the right, parking should avoid damaging the grassland setting. Whilst there are trees close to the northeastern corner all other angles are available for the photographer.