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

The Parish

The parish of Farnham lies in northwestern Essex and forms a substantial part of the border with neighbouring Hertfordshire. Farnham is a small and compact village lying around 2 1/2 miles north of the Hertfordshire market town of Bishop's Stortford. Farnham sits about a mile north of the A120 road which bypasses Bishop's Stortford to the north and connects the modern M11 with the A10. Both at the time of this transcript and also today Farnham was a farming parish, arable in the main albeit a more mixed rotational regime would have been present then. The parish is dominated by the estate of the Gosling family, Hassobury, its 19th century mansion standing in a parkland setting. Farnham is drained the short distance to the River Stort by the Bourne Brook, the Stort heads southwards joining the Lea near Hoddesdon and eventually reaching the outer Thames through London's East End. Farnham is sited at around 100 metres above the sea and sits on gently rising ground to the west of the Stort's valley, local heights rise imperceptibly to just 10 metres higher. Farnham parish was fairly typically sized for its area, it covered a little under 2,000 acres and would have supported a population of close to 500 parishioners. In Domesday times farnham was shared between no fewer than 4 landholders, none declaring many assets, the largest portion of said assets was in the hands of Robert Gernon who declared just 4 ploughs and a small meadow which was well-stocked with domesticated animals.

The Church

St Mary the Virgin's church sits on the edge of Hassobury estate and a quarter of a mile east of the village accessed along a narrow dead-end lane. The church is a Victorian replacement for the mediaeval predecessor and is built in the Decorated style of the 14th century. The western tower and southern porch are reputed to be designed to replicate those features of the prior church. The basic western tower, nave & chancel design is augmented by a northern chancel aisle which houses the organ chamber and vestry. The lane ends with a broad flattened parking area to its south and a broad and un-gated entranceway into the churchyard. A couple of trees dot the southern aspect but are easily avoided to capture adequate images.