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

The Parish

The parish of Chaddesden lies in southeastern Derbyshire roughly 2 miles east of the county town of Derby. Chaddesden sits just under a mile north of the A52 road which links Derby with Nottingham. Chaddesden is a place which has changed markedly since the time of this transcript, early maps show a linear village running from north to south along the lines of today's Chaddesden Lane with the parish church sitting to its east and surrounded by fields. That village would have primarily been a farming village with almost equal amounts of arable and pastoral methods in place, there would also have been some market gardening to supply the growing town of Derby. In modern times Derby has expanded across the River Derwent and engulfed Chaddesden such that today it has become merely a northeastern and eastern suburb of the town, most of the urban development is from the early to mid-20th century. Chaddesden, today, is just the eastern edge of an urban area which stretches southwestwards to Mickleover, a distance of almost 5 miles. Modern developments have also come to the parish, the Derwent has been canalised as the Derby Canal, the railway between Derby & Nottingham passes through and the A52 has been upgraded to dual-carriageway highway. Chaddesden is drained southeastwards by the Derwent which soon meets the Trent and joins that river for its journey, initially eastwards and then north to reach the Humber Estuary and the North Sea Chaddesden is sited at around 50 metres above the sea on rising ground away from the Derwent, land approaches 130 metres at a few spots close to nearby Morton. Chaddesden parish covered almost 2,100 acres and would have supported a population of close to 450 parishioners, many thousands today. In Domesday times Chaddesden was held by Henry de Ferrers and offered just 6 ploughs backed by meadows & woodland as a small rural farming manor.

The Church

St Mary's church once stood at the heart of the village of Chaddesden now it sits surrounded by modern housing at the eastern end of the dead-end Church Lane. Whilst there was an early church, probably from the 13th century, here as a chapelry of nearby Spondon, today's church was large built during the early 14th century and in the Decorated style. That rebuild added today's chancel, aisles and chantry chapels to the basic Early English Gothic nave.  The western tower was a 15th century addition in the Perpendicular style, it carries a prominent western doorway and western windows. Contemporary with the tower's construction the aisles were also extended westwards. Like most churches there was a typical Victorian restoration, here it fell in 1859, the chancel received most attention being restored and acquiring today's east window whilst the roof line of the church was altered in both height and pitch, most of the windows of the southern face of the church were also replaced. Church Lane ends at a turning area, the church has a concrete parking area to the west of the tower for a vehicle or two to safely park. The churchyard's obstructions are limited to trees hugging the northeastern corner of the church which will not concern the photographer as all of the favoured angles are unobstructed.