England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Abbots Bickington St James

The Parish

The parish of Abbots Bickington lies in northwestern Devon not too far from its border with neighbouring Cornwall. Abbots Bickington is located about 6 miles north of the small market town of Holsworthy and sits just over a mile north of the A388 road which connects Holsworthy with Bideford. Abbots Bickington is little more than a hamlet with no defined village, simply a collection of farms and cottages spread over an area sitting to the west of the valley of the Torridge. Like many parishes in Devon Abbots Bickington would have largely earned its living from pastoral farming, predominantly of dairy cattle, however the local limestone produces a workable marble so some quarrying for decorative stone and working of the same would have diversified matters. The Torridge drains the parish southeastwards before turning back north close to Hatherleigh and reaching the Irish Sea through the port of Bideford. Abbots Bickington sits high on a ridge above the Torridge at around 170 metres above the sea, the resulting plateau is at that height or rising gently to just under 200 metres within a few miles. Abbots Bickington parish was one of the smaller in this area, covering only slightly more than 1,000 acres it would only have supported a population of between 50 & 100 parishioners. In Domesday times Abbots Bickington was equally small, held by one Gerald the Chaplain it could muster just 3 ploughs as well as some meadows, pastures & woodland.  

The Church

St Peter's church sits at the notional centre of Abbots Bickington, a group of farms a mile east of Five Lanes Cross and high above the nearby Torridge. The church is a small one of nave & chancel augmented by a southern transept and with a western tower. The church has its origins in the early 14th century and Pevsner notes that the windows of nave, chancel & southern transept confer a date of close to 1300 and are in the Decorated style of that era. Like many churches St Peter received a restoration in Victorian times, here the date is given as 1868 but the work was either light or sensitive as for once Pevsner does not berate the perpetrators. The lane which approaches the church performs a series of sharp right-angled bends around the farm complex, St Peter sits to the south of this group approached along the farm access drive, the lane is narrow and parking should be done with care. Once within the churchyard it is open and with no obstacles to photography.