England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Clyst Hydon St Andrew

The Parish

The parish of Clyst Hydon lies in southeastern Devon roughly 4 miles southeast of the market town of Cullompton. Clyst Hydon is a small and compact village lying on the western banks of the River Clyst which donates its name to a series of parishes in this area. Clyst Hydon is located a little over 2 miles southeast of the B3181 road, the former A38 now renumbered, which links Cullompton through to Exeter. Like most of the parishes in this area Clyst Hydon was a farming parish with a mixed farming regime, early gazetteers indicate that it was 2:1 with arable dominant over pastoral. The River Clyst drains the parish southwards to meet the Exe at the beginning of its estuary before entering the English Channel. Clyst Hydon parish was fairly typically sized for this area, covering around 1,700 acres it would have supported a population of close to 350 parishioners. Clyst Hydon is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in a more gentle part of the county, land rises closer to the main road network rising to a local high point of 164 metres on White Down. In Domesday times Clyst Hydon was an equally small rural settlement held by Baldwin the Sheriff, its assets were a fairly typical 7 ploughs plus meadows, pastures and woodland.

The Church

St Andrew's church lies towards the northern end of the village in an area behind the village school, the main village lane bends around the pair on three sides. Much of the church is from relatively late dates with Pevsner's account not detailing any fabric from before c1500. This date he assigns to the southern aisle and porch and both are in the Perpendicular style of that period. The impressive western tower carries a date-stone internally but this refers to a rebuilding date rather than its origin, again it is probably late Perpendicular. Like most churches the Victorians got to work in restoration, the northern aisle of 1856 is an example of their work. Parking in the village is something of a challenge given the narrowness of the lanes, parking is easier by the southern entrance but it is a longer walk to the churchyard. The churchyard has quite a few trees about but they are not a problem for the photographer being largely in the less favoured northern quadrant.