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

The Parish

The parish of Melcombe Regis lies in southern Dorset roughly 8 miles south of the county town of Dorchester, Melcombe Regis sits at the southern end of the A353 road which links it to the A253 (Dorchester to Wareham) road. Geography is complex here and requires a little historical analysis. Today Melcombe Regis is an integral part of the coastal resort & port of Weymouth, both settlements began life as chapelries, Melcombe Regis belonging to Radipole whilst Weymouth belonged to Wyke Regis. Whilst Melcombe Regis became a full parish in 1595, Weymouth remained an unlicensed chapelry of Wyke Regis for the entirety of this transcript period, the two faced each other across the harbour each occupying a tiny acreage. Whilst ecclesiastically they remained separate, for administrative purposes they were united by Queen Elizabeth I's government into a single borough in 1571 and that name Weymouth.  The early history of the town of Weymouth, incorporating Melcombe Regis, is dominated by its port, the two chapelries developed independently with Melcombe Regis specialising in the export or English wool to continental markets whereas Weymouth was primarily an importing harbour for wine and other luxury goods. Between the early 14th century and 1433 Melcombe Regis suffered markedly from repeated depredations by the French leading eventually to the loss of the primary trade to the more readily defended site of Poole. Throughout the later medieval period the town became chiefly a market town with a small port, it was nevertheless able to contribute 6 ships to the force defending against the Spanish Armada. It was the 18th century craze for sea bathing and the fashion statement by King George III that changed the fortunes of the joint town and began the expansion along the sweep of the bay of fashionable sea-facing terraces. The arrival of the modern development of the railway allowed mass tourism to explode turning the combined town into one of the major bathing resorts of England, a connection to new pier and cross-channel services also revived the port once more with crossings to France becoming prominent as well as fishing and the import & export of goods. Nowadays the sweep of the bay almost reaches to Preston and Melcombe Regis is part of an urban area that has engulfed Wyke and Radipole and westwards almost reached Chickerell, northwards its spread is only stopped (temporarily) by the bulwark that is the chalk ridge of Bayard Hill. The town is drained by the River Wey (hence Wey-mouth) which takes water to the English Channel. Melcombe Regis is almost entirely sited at just 2 metres above the sea besides Bayard Hill at 165 metres the other high ground sits on the former tombola of Portland lying offshore to the south where 147 metres is reached within the prison site. Melcombe Regis parish covered just 103 urban acres with a population growing exponentially through the transcript period to reach around 7.600 by its end, the volume of marriages recorded would be typical of an average of 4,500 over the 68 years. Melcombe Regis is not mentioned in Domesday Book being subsumed within the entry of its mother parish, Radipole,

The Church

St Mary's church stands on the eastern side of the pedestrianised street of St Mary's Street and only a short walk north of the harbour. Sadly this is not the parish church in which many of these marriages took place, the current church is a Georgian replacement built between 1815 & 1817, the medieval church had reached a parlous state and an Act of Parliament was enacted to replace it. The facade of the church sits almost contiguous with the neighbouring properties and is 3-bays in width. The nave has a segmental tunnel-vault, quatrefoil piers and galleries on 3 sides. Sadly the external appearance is rather plain and grey looking rather glum and austere amongst the sea-side holiday paraphernalia of neighbouring shops. The site is cramped and busy with foot-traffic, the photographer will have great difficulty finding a rewarding set of angles for this church.