England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Dumbleton St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Dumbleton lies in the extreme north of Gloucestershire forming a stretch of the county's rather convoluted border with neighbouring Worcestershire. Dumbleton is located roughly 6 miles south of the Worcestershire town of Evesham and stands just over a half mile west of the B4078 road which links Evesham with Winchcombe. Dumbleton is an estate village with the western side of the parish dominated by the former Dumbleton Hall, now a hotel, a 19th century country-house set in 19 acres of private gardens with woodland and a manicured lake. The village consists of a single Main Street which runs from north to south along the edge of the estate. Dumbleton has an unusual position geographically as it sits at the base of an outlier of the Cotswolds, hard Jurassic rock formations forma trio of isolated hills in a prominent knoll set in the Severn Vale, the quarrying of these rocks for building stone was the major employer other than traditional dairy farming for the well known Double Gloucester cheese, the female population were engaged in the making of gloves from the hides of the cattle. The rocks that form the outcrop are highly fossiliferous and attract many a fossil-hunter to the former quarries. Dumbleton is drained northwards by the River Isbourne which meets the Avon at Evesham, the Avon heads west to meet the Severn at Tewkesbury before water returns southwards to meet the sea at the Bristol Channel. Dumbleton is sited at between 60 & 70 metres above the sea on gently rising ground, the 3 hills that form the outcrop rise abruptly from the Hall's estate culminating in The Warren (162 metres), Dumbleton Hill (168 metres) and Alderton Hill (203 metres). Dumbleton parish covered just under 2,200 acres, a typical size for the area, this acreage would have supported a population of close to 500 parishioners. Domesday Dumbleton was a holding of distant Abingdon Abbey and offered 12 ploughs and a mill.

The Church

St Peter's church sits at the southern end of the Main Street where it performs an abrupt right-angled bend to head east to the B4078. St Peter is an amalgam of styles from the earliest to the most modern as it has been modified over the centuries since its first erection. That early church was a simple 12th century Norman Romanesque building, the northern and southern walls of the nave remain original and the northern doorway, which features a highly detailed chevroned arch and a tympanum carved with a distinctive animal mask, is something of a masterpiece. The 12th century church was built in limestone rubble, hereafter fine dressed block replace that early material. The Early English Gothic era saw the western tower completed during a 13th century expansion. The early 14th century and Decorated in style is represented by the northern transept which was added at that time, much of the fabric of the chancel is also in the Decorated style phasing into Perpendicular indicative of a lengthy period of building. The final expansion was typically in the Perpendicular era, here in the 15th into the 16th century with the addition of a southern aisle and the insertion of a clerestory. As is usual the church received the almost customary Victorian restoration, here there were 2 phases in 1862 the eastern wall was rebuilt whilst in 1873 the remainder of the chancel was restored. The tinkering had not finished, however, as the final permanent alterations occurred under the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement. This phase introduced a new south porch, an independent vestry, and an organ chamber adjoining the northern side of the chancel in 1905. On-street parking can be found beneath the shady trees by the churchyard gates, the churchyard is  relatively free of obstacles for the photographer.