England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Bledington St Leonard

The Parish

The parish of Bledington lies in the extreme east of Gloucestershire in an area of complex county boundaries such that it has borders with both Oxfordshire and with the detached Worcestershire parish of Daylesford. Bledington is located roughly 4 miles southeast of the market town of Stow on the Wold and sits on the meandering B4450 road which links Stow on the Wold with Chipping Norton. Bledington sits on the western banks of the River Evenlode and most properties line the B4450 which parallels the river's course. The village is mid-sized running for between a quarter and a half mile either side of the B4450 with a few properties lying scattered across its flood plain, which in early times was prone to inundation. The drier areas of the parish are underlain by limestone and were the haunt of the sheep that drove the cloth making industry of nearby Stow, the riverside home more to cattle in a predominantly pastoral landscape. Modern developments have come and gone from the parish, the branch railway line linking Chipping Norton with Bourton on the Water having closed leaving only bridges and cuttings to mark its prior existence. Bledington is drained southeast by the Evenlode which eventually reaches the Thames before passing through Oxford & Reading to the capital and to the North Sea. Bledington is sited at around 110 metres above the sea in its valley setting, land rises westwards culminating in the summit of Icomb Hill at 244 metres, the highest ground around. This area of the county is formed of many relatively small parishes and Bledington covering 1,400 acres was one of those, it would have supported a population of close to 350 parishioners. Domesday Bledington was a holding of Winchcombe Abbey offering 7 ploughs, a small meadow and a mill.

The Church

St Leonard's church sits on the southwestern edge of the village on Church Street which is an out-and-back lane leaving and rejoining the B4450. The church has had a complex history of build and rebuild from most of the style periods from the earliest times, Pevsner's account is thus long and detailed. In summary the church began under the auspices of Winchcombe Abbey as a simple 12th century Norman Romanesque church, traces of that style remain in the western and eastern nave walls and in the reset bellcote above the nave's east end, prior to the tower's construction it would have adorned the traditional western end. In the 13th century Early English Gothic period the church acquired its southern aisle, the southern porch and the Norman chancel was extended eastwards. The 15th century then saw the major work as the western tower was added, a clerestory inserted and the northern wall of the nave completed with its two tiers of high quality windows created. Restoration came late to this church with a phase from 1878 - 1881 directed at the chancel whilst the nave was re-seated in 1904. Church Street has ample space for on-street parking outside the churchyard which has a local stone surround, gates enter from the south where a single mature tree creates the only obstacle to concern the photographer.