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

The Parish

The parish of Ivinghoe lies in southeastern Buckinghamshire forming part of a peninsula of land forging deep into Hertfordshire territory and forming short stretch of the border between those two counties. Ivinghoe is located about 6 miles southwest of the Hertfordshire town of Dunstable and sits at the staggered crossroads formed by the twin B roads following the base of the Chiltern range, the B488 and B489. Today's Ivinghoe is much reduced from its past position as a market town with a charter granted in 1318, its market suffered from proximity to both Dunstable and to Tring losing trade and eventually closing, today's Ivinghoe is merely a mid-sized village with 2 distinct sections, one running north from the church along the B488, the other running west along the B489. There is a long history of settlement in the area, the B488 forming part of the ancient Roman Icknield Street whilst the neighboring Chiltern Hills are dotted with tumuli and the ancient hill-fort on Ivinghoe Beacon. Having lost its status as a centre for trade and for the specialist sills requiring a substantial audience Ivinghoe lapsed into rural obscurity, farming became the main source of income with arable and pastoral methods in mixtures of almost equal measure whilst the area's traditional straw plait industry employed many women. Modern  developments have come to the parish, the Grand Union Canal passing through was quickly followed by the railway line from London to Leighton Buzzard. Today Ivinghoe is mostly visited by jubilant hikers having completed the Ridgeway National Trail which terminates on Ivinghoe Beacon thus using the village as a step off to return home. Ivinghoe is drained northwards by the Whistle Brook which soon meets the River Ouzel, the Ouzel passes through Leighton Buzzard and eastern Milton Keynes before meeting the Great Ouse and heading for the North Sea to arrive through The Wash. Ivinghoe is sited at around 110 metres above the sea but is over-shadowed by the Chiltern Hills and Ivinghoe Beacon which tops out at 230 metres whilst Clipper Down to its south reaches 249 metres above a splendid chalk escarpment. Ivinghoe parish is extensive and largely linear, a thin strip of land designed to receive a share of all of the land-forms of the area, its total acreage of just over 5,000 acres would have supported a population of around 1,800 parishioners. Even by Domesday times the once large town was large enough to be counted amongst the largest 20% by population recorded in that book, held by the Bishop of Winchester its assets of 29 ploughs and some woodland were slightly more mundane.

The Church

St Mary's church sits at the heart of the village opposite to the King's Head Inn and at the western end of the former market place now an open crossroads. The design is cruciform with a central crossing tower, a style more popular in Norman times than the form of nave, chancel and western tower which eventually superceded it. All trace of the 12th century has been removed over the centuries from St Mary, however. The earliest fabric remaining today is 13th century and Early English Gothic in style, lancet windows, characteristic of this style, grace the northern wall of the chancel but most are remnants, the western doorway is a more complete example of the era. It is to the early 14th century and the Decorated style that Pevsner assigns most of the remainder, including the noble central crossing complete with spike-topped tower. The tower, however, comes completed in the Perpendicular style as is the clerestory and the western porch, both late 14th or early 15th century additions. Virtually all churches come with a Victorian restoration and St Mary is no exception, here the work fell in the early 1870s. The former market space provides opportunities for safe road-side parking allowing an extended stay, there are a few trees to contend with particularly around the southwestern corner but other aspects are available so they are easily avoided.