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

The Parish

The parish of Brixham lies in southern Devon, on the southern edge of Torbay and forming an extensive section of Devon's English Channel coastline. Brixham is a significant port, market and holiday resort and extends over an area of over 2 miles from northeast to southwest with a mile in extent on either side. Brixham sits at the terminus of the A3022 road which connects the port with the A380 close to Paignton. Brixham has grown from a port expanding rapidly in recent times as not only a desirable place to live but also as one of Devon's principal towns. Brixham has had its share of historical events, a granite column marks the landing of William of Orange to claim the throne, Whilst Brixham would have been part of the export trade it is as a fishing port that it is known today, famous for its mackerel. The 19th century boom in leisure brought a flood of tourists to Torbay and Brixham acquired its share of that holiday trade, the scenic beauty of its surroundings together with the ambiance of its port making it an attractive destination. Whilst the port & market would have dominated the local economy the parish's hinterland would have been stocked with cattle & sheep in a pastoral farming regime. As a coastal settlement many streams drain to the sea, much of the town is built along the most prominent, descending from Lupton Park it is largely subsurface today. Whilst the port is obviously at sea level, the landscape is strikingly varied and parts of Upper Brixham rise to almost 100 metres near to Guzzle Down, this hill tops at 150 metres but land peaks at 180 metres a little further west. A large parish for its area Brixham parish covers a little over 5,200 acres and would have supported a population of around 5,700 parishioners by the end of this transcript period. In Domesday times Brixham was a much smaller place, held by one Iudhael it offered just 10 ploughs plus meadows, pastures and woodland, however it is the port that is not mentioned that placed it into the top 20% of settlements recorded in the book.

The Church

St Mary's church sits in Higher Brixham almost a mile southwest of the port sitting in a commanding position on what Pevsner describes as a "bleak hill" and requiring extensive cement covering to protect from the impacts of proximity to the sea. The church is almost entirely of the 15th century and utilises the Perpendicular style. The church has received extensive restoration in both 19th and early 20th centuries which has renewed almost all of the windows and replaced the roof. As would be expected from the size of the congregation this is a big church with both northern and southern aisles of 5 bays augmenting the nave & chancel. Given its remoteness from the main centres of population, a new church All Saints was built in Lower Brixham in the 1820s and probably now has the larger congregation. The church sits on the southern side of Drew Street just beyond the Skipper Inn when coming from the port. Drew Street is narrow but there are parking spaces by the churchyard entrance (if lucky) where a formal arched gateway greets you. The site is fairly extensive but the best views of the entire church are probably from Baker's Hill to its south.