England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Ashmore St Nicholas

The Parish

The parish of Ashmore lies on the northern edge of Dorset forming a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Wiltshire. Ashmore is located roughly 5 miles southeast of the town of Shaftesbury and sits a quarter of a mile west of the B3081 road which crosses Cranborne Chase from Shaftesbury to Cranborne and eventually to Ringwood in Hampshire. Ashmore sits high on a ridge top where an inverted Y-junction of lanes leads down twin ridges to the southeast and southwest. Ashmore sits upon the high ridges of Cretaceous chalk that forms the chase, it takes its name as it was once a dedicated Royal Hunting area. Much of the area was sheep-walk at the time of this transcript but nowadays much has transformed into arable. The short turf also proved helpful in training of race-horses and the tops of the downs carry gallops for that purpose whilst also exhibiting many signs of occupation by early man, tumuli and barrows dot the hills. Sitting upon porous chalk there is no surface drainage for many miles, interestingly there is a large round duck pond in the village which must clearly be clay-lined to prevent it seeping away. the infant River Allen rising at Chettle to the southeast is probably the main destination of sub-service flows, the Allen makes its way southwards to Wimborne Minster where it joins the Stour for its final easterly progress into Poole Harbour and the English Channel. Ashmore is sited at around 200 metres above the sea, the ridge rises still further northwards reaching 277 metres at Win Green before plunging down a steep escarpment. Ashmore parish was typically sized for this area covering just over 2,300 acres it would have supported a population of around 250 parishioners. Domesday Ashmore was a direct holding of King William, a typical small to medium farming manor offering 7 ploughs backed by meadows, pastures & woodland.

The Church

St Nicholas' church sits on the western side of High Street which forms the southwestern limb of the village Y-shaped junction. Sadly the medieval church which was recorded as being completed in 1433 has been demolished and replace by today's Victorian church of 1874, thus not the venue for these marriages. Like many Victorian replacement churches St Nicholas is built in a faux-13th century style, the Early English Gothic styling being once again fashionable. A simple church of nave & chancel with a western bellcote, somewhat controversial matrix is used to build the walls with random ashlar blocks embedded in a predominantly flint wall, a curious and to Pevsner displeasing effect. The churchyard is set back from the road and is fronted by a gravelled parking bay with room for a vehicle of two, entry is through arched wrought iron-work, the churchyard has a few trees which are easily avoided by the photographer.