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

The Parish

The parish of Huxham lies in the eastern portion of central Devon roughly 4 miles north of the city of Exeter. Huxham sits a half mile east of the A396 road which links Exeter with Tiverton and sits on the eastern side of the River Culm. Huxham is a tiny place little more than a hamlet which has a small cluster of properties gathered around the church with most of them sitting south of the main lane running west to east through towards Poltimore. Like most Devon parishes its income would have primarily have been derived from pastoral farming, the water meadows of the Culm providing rich pastures, early gazetteers also report that extraction of manganese once lead to several such mines providing a little diversity. Huxham is drained southwards by the Culm soon joining the Exe to pass through Exeter to the English Channel through the latter's estuary. Huxham is sited at around 30 metres above the sea but to its south land rises steeply onto Stoke Hill at 158 metres and with one of its three tops capped by an ancient hill-fort. Huxham parish was one of the smaller in its county, covering only 765 acres which would have barely supported around 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Huxham was little changed from its rural nature, a holding of one Ralph de Pomeroy it offered 6 ploughs, the usual meadows & pasture and had a mill, presumably on the Culm, a typical small rural manor.

The Church

St Mary's church sits south of the parishes main lane amongst the farmhouses and cottages that form its small community. Whilst the church was a product of the 14th century and in the Decorated style of the early part of that period its main fabric has been extensively replaced, amounting to a complete rebuild in Victorian times. Pevsner was unable to record anything medieval remaining either in situ or reused by these extensive works. The changes were wrought in two distinct phases, the chancel tackled first in 1864 swiftly followed by the western end, the nave in 1871 (here Historic England and Pevsner clash on the sequence, Pevsner having it reversed with the nave first). Parking at the church is straightforward as there is very little passing traffic. Entry is from the western end adjacent to a prominent white cottage where a wooden gate grants entry through the local stone walling. The proximity of that cottage to the western end removes views of the bellcote and, indeed, better views are from outside the compact churchyard.