England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
White Roding St Martin

The Parish

The parish of White Roding lies in western Essex not too far from its border with neighbouring Hertfordshire, White Roding is located about 8 miles north of the town of Chipping Ongar and sits on the A1060 road which links Chelmsford with Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshire. There are 8 full parishes which make up "The Rodings" of these White Roding is the most westerly. Whilst the village has a small presence on the A1060, the usual roadside inn and a few cottages, most properties sit to the south of that road  running for almost a half mile as far as the white brick tower mill, the last corn mill to be built in Essex and completed in 1877, it is now lacking its sails and is in private hands. Like many Essex parishes the local farming economy certainly supplied that corn mill, early gazetteers estimate that as much as 78% of the parish acreage as set to arable with only token pastures, gardens and woodland patches besides. Little has changed in this fertile area of the county except perhaps for hedges to be removed and fields made larger for modern machinery. A small brook drains the parish eastwards the short distance to the River Roding which heads south and then southwest to pass through the outskirts of the capital before finally emerging into the Thames as Barking Creek, the estuary sweeps water east to the North Sea. White Roding is sited at around 80 metres above the sea, this height marks most the of the local high points in the area with few spots exceeding the 90 metre contour in rather gentle terrain. White Roding parish was a little larger than most of the other "Rodings", covering just over 2,500 acres it would have supported a population of around 500 parishioners. All 8 "Rodings" were recorded in a single combined entry in Domesday Book thus it is impossible to tease out the exact assets & landholder for White Roding, itself.

The Church

St Martin's church sits west of Church Lane, accessed by a footpath which is somewhat rough and some 300 yards from the Lane. St Martin is a church which shows fabric from the earliest times of stone-built churches, in fact it has Roman brick quoins incorporated into the fabric of the nave which is completed in the 12th century Norman Romanesque style. Both southern and northern doorways are also of this same era although the southern door has intricate 13th century ironwork. Moving eastwards the 13th century Early English Gothic period is also represented by the chancel and the crown-post of the nave. The equivalent roof of the chancel is the main fabric dating from the 14th century and is probably from the first half thereof. The final piece of medieval work is the western tower which is in a rather late Perpendicular style and dated by Pevsner to c1600. The tower once had a tall spire standing above its battlements but this had to be removed in 1969. Post medieval changes saw the addition of the timber southern porch whilst a typical Victorian restoration of 1879 added the northern vestry and replaced quite a few windows.The wise will choose to park either in Church Lane or St Martin's Close and walk the short distance to the church. Photographers will be disappointed to find the church constrained between thick banks of trees such that only a very limited set of angles are available.