England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Charles St John the Baptist

The Parish

The parish of Charles, not to be confused with the church of Charles in Plymouth, lies in northern Devon not too far from the county's border with neighbouring Somerset. Charles is located roughly 9 miles east of the port and market town of Barnstaple and sits immediately west of the A399 road which links South Molton through to Combe Martin & Ilfracombe. Charles is a small place, little more than a hamlet made of a cluster of cottages & the parish church gathered around a T-junction of lanes west of the valley of the River Bray. The parish is elongated from north to south along that valley and is dotted with farmsteads and cottages with most of the population dispersed. Charles sits amongst the fore-hills of nearby Exmoor and the landscape is rugged and deeply incised by the rivers and streams and thus wholly unsuited to arable farming, pastures dominate the economy raising both cattle& sheep. Charles is drained southwards by the Bray which becomes renamed as the Mole further south, on meeting the Taw water direction is reversed back to northwest and the Taw makes its way to the outer Bristol Channel arriving through Barnstaple and its joint estuary with the Torridge. Charles parish covers a broad range of altitudes from 120 metres above the sea at the Bray to 261 metres on Stoodleigh Down with the parish church sitting at 220. Covering a little over 2,400 acres Charles parish was a little smaller than some of its near neighbours, that acreage would have supported a population of close to 350 parishioners. In Domesday times Charles was an equally rural farming manor held by Baldwin the Sheriff offering 7 ploughs, some meadows and extensive woodland.

The Church

St John's church stands high on a ridge above the Bray valley surrounded by a few cottages. The church is one which has its origins in the later medieval period of the Perpendicular and the 15th century in particular, it was, however, extensively rebuilt in Victorian times. The fabric of nave, chancel and western tower all dates from the 15th century, although it is documented that the tower was rebuilt as soon as 1620. Despite the rebuild of the main body the 15th century southern porch retains many of the original features including its hollow-chamfered and roll-moulded surround. The Victorian rebuild came in 1875 and was a through affair, most of the fenestration was replaced with 19th century ones and what remains was then further restored in 1890 such that much of what we see is relatively modern. The church is tucked away behind some cottages, where the gated path leaves the narrow lane it is broadened to allow a single car to park. The churchyard is complicated by the positioning of the church which is close to the southern boundary but all other aspects are available to the photographer.