England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
East Stour Christ Church

The Parish

The parish of East Stour lies in northern Dorset roughly 4 miles west of the town of Shaftesbury. East Stour sits on the A30 road which links Shaftesbury with Sherborne. East Stour is a crossroads village on the eastern banks of the River Stour, whilst it has properties lining the A30 there are more on the B3092 road which links the village with nearby Gillingham. East Stour's position at the eastern edge of the Stour's floodplain gave it access to both the rich meadows of the riverside grazed mostly by cattle but also in the eastern portion of the parish to good quality arable land leading to a mixed farming economy. In addtion there was a large common off the road to Shaftesbury which would have been managed for pannage and typical heathland products. East Stour is drained southwards by the Stour which trends more eastwards after Sturminster Newton eventually reaching the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour. East Stour is sited at around 90 metres above the sea but eastern views are dominated by the isolated knoll of Duncliffe Hill standing at 210 metres as the highest local ground, the general terrain is undulating rather than hilly. East Stour parish was fairly typically sized for the area, albeit nearly surrounded by the large parish of Gillingham &Stour Provost, covering just under 1,800 acres it would have supported a population of close to 450 parishioners. At Domesday East Stour was recorded together with its near neighbour across the river, West Stour, the two were recorded as held by two landholders (Shatesbury Abbey & Roger de Beaumont) but without allotting each holding to a settlement it is hard to tell the exact assets of East Stour specifically, collectively the 73 placed the joint settlements into the top 20% of settlements by population and with assets of 12 ploughs, meadows, pastures & woodland plus 4 mills this was a prosperous set of holdings indeed.

The Church

Christ Church sits just west of the main crossroads of A30 & B3092 on the southern side of the former. Sadly the church that stands here today is not the venue for these marriages having been erected in 1842. The church is built on a cruciform layout in the Neo-Norman style and consists of nave, chancel, transepts with a central crossing tower. The church was clearly of little architectural interest for Pevsner as his account is terse covering only 7 lines of text outlining the main features. The A30 is a rather busy trunk road so it is fortunate for visitors that there sits a lengthy layby outside the churchyard allowing a safe visit. The entrance has no gate just a pathway leading to the church which sits within a churchyard with no obstacles whatsoever for the photographer.