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

 

The Parish

The parish of Virley lies in eastern Essex not too far from its coastline with Salcott Channel, one of the complex estuaries forming this stretch of the coastline. Virley is located about 8 miles south of Colchester. Virley has ceased to exist as a separate settlement having been merged with neighbouring Salcott following the demise of the church. The combined village of Salcott cum Virley sits just over a quarter mile east of the B1026 road which connects Colchester with Maldon. As a coastal community sitting at the head of a navigable creek Virley would have enjoyed some coastal trading as well access to fisheries and shell-fisheries, in particular the famous oyster beds of this part of the coastline. In addition the grazing marshes would have provided income from pastoral grazing of, mainly, cattle. Despite these advantages of a diverse economy, this part of the Essex coast is remote and the village declined notably as a result. Salcott Creek drains eastwards the short distance to the Blackwater Estuary and thence to the North Sea. Virley is sited at just 2 metres above the sea and land only rises gently to local heights of 50 metres or so inland to the northwest. Virley parish was tiny, even by southern standards, it covered just over 600 acres and would have supported a [population of close to 50 parishioners. In Domesday times it was equally small, a settlement of a single plough held by one Robert Gernon.


The Church

St Mary's church lies in a ruinous state having been neglected for many years, a small earthquake in 1884 resulted in a split in the walls which led to the collapse 9 years later, the church has thus been abandoned. The church was early, largely 13th century yet within the ruin has been found reused Roman brick and rare 13th century peg-tiles. Descriptions of the church written in the 18th and 19th centuries record that the church had a tower which had collapsed by the 18th century and was superseded by a timber enclosure containing a bell. Little more than a few courses remain in what is now an undisturbed ruin. The ruin sits in the grounds of the rectory and is thus difficult to access for photography.


The Records

Register No Covering Dates Deposited With Register Style Quality Standard Comments
1 23rd October 1761 - 3rd October 1811 Essex Record Office - Reference - D/P412/1/3 Standard preprinted and self-numbered Marriage register with 4 entries per page Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of misreads None
2 20th June 1815 - 17th July 1836 Essex Record Office - Reference - D/P412/1/4 Standard Rose style preprinted and prenumbered Marriage register Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of misreads None


Great Wigborough St Stephen
Great Wigborough St Stephen
Great Wigborough St Stephen
Tolleshunt Knights All Saints
Great Wigborough St Stephen
Salcott St Mary
Salcott St Mary
Salcott St Mary

Register Reference Date Groom Forename Groom Surname Groom Status Groom Abode Bride Forename Bride Surname Bride Status Bride Abode
1 23/10/1761 William SALMON Single   Sarah TRACEY Single  
2 13/09/1763 John BLAND Widower   Elizabeth MANN Widow Coggeshall
3 20/10/1763 John HUBBARD Single   Mary ALLESTON Single  
4 04/07/1766 Joseph JOHNSON Widower   Eleanor ARDLEY Widow  
5 09/06/1767 Bartholomew SEWEL Single Tollesbury Elizabeth TRACEY Single  
6 12/07/1769 Robert BOLDEN Single   Elizabeth SEWELL Widow  
7 14/12/1769 Joseph TRACEY Widower   Alice BICKMORE Widow  
8 02/10/1770 Gilbert BONNER Single Layer Breton Sarah BAKER Single  
9 04/08/1773 Samuel LUFKIN Single Great Wigborough Frances MORFEE Widow  
10 01/12/1778 Thomas MARTIN Single   Sarah CROSBY Single  
11 26/03/1781 Robert KING Single   Hannah ARDLEY Single  
12 30/09/1783 William WADE   Great Wigborough Mary ARDLEY    
13 28/04/1784 Jonathan FOOKES Widower   Ruth WESNEY Single  
14 14/09/1784 Joseph RAY Single   Mary ARDLEY Single  
15 19/10/1784 Samuel MOSS Single   Sarah SALMONS Single  
16 27/03/1785 Richard CROSBY Single   Elizabeth BIGSBY Widow  
17 11/01/1786 William CADMAN Single   Susanna ARDLEY Single  
18 05/05/1786 William DIXON   Layer De La Haye Mary BEADLE    
19 26/12/1786 Thomas FOOKES Single   Ruth FOOKES Widow  
20 03/11/1789 Daniel PARKER Widower   Mary BAXTER Widow  
21 13/01/1790 Robert CADMAN Single   Sarah ARDLEY Single  
22 25/10/1791 William MOORE Single   Ann CLARK Single  
23 07/05/1792 John WILTSHIRE Single Great Wigborough Sarah CADMAN Single  
24 22/10/1792 Thomas JOHNSON Single Tollesbury Elizabeth BAXTER Single  
25 12/02/1798 Robert PENNEY Single   Margaret GLENDINING Single  
26 06/08/1799 William BARRETT Single   Mary CLARK Single  
27 14/07/1802 Thomas CHAPMAN Single Tollesbury Elizabeth HEARD Single  
28 14/05/1806 Robert CHAPMAN Single Tolleshunt D'Arcy Mary HEARD Single  
29 06/11/1810 Joseph NEWTON Single Peldon Sarah BONNER Single  
30 03/10/1811 James WARD Single   Sarah FOSTER Single  
7 20/06/1815 Gideon HEARD Widower   Sarah COLLIER Widow Layer De La Haye
13 21/01/1817 Joseph CRACKLIN Single   Lucy OSBORNE Single  
14 24/08/1817 John SCOTT Single   Susannah SPRINGETT Single  
15 12/11/1817 John GRIMWOOD Single Layer De La Haye Mary LUFKIN Single  
16 12/07/1818 Thomas WOOD Single   Lydia WISBEY Single  
17 13/10/1825 Joseph COOK Widower   Elizabeth PEARTREE Widow St Peter, Colchester
18 30/10/1827 Samuel KETLEY   Great Wigborough Charlotte COOK    
19 05/10/1828 William WARD Single   Elizabeth WILLET Single Tollesbury
20 26/10/1828 Henry BANKS Widower   Harriett WHITEHEAD Single  
21 04/10/1829 John HARRIS Single   Mary Ann FISHER   Great Birch
22 01/10/1830 Benjamin HARVEY Single   Hannah VINCE Single  
25 15/12/1832 Humphrey BISHOP Single Tollesbury Ann DEEKS Single  
28 06/07/1834 John RAVEN Single   Sarah HURN Single  
29 17/07/1836 Jonathan FOOKES Single   Mary BRIDGE Single  

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