England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Belchalwell St Aldhelm

The Parish

The parish of Belchalwell lies in the northern portion of central Dorset roughly 8 miles west of the market town of Blandford Forum. Belchalwell sits within an area devoid of significant numbered roads, the closest such road lying to the northwest being the A357 linking Blandford Forum with Wincanton in Somerset. Belchalwell is a tiny place, little more than a hamlet, the main village of a few properties running westwards from the church is supplemented by Belchalwell Street, a second hamlet sitting tucked away beneath the ramparts of the chalk escarpments forming the Wessex Downs. The twin settlements lie in the clay vale below the chalk on poor and rather stiff soils that mainly lent themselves to pastoral farming at the time of this transcript. Belchalwell is drained northwards by the headwaters of the River Divelish which meets the Dorset Stour west of Sturminster Newton and turns back east and then southeast to carve through the chalk and meet the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour. Belchalwell is sited at around 110 metres above the sea with Belchalwell Street some 20 metres higher, all is, however, over-shadowed by the chalk escarpment towering to 261 metres to the south on Ibberton Hill all capped by the local Wessex Ridgway Trail. Covering just over 1,300 acres Belchalwell parish was toward the smaller end of parish scale in its county, that acreage being minimised as almost 10% is described in early gazetteers as waste, a population of around 200 parishioners would have been supported. Belchalwell is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Aldhelm's church sits to the northeast of the main village accessed along the dead-end and only roughly-surfaced Church Walk. This is a church which was once a ruin but has been restored in the 20th century by caring supporters. Whilst the church mostly dates from the late-medieval period, 15th century in the main and Perpendicular in style, a length of wall on the southern face of the nave reveals an early predecessor from the Norman Romanesque period of the 12th century. Further early fabric can be found in the southern doorway which is dated by Pevsner to c1190 and is in the Transitional style, a short period between Early English Gothic and the Decorated flourish. Besides these early pieces the bulk of the church comes either from the 15th century rebuild or from its 1905 restoration from ruin. An unusual feature of the church is the placement of its tower alongside the southern face rather than in the traditional western or central crossing locations. The lane, Church Walk, leading to the church is for the braver driver but does end in a grassy turning area, lesser folk will walk from the main village street. A few trees sit close to the southern face removing some of the favoured aspects but all other views are available to the photographer.