England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Sixpenny Handley St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Sixpenny Handley lies in the extreme northeast of Dorset forming a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Wiltshire. Sixpenny Handley is located roughly 11 miles northeast of the market town of Blandford Forum and sits just under a mile northwest of the A354 road which links Blandford Forum with Salisbury. The unusual name is as a result of the combination of two manors, Handley and Sixpenny, not a reference to currency but being "Saxon's Pen" originally. A "pen" being a holding. Sixpenny Handley is a mid-sized village built around a slanting oblong of lanes with its eastern edge formed by the B3081, modern developments have extended the village in recent times. The village sits upon the chalk downlands rising northwards to reach the ancient trackway of the "Ox Drove". The chalk lent itself to sheep and at the time of this transcript sheep rearing dominated the local economy. Today with the advent of modern machinery & fertilisers cereal growing now surpasses the former pastures. Sitting upon porous chalk there is no surface drainage close to Sixpenny Handley until the River Allen rises to its southeast, the Allen flows southwards to meet the Stour at Wimborne Minster and joins it in flowing into the English Channel arriving through Poole Harbour. Sixpenny Handley is sited at around 90 metres above the sea but, as stated, land rises steadily up the dip slope of the underlying geology to climax at around 277 metres along the Ox Drove. Sixpenny Handley parish was extensive, the chalk not bearing enough to support concentrated settlement, covering just over 5,900 acres it would have supported a population of close to 1,100 parishioners. In Domesday times, however, Sixpenny Handley was an important settlement, large enough by population to be amongst the largest 20% of settlements recorded, held by Shaftesbury Abbey it assets of 19 ploughs, a small meadow and a larger woodland were not spectacularly large, however.

The Church

St Mary's church sits at the northwestern edge of the village tucked away behind fronting properties where the B3081 performs a set of right-angled bends to exit northwestwards. Outwardly medieval in appearance the church, however, is an almost complete rebuild from 1877. Some few parts remain from the 14th century original, despite heavy restoration the chancel can be discerned to be original early 14th century Decorated in style whilst the southern porch, also of the same period, has been re-positioned using the original materials. The west tower is later but still 14th century showing the Perpendicular style of the later part of the 14th century. Almost everything else post-dates this transcript's period and dates from 1877. The B road is used for parking but away from the entrance to the churchyard, here a rising pathway leads up a slope to the lychgate for entry. Unfortunately for the photographer trees crowd the southern face of the church removing that favoured aspect, all other views are available.