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

The Parish

The parish of Fairford lies in the extreme southeast of Gloucestershire forming a short stretch of the border with neighbouring Wiltshire and also it is not too far from the other border with Oxfordshire. Fairford is located roughly 8 miles east of the market town of Cirencester and sits on the A417 road which connects Cirencester through Lechlade to Berkshire's Faringdon. Fairford has a long history developed from its position at a former ford across a tributary of the Thames, the River Coln, nowadays bridged. The main route into the ford from the northwest is named The Welsh Way, an indication as to its former function as a major drove road from that country onwards across the Coln to the markets of London, Fairford being one of the major stopping points on that route. Fairford consequently grew into a substantial market town although its annual fair was not granted until a charter of 1668. Early maps show Fairford clustered around the eastern side of the Coln bridge with a main street, now the A417 headed from there eastwards, today the town has expanded greatly to the northeast with the enclave of Milton End across the Coln also becoming larger. Fairford as a small market town provided the exchange point for the local agricultural produce, a centre for specialist trades and also had an industry manufacturing agricultural implements. Today the southeast is dominated by the flooded gravel extraction pits that developed from their use for road building, nowadays converted to a nature treasure, the Cotswold Water Park. Modern business came from the ruse of its former World War 2 air base, now RAF Fairford, into a test centre where that iconic aircraft Concorde was tested. Modern developments came and left Fairford, a railway line connecting it with Lechlade was never completed to Cheltenham as envisaged and has since become disused and largely removed. The Coln drains the parish southeastwards and soon, after about 3 miles, reaches the Thames from whence it passes eastwards to the capital and onward to the North Sea. Fairford is sited at around 90 metres above the sea  with land rising westwards in the last wrinkles of the Cotswold range with local high spots rising to around 130 metres along the Welsh Way. Fairford parish was extensive for its area, covering a little over 3,800 acres it would have supported a population of around 1,650 parishioners. In Domesday times Fairford was already a significant settlement sufficient to place it amongst the largest 20% of settlements recorded in that book, held directly by King William, himself, its assets of an impressive 39 ploughs and 3 mills made it a wealthy holding for the King and supported over 100 households even in those early times.

The Church

St Mary's church sits at the northern end of the High Street, it runs parallel with the river northwards from the bridging point, on its western side and at the junction with Mill Lane. Today's church is one of the wonders of Perpendicular architecture but not the first church to be raised on this site. Its predecessor was granted to Tewkesbury Abbey before the start of the 12th century but of it there is little trace. Today's church owes its splendour to a father & son wool merchants of Cirencester, the Tames. As a consequence of their rebuild the dating of today's church is well documented, begun in c1490 it utilises the late-Perpendicular style in splendid fashion. When John, the elder, dies in 1500 the church was well on its way to completion with John Tame buried in the already complete northern chapel, the work was completed by his son and later alterations. A large church with a magnificent central crossing tower completed later in the 16th century, heavily ornamented with grotesques and topped with expansive pinnacles it stands as a landmark in the town. The nave, chancel and flanking aisles are described by Pevsner as "rather more refined" than the in-your-face tower, graced by large windows they make the insides light and airy. Inside Pevsner's forensic eye spots the little remaining from the earlier church, some masonry embedded within the northwestern and southwestern piers of the tower and in the arches of the responds for the former nave arcades, he assigns tentatively a 14th century date for these traces. Whilst the church is almost totally a product of the 16th century there has been further work, notably by the Victorians in the 1880s & 1890 and in more modern times in work of the early 1970s to create today's impressive church. The High Street is broad at the site of the church, a sign it was used for the collection of driven herds and for the turning of coaches to the coaching inns, as a consequence there is ample street parking outside the churchyard. The churchyard occupies a extensive site within the junction of High Street and Mill Lane, an expanse which is largely unobstructed allowing admiral viewpoints for the photographer to record this Perpendicular masterpiece.