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

The Parish

The parish of Elmstone Hardwicke lies in northern Gloucestershire not too far from its border with neighbouring Worcestershire. Elmstone Hardwicke is located roughly 4 miles northwest of the large town of Cheltenham and sits a mile north of the A4019 road which connects Cheltenham with the M5 motorway. Elmstone Hardwicke is a small and rather scattered community, a few cottages and farms cluster around the church whilst more lie to the north along a dead-end lane. Whilst some quarrying of the local lias blue stone took place the majority of inhabitants were engaged in farming, here pastures were the dominant land-use and cattle in the main. As already mentioned the modern development of the M5 motorway has impacted on the parish running just over a mile west of the small village. Elmstone Hardwicke is drained by the River Swilgate which heads northwestward to join the Severn at Tewkesbury, thence back south to the sea through the Bristol Channel. Elmstone Hardwicke is sited at around 30 metres above the sea in gentle terrain where land rises only gently eastwards towards the escarpment of the Cotswolds, within a couple of miles there is no land higher than 50 metres. Elmstone Hardwicke parish was fairly typically sized for a parish in this area, covering almost 2,600 acres it would have supported a population of around 400 parishioners. In Domesday Book Elmstone Hardwicke was a holding of Westminster Abbey and its assets were not individually listed being recorded as just a portion of their entire regional holdings, it had just 11 households so was clearly just as small as it is today.

The Church

St Mary Magdalene's church sits close to the main junction of lanes that notionally marks the centre of the village on the southern side of Lowdilow Lane. Superficially a typical church with a mixture of Decorated & Perpendicular styles from the 14th & 15th centuries, the main body of nave & chancel, however, was almost completely rebuilt during an intensive Victorian restoration of the 1870s. Reusing and copying the original styles has been convincing and nowadays telling the 19th from the 14th century has become more difficult because of weathering. The slightly leaning western tower is, however, an original piece of the Perpendicular period and consists of two stages above a moulded plinth. The restoration of the 1870s also added a small vestry to the north and a southern porch. Internally the Victorian reredos is a feature albeit one Pevsner describes as "overpowering & elaborately carved" but still worth a look. Lowdilow Lane is rather narrow but a gravelled area shared by church & neighbouring house sits outside the gates. The churchyard has a post & rail fence surrounding it and is challenging to the photographer, whilst extensive to the south a cluster of  conifers removes that favoured aspect and to the north the edge of the churchyard is close to the building, the better views are, therefore, from the road.