England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Tarrant Crawford St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Tarrant Crawford lies in east central Dorset about 4 miles southeast of the market town of Blandford Forum. Tarrant Crawford sits, in lanes, about a mile east of the A350 road which connects Blandford Forum with the port of Poole. Tarrant Crawford was at one time a substantial settlement grouped around its Cistercian nunnery but all trace of this has been eradicated by time. Today Tarrant Crawford is little more than a hamlet with a scatter of farms and cottages lying along the valley of the Tarrant River and the Stour to which it flows. Set in chalk downland Tarrant Crawford would probably have earned most of its income from pastoral farming, extensive sheep-runs dominating the landscape which today is much more arable. The Tarrant drains the parish, shortly joining the Stour and thus the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour. Tarrant Crawford is sited at around 30 metres above the sea and is set in the shallow valley of the Tarrant, local heights rise to just above 100 metres on nearby Keynston Down. Tarrant Crawford parish was rather small for a Dorset parish, it covered around 1,000 acres and would have supported a population of barely 70 parishioners. In Domesday times the parish was held by Bishop Gilbert Maninot of Lisieux, still small it could offer just 3 ploughs small meadows, pastures & woodland but did possess a mill on the Tarrant.

The Church

St Mary's church sits almost a half mile from the nearest road and is best approached on foot. Pevsner points out some very early features - Norman chancel doorway and nave quoins but most of the church dates from the 13th into 14th centuries. Most of the remaining features are dated to circa 1300 as the fenestration is largely in the Decorated style. It is internally that St Mary has its piece de resistance, 14th century wall paintings make it well worth a visit. A footpath leads to the church, branching off from Tarrant Crawford's main lane just west of its bridge over the Tarrant, a short walk brings you to the site Regrettably the church is rather hemmed in by trees to its south making for a slightly tricky building to adequately photograph, particularly on sunny days.