England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Loughton St John the Baptist

The Parish

The parish of Loughton lies in southwestern Essex not too far from the 3-coutnies meet with both Hertfordshire & Middlesex. Loughton is located about 14 miles northeast of the city of London and sits on and mostly east of the A121 road linking London with Epping. Loughton sits between the ancient Royal Hunting Forest of Epping Forest and the course of the River Roding, its large acreage was almost equally split between un-inclosed common land from the former forest and typical Essex agricultural land bordering the river. The forest would have been exploited for forest products and foraging of the many pigs of the area whilst arable farming dominated the eastern half of the parish. Everything changed for Loughton with the arrival of the railway from London in 1856, nowadays part of the Central Line of the Tube. This caused an initial spurt of high quality dormitory houses for, as Pevsner puts it, "discerning commuters" which was quickly followed by rapid general urbanisation of the area east of Epping Forest. All of this development moved the town further east in a slide towards the railway causing also a new parish church (St John) to be built and the demolishing and replacement of its medieval one (St Nicholas). Thankfully the status of Epping Forest has kept further growth to the railway's channel and Loughton marks the northeastern corner of the continuous urban area of Greater London. Loughton is drained southwards by the River Roding which passes through eastern Greater London before becoming Barking Creek and disgorging into the outer Thames Estuary and thus the North Sea. Loughton is sited on ground which rises steadily westwards from the Riding at 20 metres to the edges of Epping Forest which just breach the 90 metre contour in a few spots. Loughton was a large parish albeit one with half of its acreage in common, some 4,000 acres supported a growing population which had reached around 1,300 by the end of the transcript period, the volume of marriages recorded would indicate, however, an average of nearer 700 for the whole period. Loughton's position on the edge of the Royal Hunting Forest made it an important settlement in Domesday time, its 64 households placing in the top 20%, mostly held by King William it had formidable assets too, some 46 ploughs, extensive meadows & woodland and 2 mills made for a very profitable holding.

The Church

The church history of Loughton is complex and the church we choose to illustrate the parish is the modern replacement church of St John rather than the venue for these marriages, St Nicholas, which was removed in two stages and replaced once again by the late Victorian church which stands on Rectory Lane. Just fragments remain of the medieval St Nicholas, unworthy and not meriting images. The present church of St John was completed in 1846 and stands on the eastern side of Church Lane, early maps show the church surrounded by open fields but today a sea of 20th century housing has replaced them. Built in the then fashionable Neo-Norman style but in clashing brick, it has a cruciform layout with a central crossing tower and transepts. Despite the late completion date there has been time for modification as the chancel was extended eastwards in 1877. The church hall sits to the north and has a substantial car park allowing a relaxed visit, for the photographer the western end is tricky being surrounded by trees but within the churchyard they are confined to the southern border allowing acceptable views.