England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Wolviston St Peter

The Parish

The chapelry of Wolviston lies in the southeast of County Durham, it is part of the wider parish of Billingham that forms part of the border with neighbouring Yorkshire. Wolviston is located about 4 miles north of the industrial town of Stockton on Tees and sits just east of the busy A19 which connects Teeside with the Great North Road. Wolviston, today, is contiguous with the urban area of Billingham having been swallowed by the growth of its mother parish in recent times. At the time of this transcript Wolviston was a separate and agricultural community. Wolviston is drained eastwards by a small tributary of Greatham Creek which reaches the North Sea through the close by estuary of the River Tees. Wolviston is sited at around 30 metres above the sea and sits on a rather flat coastal plain with local heights reaching little more than 50 metres for some distance. The chapelry of Wolviston covered an extensive area of the northern portion of Billingham parish, a population of around 600 parishioners would have been supported. Like much of this area Wolviston is not mentioned in Domesday Book which has scanty coverage of this area.

The Church

St Peter's church sits in the northeast of the village close to major roads running from Sedgefield to Hartlepool. The church is a late Victorian build, completed in 1876 in red brick and utilising a style taken from the early English Gothic period. The church is clearly of little architectural interest for Pevsner as his account is short and comments are limited only to describe the fleche as "pretty". The church sits a hundred yards or so east of the High Street and is reached by turning east at the Ship Inn. The former road to Hartlepool is now a dead-end and has limited parking. The church sits behind a low local stone wall with white gates at the western end of the site granting entry. There are few photographic obstructions within the churchyard.