England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Steeple St Michael

The Parish

The parish of Steeple lies in southeastern Dorset forming a short stretch of the county's English Channel coastline. Steeple is located about 6 miles south of the market town of Wareham and sits in an area devoid of major roads, the closest being some 3 miles to the east of Steeple, the A351 at Corfe Castle. Steeple is a small place with no defined village as such, merely a scatter of farms and cottages across a strongly undulating landscape where the local geology is complex and defining of the landscape. Here the rocks are standing on end with a geological sequence through Cretaceous to Jurassic in a short space of physical landscape, the harder rocks standing proud as ridges whilst Steeple sits within the softer rock of a vale in which the infant Corfe River rises. A farming community with a mixed regime, the thin oils of both chalk and limestone being grazed by mainly sheep whilst arable dominated the vale. Modern developments have come to the area, the army's Tyneham tank ranges border Steeple to the west whilst the nodding donkeys of the Kimmeridge oil field, hardly Dallas but still productive, also lie close by. The infant Corfe River drains eastwards and then northeastwards to reach the English Channel through Poole Harbour. Steeple is sited at around 75 metres above the sea but the chalk downland to the south rises to 167 metres at Tyneham Cap whilst to the north the limestone ridge rises almost to 200 metres on Ridgeway Hill both within a mile of Steeple's church. Steeple parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering just under 3,100 acres it would have supported a population of just over 250 parishioners. In Domesday times Steeple was an equally small place, held by Roger de Beaumont it offered just 1 pair of ploughs together with some meadows, pastures & woodland.

The Church

St Michael's church sits at the end of a short dead-end lane running southwards from the main village access, a lane running westwards from Corfe Castle. A single remnant of an early church has been identified, the southern doorway is Norman Romanesque in style and represents the earliest fabric within the building. This early piece is indicative of a church on this site back to the 1th century. The nave retains a single lancet window which is of the Early English Gothic style of the 13th century but much else is later and represents a rebuild of the church probably in the 15th century. The western tower shows that Perpendicular style typical of this period. Later still are the chancel chapels which Pevsner dates in tot 16th century with the northern being later than the southern, both a late date for significant church building campaigns. For once Pevsner does not mention a Victorian restoration so if one occurred it was light and sensitive.The lane to the church is narrow and hooks tightly around the churchyard but just before it ends at a farm gate and opposite the entrance gates a pull-in for a single car is very welcome. The churchyard has, unfortunately, many trees within it and many of these occupy the favoured southeastern aspect making it a challenge for the photographer to adequately capture the church.