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

The Parish

The parish of Stansted Mountfichet lies in the extreme west of Essex and forms a very short stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Hertfordshire. Stansted Mountfichet is located roughly 4 miles northeast of the Hertfordshire market town of Bishop's Stortford and sits on the former route of the A11 (Norwich to London) road, this has been downgraded to being the B1383 in recent times. Stansted Mountfichet is a rather large village, almost grown in recent times to small town size, most properties lie within the triangular area formed by a combination of the B1383 and the B1352 which meet at an apex on the northern edge of the village with the new parish church of St John the Evangelist former the heart of this community. Like most Essex parishes Stansted Mountfichet would have essentially been an arable farming community until recent times. Modern developments have come thick & fast, a rail link to the capital from Cambridge passes through Stansted Mountfichet granting it a station and boosting commuting for the local population, the former World War 2 airfield has expanded greatly to become London's third international airport, Stansted and the modern M11 has been built just to the east of the estate of Stansted Hall. In summary Stansted Mountfichet is a fast growing commuter settlement with employment opportunities in the aviation and light industrial areas of its own. Stansted Mountfichet is drained southwards by the River Stort which follows a canalised route to join the Lee before passing through the capital to the outer Thames Estuary and the North Sea. Stansted Mountfichet is sited at around 80 metres above the sea in gentle terrain where local heights rise just above 100 metres towards the airport. Stansted Mountfichet parish was one of the most extensive in its county, covering almost 4,100 acres it would have supported a population of around 1,600 parishioners, many more than that today, the 2011 census recorded over 6,000. In Domesday times Stansted Mountfichet was an equally substantial manor, held by one Robert Gernon it offered 14 ploughs, meadows, woodland holding over 1,000 pigs and also had a mill.

The Church

St Mary's church, the former parish church of Stansted Mountfichet, sits within the estate of Stansted Hall and almost a mile southeast of the current village. The church was declared redundant in 1990 with St John, more conveniently placed to assume that role. There is good documentary evidence to identify the completion of the basic church between 1120 & 1124 and despite the many changes made over the centuries some evidence remains of that Norman Romanesque period. Both northern and southern doorways together with the chancel arch all show that 12th century style. On the northern side of the church sits the Lancaster Chapel which is entered through a slightly later Early English Gothic arch indicative of a late 12th century origin. The chancel, itself retains its 13th century identity despite later work. Moving forward in time we find the western tower, rebuilt in brick in 1692 and capped with a short spike characteristic of nearby Hertfordshire. The whole church was, in Pevsner's words, "thoroughly Victorian-ised" by an extensive restoration of the late 1880s. Church Road leaves the village from its station curving southeastwards around the parkland of Stansted Hall's estate, the lane to the church is marked prominently by a large brown sign and a car park sits just within that lane. A lengthy footpath crosses the rather extensive churchyard to the church from the car park, the churchyard is open and uncluttered with no sigbificant obstacles for the photographer.