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

The Parish

The parish of Almondsbury lies in southern Gloucestershire about 7 miles north of the city of Bristol. Almondsbury is a large village which sits on the A38 road connecting Bristol with Gloucester, together with an extensive parish stretching almost to the banks of the Severn Estuary and incorporating the chapelry of Compton Greenfield, which will have its own page within this project. Almondsbury sits upon a ridge of limestone which juts prominently from the low-lying lands bordering the Severn giving it a commanding view across that level plain and across to Wales beyond and making for a natural defensive site, the village clusters around the base of that protrusion. The broad plain to the northwest, the lands of the parish, were excellent for grazing cattle and provided much of the income for Almondsbury, some quarrying of the local stone for building work also provided some employment. Today Almondsbury sits just beyond Bristol's urban sprawl, the modern M5 motorway cutting through to create a narrow green gap. Nevertheless modern developments to the northwest of the village and along the route of the A38 have made it not only a commuter village but also a traffic nightmare in rush hour. The other modern development in the parish is the route of the Brunel's Great Western Railway which tunnels through the ridge before plunging beneath the Severn en route to Cardiff. The parish is drained by numerous, man-influenced, becks across the lowlands to the nearby outer Severn Estuary. Almondsbury is sited at around 40 metres above the sea, by the church, with the A38 and some properties some 40 metres higher on the crest; the local high spot, an ancient fort-site, stands at 86 metres. Almondsbury parish was extensive, vast in extent for a parish in southern England, it covered just over 6,900 acres, albeit that includes the lands within Compton Greenfield chapelry, and would have supported a population of almost 1,600 parishioners. In Domesday times Almondsbury parish was held directly by King William, its assets were staggering in extent and difficult to believe, the book records an immense 197 ploughs and 10 mills which if true made Almondsbury one of King William's most valuable holdings.  

The Church

St Mary's church sits at the heart of the old village, below the ridge holding today's developments, sitting at the junction of Sunday's Hill & Church Road. The cruciform structure immediately informs of an early church, that design being favoured by the Normans. The church consists of nave & chancel augmented by transepts, aisles to both north & south and a northern porch, the whole topped by a central crossing tower with a lead broach-spire. The bulk of the church is of the 13th century and is Early English Gothic in style, from earlier times one sees Norman Romanesque in that northern porch. Whilst 14th century features are scattered about, it is to the Georgians and Victorians that one must look for significant changes. The Georgian rebuild of 1834 saw the four-bay nave almost completely rebuilt whilst later, Victorian, changes, albeit sensitive to the original styles, saw lancet windows renewed as well as renewing the interior's screen. Sunday's Hill & Church Road meet at a prominent triangular green providing ample parking. The churchyard, enclosed in local stone walls, is accessed through a double-width lychgate. The extensive churchyard is open but acquiring adequate images including the tall spire requires either wide angled lenses or to retreat outside the bounds of the churchyard given its height.