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

The Parish

The parish of Ravenstone lies in the extreme north of Buckinghamshire forming a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Northamptonshire. Ravenstone is located roughly 2 1/2 miles west of the small town of Olney and sits just over a mile northeast of the B526 road which links Newport Pagnell with Northampton. Ravenstone is a linear village built largely along a single north to south running lane with a few more properties at the start of the lane headed for Weston Underwood. Ravenstone parish stretches from the banks of the Great Ouse, forming its southern boundary, rising onto limestone countryside in the more northern reaches. That geographical configuration would have given the economy a degree of diversity, pastures lining the Great Ouse would have been largely for dairy cattle, arable dominated the north and the limestone was quarried for road building and burning for lime. From 1254 to the dissolution Ravenstone was home to an Augustinian priory which sat northwest of the church, it had almost disappeared until archaeologists discovered remnants of the priory's church during a dig. Modern developments have come and gone from the parish, a branch railway line from Northampton to Olney just crept into the north of the parish but has closed leaving just bridges and cuttings to mark its former route. Ravenstone is drained eastwards by the Great Ouse which passes through Bedford before heading into Fenland from where it reaches the North Sea arriving through the Norfolk port of King's Lynn and The Wash. Ravenstone is sited at around 80 metres above the sea, to its north, on the limestone, land rises to the county border where heights of just over 110 metres are common. Ravenstone parish was typically sized for this area covering 2,000 acres it would have supported a population of close to 400 parishioners. Domesday Ravenstone was held by Walter Giffard and offered 12 ploughs, meadows & woodland and a mill, presumably similarly positioned to that today on the Great Ouse.

The Church

All Saints' church sits on the northern edge of the village on the western side of North End, a dead-end lane which eventually declines into a popular local footpath headed for the Great Wood and the county border. The church is a Norman foundation with both nave and its southern arcade showing fabric from the 12th century Romanesque period, indeed the western end of the nave (and the northwestern portion of the chancel) show herringbone masonry which is more characteristic of Saxo-Norman times. The southern arcade is undoubtedly slightly later with Pevsner assigning an estimated date of c1190. The remainder of the chancel, together with the unbuttressed western tower, is from the 13th century Early English Gothic period, the chancel showing at least one lancet styled window typical of the period. The great church-building era of the Perpendicular saw a clerestory inserted, a typical feature of the period designed to improve internal lighting. Restoration began early in 1670 when the northern wall of the nave was rebuilt, this was followed soon after by the construction of the southern chapel and its dignified memorial to Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham & Chancellor, this gentleman died in 1682 thus dating the work. Pevsner records the chancel's eastern wall as rebuilt in the 19th century, presumably a part of an undocumented Victorian restoration. North End is used by locals for on-street parking and has metal gates for entry to the churchyard which is dotted with trees most of which are easily avoided by the photographer.