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

The Parish

The parish of Wendover lies in eastern central Buckinghamshire not too far from its border with neighbouring Hertfordshire. Wendover is located about 4 miles southeast of the town of Aylesbury and sits at the foot of the Chiltern Hills. Wendover is a small market town which sits on the A413 road which connects Aylesbury with Amersham. The A413 road now, thankfully bypasses the town to its west making for a more peaceful High Street. Most properties are built either along the former route of the A413 or the B4009 road which sits at right-angles to it and tracks the foot of the Chilterns. AS a small market town, the market granted as early as 1403, Wendover was obviously a place of commerce as well as having a small lace making industry mainly employing the females, the wider rural area of the parish was largely arable but with a good mix of pastoral farming, too. Today Wendover not only serves as a local market with a good run of shops along its main streets, it is also a commuter town as the rail line from Aylesbury to London passes through and Wendover has a station. Wendover is also an important stopping off point on the Ridgeway National Trail bringing some b & b income to the town. A branch of the Grand Union Canal also runs to the town bringing additional tourist revenue. Drainage is rather sparse in the wider parish, the chalk being porous not supporting much surface water, but what little there is makes its way westwards to join the infant River Thame, the latter reaching the Thames at Dorchester on Thames and returning eastwards to reach the North Sea via the Thames Estuary. Wendover is sited at around 130 metres above the sea but sits at the foot of the great chalk escarpment of the Chilterns, this rises to local heights of 260 metres on Coombe Hill just a mile or so west, a great local viewpoint for the the Vale of Aylesbury. Wendover parish was large, as are many Chiltern parishes, it covered just over 5,600 acres and would have collectively supported a population of almost 1,900 parishioners. In Domesday times Wendover was held directly by the King and could offer 23 ploughs, meadows & woodland, as well as a mighty 2,000 pigs, the parish also possessed 2 mills.

The Church

St Mary's church sits almost on the southern edge of the town just to the east of the former route of the A413 as its climbs onto the Chilterns. A narrow lane leads eastwards to the church where there is parking for a car or two. The church is almost exclusively from the 14th century with most features using the Decorated style popular in the first half of that century. A few features, notably the piers of the arcades are more reminiscent of the perpendicular style so it is likely the build passed onwards into the latter half of that century. As is fairly typical the Victorian's made their usual restoration and in doing so altered the building externally to its present form. Church Lane curves around the site but the main entrance stands as a lychgate opposite the "Heron Path", a popular walkway from the town. The site is rather shady with many trees which do somewhat limit the angles available for photography.