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

The Parish

The parish of Dymock lies in the extreme northwest of Gloucestershire forming part of the border with neighbouring Herefordshire. Dymock is located about 4 miles south of the Herefordshire market town of Ledbury and sits on the junction of the B4215 & B4216 roads which together connect Ledbury with Newent. Dymock is a middling sized village built around the junction and sits on the western banks of the River Leadon. In the reign of Henry III Dymock was sufficiently important to merit a market but that status declined with Ledbury, Ross on Wye and Newent growing to replace it. Like much of the area Dymock was a farming community, pastoral farming was supplemented in the parish by orchards, growing the apples & pears for making into cider and perry, which is still a prominent local speciality . Modern developments have come to the area, a rail line between Newent and Ledbury is now dismantled but the modern M50 motorway cuts through to the south of Dymock. The Leadon drains the parish southeastwards, joining the Severn at Gloucester and the sea through the Bristol Channel. Dymock is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in fairly gentle terrain, land rises steadily to the southwest reaching a little over 90 metres within a couple of miles. Dymock parish was one of the more extensive in its county, covering close to 7,000 acres it is more reminiscent of an upland parish and would have supported a population of almost 1,800 parishioners. In Domesday times Dymock was a much more important place being amongst the largest 20% of settlements recorded in that tome, held by the King, himself, it could offer a stupendous 47 ploughs together with 3 leagues of woodland.

The Church

St Mary's church sits at the heart of the village on the northern side of the B4215 and next to the village's inn, The Beauchamp Arms. This is a particularly ancient church with masonry believed to go right back to the pre-Conquest days of the Saxons and the 11th century, Pevsner, however, is unconvinced by that belief preferring a date immediately after the Norman invasion and of the 12th century. The early style of the Romanesque is certainly present in the building which originally had a central tower and an apse both eventually removed. This major work occurred in the 14th century, the eastern end of the chancel & the western end of the nave being completely rebuilt and a northern transept and southern chapel added. The replacement for the central tower was built at the western end in the 15th century. These major changes saw work in both the Decorated & Perpendicular styles overlain on the original Romanesque building. A Victorian restoration followed in the 1870 which was slightly lamented by Pevsner who did not approve of the scraping clean of the interior walls. The B4215 is fairly narrow but room can be found for careful parking either on the pathway leading to the church gates or with the permission of the neighbouring inn. The church is set well back from the road fronted by a broad green crossed by pathways leading to a lychgate entranceway, whilst there are trees close by they do not significantly impede the better aspects.