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

The Parish

The parish of Dunton lies in southern Essex roughly 6 miles southeast of the town of Brentwood, it sits just over a mile south of the A127 road which links London with Southend on Sea. Dunton is a much changed area, at the time of this transcript it was a simple estate village supporting Dunton Hall, a few properties to the east of the hall constituted the main settlement whilst scattered farms dotted the wider parish. Today Dunton stands on the western edge of Basildon New Town, a largely modern development which stretches for over 5 miles eastwards from Dunton. The Hall and former church still stand in open fields but all else is covered with 20th century housing and industrial estates. Modern developments have come to the parish, the railway line linking London with Basildon passes through the parish without granting a station whilst the A127 has been upgraded to a fast dual-carriageway highway. Dunton is drained southwestwards by tributaries which merge to form the Mar Dyke before passing into the outer Thames Estuary near Aveley Marshes and thence to the North Sea. Dunton is sited at around 30 metres above the sea in gentle terrain where land only rises significantly north of the A127 to reach low hills at just over 70 metres. Dunton parish covered around 2,000 acres and would have supported a population of close to 200 parishioners, the low level of marriages is due to the loss of the registers, it is estimated around 70 marriages are forever lost. In Domesday times Dunton was a modest farming manor, held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux offering just 6 ploughs as its assets.

The Church

St Mary's church has been deconsecrated and sold as a private home. The former church stands at the western end of Church Lane, the dead-end lane heading for church & hall, it stands to the north of the hall. Whilst there is some medieval fabric remaining, 15th century timbers in the belfry, and Tudor bricks in the chancel's northern wall all else if from the rebuilding of 1873. Given the present status of the church views should only be obtained from public roads ot the public footpath heading northwards from Church Lane.