England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
High Easter St Mary the Virgin

The Parish

The parish of High Easter, so named because it is more elevated (albeit by only 10 metres) than its twin Good Easter, is located in west central Essex about 5 miles south of the market town of Great Dunmow. High Easter sits, in a wide expanse of lanes, about 3 miles north of the A1060 road which connects the county town of Chelmsford through to the Hertfordshire market town of Bishop's Stortford. High Easter is a mid-sized village largely built along an east/west running lane running for almost a half mile in extent. At the time of this transcript this would have been an arable farming district and today little has changed. The fertile soils, light and productive have always provided an excellent growing medium for cereals which dominate the local landscape in large fields. High Easter is drained westwards by small tributaries of the River Roding, this river makes its way through the eastern portion of the London Metropolis to emerge onto the Thames Estuary through Barking. High Easter is sited about 70 metres above the sea, on a slight eminence, land rises still higher in gentle countryside to almost 90 metres between High Easter & Great Dunmow. High Easter parish was extensive by Essex standards, it covered almost 5,000 acres and would have supported a population of almost 1,000 parishioners. In Domesday times High Easter was one of the 20% most populous parishes in the country, a tribute to its fertile soils, held by Geoffrey de Mandeville it could offer 22 ploughs, meadows and a woodland populated by 800 pigs.

The Church

St Mary the Virgin's church sits at the western end of The Street tucked away behind fronting properties. This is one of the few remaining churches which is predominantly Norman Romanesque in style. Both the nave, chancel and southern doorway are very early and Norman in style, the Romanesque was in vogue during the 11th and early 12th centuries, Pevsner is reluctant to assign which century but the use of Roman brickwork (herringbone patterns in the walling) must surely indicate the former. Of course this Norman core has been much modified over the years, the principal changes being the 14th century northern aisle, 15th century western tower and in the 16th century the brick porch as well as the raising of the height of the nave using the same brick. A further Victorian restoration of the 1860s made the customary changes from this period to result in today's building. The Street performs a series of sharp right-angled bends at its western end and there is a few parking spaces outside The Punch Bowl Inn, a narrow alleyway leads through the half-timbered properties to the churchyard which is relatively open with just a few evergreens to avoid in taking photographs.