England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Aston Subedge St Andrew

The Parish

The parish of Aston Subedge lies in the extreme northeast of Gloucestershire, a complicated geography of county boundaries lies around which have been modified in more recent times but Aston Subedge did form part of the county's border with neighbouring Worcestershire with Warwickshire not too far away too. Aston Subedge is located about 2 miles northwest of the small market town of Chipping Campden and sits on the B4035 road which connects Chipping Campden with the Worcestershire town of Evesham. Aston Subedge is a tiny place, little more than a hamlet with a few properties lining the B4035 or along the lane headed for St Andrew. The suffix refers to the village's position directly below the escarpment that forms the edges of the Cotswold Hills. To include a piece of all of the available land-forms Aston Subedge parish, like many of its neighbours, is extended as a thin strip of land running from northwest to southeast, this arrangement gave it a varied farming regime with access to sheep pastures on the limestone of the Cotswolds whilst also having cattle pastures and arable on the heavier clay of the Vale of Gloucester. A small brook drains the parush northwestwards eventually meeting the Warwickshire Avon at Evesham and then, in turn, the Severn where water turns back south to eventually reach the sea as the Bristol Channel. Aston Subedge is sited at around 90 metres above the sea with the escarpment rising abruptly to local heights of around 225 metres on nearby Dover's Hill capped by the local Cotswold Way trail. Aston Subedge parish was relatively small covering only 850 acres which provided for around 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Aston Subedge was an equally small and rural holding of St Mary's Church in Lambeth, Surrey, its assets were merely 6 ploughs to bring in a meagre income.

The Church

A narrow lane heads north from the B4035 towards the B4632 road, which follows the base of the escarpment for many a mile, on the western side of that small lane sits St Andrew's church. For the early participants of these marriages this was not their venue as the church we see today was completed in 1797 to replace an earlier medieval version. Today's church is a simple small structure as befits the size of its congregation, the nave and chancel are augmented by an unusual 3-sided apse at the eastern end and they are constructed in an ashlar limestone and topped with a slate roof. As is common with these small churches only a bellcote holding the bells adorns the western end rather than a tower. Despite the relatively modern construction date there has been time for two phases of restoration, the first of 1884 renewed windows and re-seated the chancel whilst a more thorough restoration of the interior was completed in 1890. Outside the metal gates a parking area has been cut into the verges to allow some cars to park off-road, the church sits a little away shielded in part by trees, once clear of these trees the churchyard opens out allowing mostly uninterrupted views for the photographer.