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

The Parish

The parish of St Andrew, Plymouth lies in the extreme southwest of Devon forming part of the county's English Channel coastline and being only a handful of miles from the River Tamar which forms the boundary with neighbouring Cornwall. Plymouth is located between the A38 road and the sea on one of the finest natural harbours in the country. Plymouth is some 44 miles southwest of Exeter and 215 miles from London and, as of 1928, became granted city status. Plymouth has a long and distinguished history as the major naval port of the nation. Plymouth, at the time of the conquest, did not exist as an entity being merely the manor of Sutton, granted a market by Henry III but remained small and insignificant until in 1439 the then town was incorporated as Plymouth. It was in Tudor times and following the Spanish Armada that Plymouth's importance as a naval base grew to prominence and it remains to this day a centre of naval activity. Besides the port status Plymouth was also a major market town and commercial port with a large fishing fleet as well as coastal and more distant traders. The hinterland is strongly dependent upon dairy farming and the processing of these products was also a prominent local business. Within the wider city St Andrew's parish, along with its neighbour Charles, covers a relatively small area, once the medieval heart of the city the bombing of World War 2 left a destroyed landscape which has been almost totally replaced by a modern concrete and glass city centre, only the Barbican area survives to tell what early Plymouth must have been like. Modern developments including a fast railway service to the capital and beyond make Plymouth a growing city even today and its urban sprawl now spreads from Saltash in the west to the eastern edge of Plympton in the east a distance of almost 8 miles. As a coastal settlement sitting between the twin rivers of Tamar and Plym most drainage runs sub-surface to either of these rivers  and to the English Channel. The lowest parts of Plymouth are obviously at sea level whilst the northern suburbs rise to around 80 metres above the sea, St Andrew's church sits at around 10 metres. St Andrew's parish covers a tiny area of the city centre, little more than a few blocks yet into that area would once have been crammed around 23,500 parishioners, a dense stew of humanity. In Domesday time Plymouth, recorded a tiny Sutton was a holding of King William and could only offer 5 ploughs and some meadows & pastures.

The Church

St Andrew's church sits a little over a half mile north of Plymouth Hoe at one of the new city's major roundabout junctions, Catherine Street. Once the parish church of Sutton, St Andrew became the medieval church for most of Plymouth and has in the 20th century become Plymouth's cathedral. St Andrew is a very large church as befits the size of its congregation, indeed it is the largest church in Devon at 185 feet in length, 96 feet wide and with a tower at 136 feet high to match. Whatever existed on this site prior to 1400 has been totally removed as the present church is entirely (subject to modern was damage rectification) a church of the 15th century and late Perpendicular in style. Documentary evidence points to construction between the early 15th century and 1490 when it was largely complete. The nave is immense, of 6 bays with two outer bay aisles, a further three bays comprise the augmented chancel. A magnificent 15th century piece indeed. Work was done in the 19th century by the Victorian restorers but most work was necessitated following damage as a result of the blitz of World War 2, as a port city Plymouth was systematically targeted and the minster church suffered along with the rest of the city centre. Post-war restoration began in 1949 and lasted for 8 years to restore St Andrew to its former glory. Parking near the church is limited and metered and it is a better option to find a car park and approach on foot. St Andrew has very little in the way of grounds around it in which to draw back and appreciate its glory, the views from the favoured southern aspects are particularly impaired by the presence of not only commercial premises but the city's magistrates court. There are more pleasing views from the borth but to get acceptable landscape views of this immense building is tricky indeed.