England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Shipton Gorge St Martin

The Parish

The chapelry of Shipton Gorge, its mother parish being Burton Bradstock, lies in southwestern Dorset not too far from its English Channel coastline. Shipton Gorge is located roughly 3 miles east of the market town of Bridport and stands a mile south of the A35 road which links Bridport with Dorchester. Shipton Gorge is a small village which is built in an "L" shape, properties line a north to south running lane with an eastwards extension passing below the hilltop parish church. Shipton Gorge stands in countryside littered with traces of pre-Roman settlement, many patches of strip lynchets & tumuli lie around and Shipton Hill to the east carriers the remains of an Iron Age hill-fort. Shipton Gorge stands in chalk countryside surrounded by billowing downs that would almost entirely have been the home of sheep during the period of this transcript, today many of these areas have been ploughed for cereals helped by modern machinery & fertilisers. Shipton Gorge is drained southwards by a small brook which soon reaches the River Bredy, turns west and reaches the English Channel west of Burton Bradstock. Shipton Gorge is sited at between 50 and 80 metres above the sea on a rising slope above its stream, the hill-fort rises to 170 metres in under a mile in strongly rolling countryside. Roughly 1,500 acres of Burton Bradstock parish were assigned to Shipton Gorge and that acreage supported close to 400 parishioners. Whilst Shipton Gorge has a Domesday Book entry it is clearly that of a region rather than specific to the manor, 35 ploughs and 8 mills being totally out of proportion to the settlement.

The Church

St Martin's church stands atop a knoll reached by a curving dead-end lane from the main village street. The full dedication is to St Martin of Tours, a Roman soldier and Christian known for his missionary work and later Bishop of Tours in France. As a consequence of Victorian rebuilding only the western tower remains from medieval times, the tower, complete with a polygonal stair turret which climbs higher, is dated to c1400 and is in the Perpendicular style fashionable at that date. Also from this time is the church's southern doorway. The main body of the church, both nave and chancel and a parallel northern aisle, was rebuilt between 1861 & 1862 so would not be recognisable to the participants in these marriages. The style used is also Perpendicular which is perhaps, a nod to the former medieval predecessor. The lane curves around to finish outside the churchyard gates where grassy verges allow safe parking. Whilst most of the churchyard is devoid of obstacles, a copse of trees lis at the southwestern corner which restricts the favoured aspects for the photographer.