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

The Parish

The parish of Barnsley lies in southeastern Gloucestershire roughly 4 miles northeast of the market town of Cirencester. Barnsley is a small village which sits on the B4425 road which connects Cirencester through to Burford in Oxfordshire. Barnsley has an ancient history, it sits squeezed into the join between two great Roman roads, the Fosse Way, to the north and west, and Akeman Street, to the south; in addition the "Welsh Way", a ancient drove road for cattle passing from Wales to London, passes through the area. Barnsley is very much the typical Cotswold village, decorated with buildings utilising the limestone of the district, it is also an "estate village" with much of the parish dominated by the grounds of Barnsley Park. Most of the cottages were moved as part of the landscaping of the estate, with even the B4425 re-routed at a sharp bend, north of the village, to skirt the park. The 18th century Baroque mansion and its parkland setting dominate the village and would also have dominated the economy. Pasturing of sheep would have been dominant, backed by extraction of the local limestone for building work, today the area has moved much more to arable with the help of modern fertilisers augmenting the light soils. Barnsley is drained eastwards by a small tributary of the River Coln, the latter, soon reached, joins the Thames at Lechlade and thence through the capital to the North Sea. Barnsley is sited at around 130 metres above the sea, sitting on the heights of the Cotswold Hills land barely rises a further 20 metres or so to local heights. Barnsley parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering close to 2,000 acres it would have supported a population of close to 300 parishioners. In Domesday times Barnsley was a thriving and wealthy parish, held by the Bishop of Worcester the parish could offer an impressive 34 ploughs, some meadows and also 2 mills.

The Church

St Mary's church sits to the east of the B4425 as its winds through the village, it is set back behind fronting properties. The church has its origins in the 12th century and is probably contemporary with the conquest. The church has, however, been the subject to two substantial waves of restoration, the later wiping out much of the first's work. From the original Norman Romanesque church little remains with the chancel being the best example remaining of this work. The northern doorway is also a Norman survivor. A fairly standard period of minor modification followed, windows of lancet style from the 13th are followed by Decorated and Perpendicular style windows too all reflecting a period of careful conservation during medieval times. It was to the Georgians in the 1730s that the first restoration occurred, this work, whilst substantial was, however, wiped away in a drastic restoration of the 1840s lasting over 4 years which has produced today's building. Just north of "The Village Pub" a narrow surfaced lane cuts between properties to the churchyard, parking can be found on the eastern verge or by politely requesting of the inn. Whilst the churchyard is spacious there are many trees which somewhat restrict the angles available for the photographer.