England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Yealmpton St Bartholomew

The Parish

The parish of Yealmpton lies in southwestern Devon roughly 4 miles southeast of the town of Plympton. Yealmpton sits on the A379 road which links Plymouth with Kingsbridge. Yealmpton is a crossroads settlement sitting where the B3186 road arrives at the A379 having come from Newton Ferrers, it has expanded in recent times from what was just a clustered village around the junction into the southwest where modern developments, the result of modern commuter driven needs, have grown the village . In addition to that southwestern growth a whole new settlement has also grown up south of the the River Yealm in the area known as Torr spreading south along the B3186. Yealmpton sits at the first crossing of the River Yealm and it was navigable to this point from early times. The parish was dominated by a mixed farming economy with resident gentry and tenants cultivating wheat, barley, and oats while utilising the lush meadows of the South Hams for cattle and sheep farming, the small port on the Yealm aided the dispersal of the produce to centres such as nearby Plymouth, the Yealm also provided power for at least 3 corn mills. Much of the parish is underlain with limestone which was quarried for lime-burning, also present was a distinctive Kitley green marble much valued as a building stone. As Yealmpton grew it became a small market town running a monthly cattle market, a feeder market for Plymouth & Exeter. Today Yealmpton benefits from the tourism that frequents Devon, whilst not part of the coastline it has picturesque scenery nearby making it a useful base for visitors. Modern developments did temporarily come to Yealmpton, a branch railway line once connected it into Plympton but that is now closed. Yealmpton is drained southwestwards by the ria that is the Yealm estuary, it meets the English Channel within 4 miles of the village. Yealmpton  is sited at between 15 & 60 metres above the sea, it sits only a few miles south of Dartmoor so land rises steadily northwards reaching 143 metres roughly halfway to Ivybridge. Yealmpton parish was extensive as are most parishes in this area, covering just over 3,100 acres it would have supported a population of close to 1,300 parishioners. In Domesday times Yealmpton was a holding of King William and just sufficiently large enough, with 44 households, to just scrape into the top 20% of settlements recorded by population, with 15 ploughs backed by meadows, pastures & woodland it was a moderately prosperous manor.

The Church

St Bartholomew's church sits south of the A379 and west of the junction with the B3186. Early gazetteers describe a church partly in the early medieval styles and partly in the later, however, that church is gone replaced in 1850 by today's Victorian church, as such it is not the venue for these marriages The church was initially completed simply as the nave and chancel in 1850 in a mixture of styles from the 13th & 14th centuries, perhaps a hark back to the earlier church. The major changes to the church since then have come in 1863 when decoration of the chancel was completed and in 1915 when the western tower was added. The church is accessed by the steep Torr Hill (the B-road) and immediately turning right into the very narrow and steep Church Lane, as that lane gradually tightens by the churchyard gates it is recommended that parking be sought elsewhere it being highly difficult to turn around if the churchyard gates are reached, there are often spaces on Torr Hill. Whilst the churchyard has a few trees dotted about they are mostly easily avoidable by the photographer.