England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Derby St Werburgh

The Parish

Derby is the capital of its nominate county, Derbyshire. Derby is located in the south of its county, a county divided between large upland parishes in the Peak District and the smaller lowland parishes in the Trent Vale. Derby sits on the border between these two very different halves of the county. Derby is these days a city having been granted city status in 1977. The city is one of the largest in the Midlands with a metropolitan district encompassing over 1 1/2 million folk. At the time of this transcript the city was growing strongly but the 5 parishes into which it was divided gave it a population of only 36,000. St Werburgh's parish forms largely the southernwestern portion of the original urban area, it was the third most populous of the 5 parishes. Derby's parishioners would have largely been employed in industry and the city has an unenviable reputation as a centre of engineering excellence a status boosted by the presence of Rolls Royce in the city. During the period of this transcript silk and other mills would have been the main employer. Derby is transected by the River Derwent, which flows from the Peak District to eventually join the River Trent heading for the North Sea through the Humber estuary. St Weburgh's parish sits at about 60 metres above sea level, a height typical of the city as its sits on the flood plain of the Derwent. In common with many city parishes St Werburgh's would have covered a relatively small area, around half of the core urban area, into that space would have been crammed over 8,000 parishioners. In Domesday times Derby was held largely by the King albeit sublet to various nobles. Whilst the entries do not fully document Derby's assets they convey an impression of a large and wealthy town at that date.

The Church

St Werburgh's church sits on the city's Friar Gate almost opposite the junction with Curzon Street. The church was declared redundant in 1984 and whilst the medieval elements, tower and chancel, are maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust, the more modern elements have a variety of uses, for Pevsner they had been converted into shops but services still take place in the church. This is a site with a complex history, the church was first conceived as a straightforward Perpendicular church of the 15th century with a western tower. The tower collapsed at the end of the 16th century and was rebuilt in 1601 with Gothic bell-openings and pinnacles. In 1699 the remainder of the church was completely rebuilt with the exception of the tower in 1699 in a style derived from the Decorated style of the early 14th century. It was in this iteration that these marriages took place. Between 1892 & 1894 the entire church with the exception of the tower and chancel was rebuilt, not on the typical east/west orientation but on one north/south thus the chancel became a kind of transept and the tower previous at the west became one at the southeast. Like most urban churches parking is in short supply around the church which is best visited on foot after a city car park has been found. The photographer will have difficulty gaining adequate images because there are buildings in close proximity and many trees hugging the building.