England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Asheldham St Lawrence

The Parish

The parish of Asheldham lies in southeastern Essex roughly 8 miles southeast of the port and market town of Maldon and sitting in the centre of the Dengie Peninsula. Asheldham sits on the meandering B1021 road which crosses that peninsula from Burnham on Crouch to Bradwell on Sea. Asheldham is a small village with a straggle of properties lining that road as it performs a series of tight right-angled bends through the settlement, to the east lies Asheldham Hall and the former church separated by almost a half mile. The area has a long history of occupancy, within the village traces of an Iron Age fort with discernible banks and ditches dating back to pre-Roman times can be found. The area is flat and fertile making it ideal for the growing of cereals, that has not changed since the time of this transcript except that the fields have become larger to accommodate modern machinery. To the southeast of the village lies the wetland area of Dengie Marshes across which the Asheldham Brook meanders before exiting into the nearby North Sea. Asheldham is sited at around 20 metres above the sea, just sufficient to keep it dry, land rises northwestwards to low hills reaching 38 metres at the highest point in gentle and flatiish terrain. Asheldham parish was typically sized for its area covering, net of wetland, an area of close to 1,700 acres which would have supported a population of close to 200 parishioners. In contrast to the Iron Age by Domesday Asheldham was a sparsely populated manor with just 4 households and just some meadow as an asset for its landholder, a Saxon survivor Swein of Essex.

The Church

The former church of St Lawrence, it closed for worship in 1986 and is now an outer training centre, lies together with the 17th century timber framed house of Asheldham Hall roughly a half mile east of the main village, it sits on the northern side of Hall Road. Excavations during the conversion of the church prior to its closure revealed an earlier Norman version, a simple church of nave and chancel with an apsidal eastern end. There is no trace of 12th century masonry in today's building as it was wholly rebuilt in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The church is built from local flint rubble with few dating details remaining for the nave and chancel. The blocky western tower is of more certain date with Pevsner confident in assigning a 14th century date. Restoration work began early for St Lawrence, the eastern wall of the chancel being rebuilt in brick during the 18th century. More typically a Victorian restoration of 1867 added a southern porch and replaced the east window. Work in 1976 and 1989 to convert the church added a northern extension and reordered the interior to its new function. There appear to be access still to the grounds which are enclosed within a post & rail fence but in view of its present status permission may be required, the churchyard has no obstacles for the photographer.