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

The Parish

The parish of Harlow lies in the extreme west of Essex forming a short stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Hertfordshire. Harlow is located about 23 miles north of London and 17 miles west of the county town of Chelmsford, it stands on the former route of the A11 road from London to Norwich now downgraded as the A414. Harlow is a greatly changed place, early maps show two distinct settlements, a crossroads village of some size gathered around a junction of the old A11 and to its east a further small village gathered around the parish church at Churchgate Street. Harlow was a substantial settlement, the head town of its Saxon Hundred, from early times and for many centuries a market town and regional trading centre and home for specialist skills. Whilst the market eventually faded away small industries kept the town flourishing it was known for its woollen manufacture and spinning. Harlow's role in the land changed abruptly in 1947 when it was designated as one of the proposed New Towns intended to take "over-spill" from the overcrowding in London. From the relatively compact area of Old Harlow the town now spreads over an oblong with its main axis from southwest to northeast, that runs for arounf 4 miles and has engulfed the parishes of Latton, Netteswell and Great Parndon, the short axis is around 3 miles and stretches from the county border with Hertfordshire to the course of the M11 motorway, from mid-sized market town it has become a town of over 93,000 with all of the industries and services to provide for that number. At the time of this transcript the rural areas of the parish would have simply been farmland with arable dominant, the greater part of the area west of the old A11 being covered by the estate of Mark Hall. Modern developments abound, the course of the River Stort was canalised in 1769 as the Stort Navigation, the railway line from London arrived in 1841 and the modern M11 in the late 1970s such that the town also serves as a substantial commuter town for London. Harlow is drained southwest by the Stort which soon joins the Lea, passes through eastern Greater London to the outer Thames Estuary and the North Sea. Old Harlow is sited at around 50 metres above the sea, land rises gently southeastwards across the M11 where a few spots reach the 90 metre contour. Harlow parish was extensive covering in excess of 5,000 acres which would have supported a population of close to 2,300 parishioners, it should be noted that such a population would be expected to produce around 1,150 marriages, the gap to the actual recorded marriages is directly attributable to the theft of the 1st register, on that basis some 800 marriages have been unfortunately irretrievably lost. Even by Domesday times Harlow was easily of sufficient size to be recorded in the top 20% of settlements by population, it was shared between 4 landholders with assets of 26 ploughs, meadows, pastures and woodland and also held 2 mills making for a very wealthy manor indeed.

The Church

St Mary & St Hugh's church sits with the smaller settlement of Churchgate Street on the western side of that street and just north of the Queens Head Inn. The church has had an unfortunate episode being badly damaged by fire in 1708 which largely destroyed the early 12th century cruciform church. Traces of that still remain in the form of a single Norman styled window from the 12th century in the nave's northern wall. Whilst the church was subsequently rebuilt it received such a drastic restoration.rebuild in Victorian times that few other traces of the medieval, or indeed the resurrected church (it once had a western tower). The result of the restoration of 1872-3 was almost a completely new church of nave, transepts, chancel and central crossing tower complete with a tall shingled broach spire. Further work followed in late Victorian and modern times, in 1888 the timber porch and lychgate were added, in 1894 a northern vestry and in 1988 a northern extension. Churchgate Street is of ample width for on-street parking outside that lychgate. The churchyard is compact and comes with some thick tree covef limiting the angles available for the photographer.