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

The Parish

The parish of Cheltenham lies in northern Gloucestershire roughly 9 miles northeast of the county town of Gloucester. Cheltenham  sits, at the base of the Cotswold Hills, at the intersection of many major roads, notable amongst them is the A40 road which runs from London via Oxford and onwards to Monmouth, the A435 which heads south to Cirencester and the A46 from Gloucester to Birmingham all meeting in the centre of Cheltenham. Cheltenham  has a long history, initially as a simple market town following the granting of a market in 1226. Cheltenham  prospered as a regional market for the mainly agricultural produce of its hinterland as well as for traditional industries such as weaving of the wool from Cotswold sheep, malting of grain and as a centre for specialist trades. All of these activities, which lead to the growth of Cheltenham to be a town of around 3,000 folk, were replaced and enhanced by the discovery of the efficacy of its mineral waters. Stories, perhaps apocryphal, are told of pigeons discovered pecking at the salty deposits around a spring in a field south of then town's boundaries. A retired sea-captain from Bristol, Henry Skillicorne, developed a pump house to deliver the waters in 1738 but it was not until the visit of George III & his retinue in 1788 that fame as a spa came to Cheltenham. Growth was such that by 1841 the town's population had grown 12-fold to around 36,000. Modern developments such as the arrival of the railway from Gloucester to Birmingham boosted the spa's popularity such that it began to rival Bath & Harrogate as the premier spa towns of the land. The popularity of "taking the waters" has since declined and Cheltenham had a tendency to decline with it but today it perhaps more renowned for modern features such as the famous Ladies College, being the home of GCHQ, Britain's spy headquarters, and for its annual horse racing festival at its race track with the Gold Cup attracting hordes of, notoriously Irish, punters annually. Today Cheltenham is a major urban centre with a population in excess of 100,000 and stretches for almost 5 miles from the fringes at the M5 motorway eastwards to butt against the escarpment of the Cotswold AONB. A tiny beck, the River Chelt, not only gave its name to the burgeoning town but drains the parish westwards becoming the Hatherley brook on the Severn's plain before joining that river to the north of Gloucester, the Severn eventually reaching the sea as the Bristol Channel. Cheltenham  is sited, in its historic centre, at around 60 metres above the sea but its eastern suburbs rise to almost 100 metres in Prestbury before the escarpment looms to Cleeve Common's 330 metres capped by the Cotswold Way National Trail and a splendid viewpoint across the Severn valley. Cheltenham  parish was rather extensive for a southern parish covering a little under 3,700 acres, as already mentioned the population supported was growing during the period of this transcript from around 3,000 to around 36,000 parishioners such that many new churches were subsequently added to the parish of St Mary. In Domesday times Cheltenham was already of sufficient stature to be amongst the largest 20% of settlements by population, held directly by King William its assets of 21 ploughs were augmented by no fewer than 5 mills making for a wealthy holding for the King.

The Church

St Mary's church sits at the centre of the town within a roughly oval "close" and surrounded by the town's extensive commercial streets, the ancient High Street, running from northwest to southeast forms the main axis of the town, and St Mary sits on its southwestern edges. There is some evidence that St Mary began life in the Saxon period as a minster church supported from around 1133 until the dissolution by Cirencester Abbey. Needless to say nothing of that era survives in stone to confirm the historical record. The earliest fabric found by Pevsner sits within the lowest stage of the central crossing tower for the church has the cruciform layout typical of Norman churches.  The basal stages of the tower date to the 13th century and have opening in the Early English Gothic style. Similarly 12th century work survives in the buttresses and crossing arch. St Mary expanded dramatically in the Decorated period of the first half of the 14th century although the transepts perhaps pre-date that expansion. All of the windows show Decorated styled tracery and those in the northern transept are particularly splendid as noted by Pevsner. The centre of the church, the rib-vaulted crossing, which now supports the tower and its spire, is a splendid piece of Decorated era workmanship. For the southern aisle and the main east window the Perpendicular style of later in the 14th century first appears, it is also present as the final medieval addition namely the northern porch complete with its lierne vault. Three substantial periods of Victorian restoration and addition are noted by Pevsner, a general restoration between 1859 & 1861 is followed by a more thorough job between 1875 & 1877 whilst in 1890 the southern porch was added and the existing northern porch converted to a baptistry. Like most town churches St Mary is one to visit on foot after utilising one the town's many car parks. There are numerous ways into the close those from Church Street or Chester Walk being closely confined until opening into a dramatic view of the church. Whilst the close is quite extensive, an asset indeed for the town, there are many trees gathered within making for some cunning required by the photographer to find the best viewpoints.