England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Todber St Andrew

The Parish

The parish of Todber lies in northern Dorset roughly 4 1/2 miles southwest of the town of Shaftesbury. Todber sits on the meandering B3092 road which links Gillingham with Sturminster Newton. Whilst Todber has a small presence on the B3092 most of the small village sits to its east, a northern lane has a long straggle of properties running eastwards whilst the main concentration lies on the southern lane which leads to the parish church. Todber lies on the eastern edges of the River Stour's flood-plain and that location would have given it a mixed farming regime, pastures on wetter ground and cereals on the drier. Farming incomes would have been supplemented by quarrying of the local stone which was used for local building work, a biscuit coloured limestone. Todber is drained initially southwards and then southeast by the Stour, after it reaches Dorchester the Stour turns east and reaches the English Channel through Poole Harbour. Todber is sited at around 79 metres above the sea, to its northeast views are dominated by the isolated knoll of Duncliffe Hill which at 210 metres stands well above the general elevation. Todber parish was one of the smallest in its county covering merely 373 acres and supporting close to 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Todber was held by one William de Mohun and offered 4 ploughs, some meadows & woodland but did possess a mill.

The Church

St Andrew's church sits at the eastern end of the southern lane which forms the square of the village, Church Road. This is a church which was almost entirely rebuilt during the 19th century and would not be recognisable to the participants of these marriages. Only parts of the southern tower convinced Pevsner as to there being original medieval masonry but insufficient to warrant a dating for them. Everything else relates to the rebuilding of the entire church in 1879 financed by the Marchioness of Westminster and built in a mixture of Early English Gothic and Perpendicular styles, even the saddleback top to the tower is of the rebuild. Outside the gates Church Road is widened to form parking for a car or two. The churchyard has no significant obstacles for the photographer.