England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Marros St Laurence

The Parish

The parish of Marros lies in the extreme southwest of Carmarthenshire forming not only part of the border with neighbouring Pembrokeshire but also forming a stretch of the county's coastline with Carmarthen Bay. Marros is located roughly 9 miles northeast of the Pembrokeshire coastal resort of Tenby and sits a little over 2 miles west of the terminus of the A4066 road in Pendine, it having traveled from St Clears. There is very little to Marros, no defined centre at all merely a hamlet comprised of church and a scatter of farms and cottages. The area was remote in early times with much of the parish described in early gazetteers as "barren and uncultivated" an impression conveyed by the desolate plateau of nearby Marros Mountain. What income there was largely came from pastoral farming. Marros is drained southwestwards by a small beck which emerges into Carmarthen Bay at nearby Amroth. Marros is sited, by the church, at around 140 metres above the sea whilst the twin local high spots of Marros Mountain & Beacon top out at 152 metres to north and south respectively. Covering close to 2,100 acres Marros parish was fairly typically sized for the area, within that acreage there would have been supported a population of close to 200 parishioners. Like most of Wales Marros is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Laurence's church sits prominently on the main east to west lane running through Marros midway between Mountain & Beacon and set into a side footpath, Pilgrim's Way. The core of the church, a single chambered nave and chancel combined with a northern transept, dates from the late 13th or early 14th century. Built in a local limestone rubble and utilising the Decorated style of that medieval date. The 15th century saw the addition of the offset western tower, a three-story Perpendicular tower complete with stair-turret and battlements. Also 15th century is the southern porch with a stoup for holy water. The Victorian era saw a new northern transept built in 1845 to replace the earlier version and a thorough restoration in 1895. A prominent war memorial resembling a henge greets you on arrival with a small car park set to the north of the churchyard for parking. The hedged churchyard is open and relatively uncluttered with only a few trees as minor obstacles for the photographer.