England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Harescombe St John the Baptist

The Parish

The parish of Harescombe lies in southern central Gloucestershire roughly 6 miles south of the city of Gloucester. Harescombe is a tiny place, little more than a hamlet, which sits a half mile wdst of the A4173 road which connects Gloucester with Stroud. Harescombe has a naturally picturesque location, sitting at the spring-line at the foot of the neighbouring Cotswold range and with dramatic vies eastward to its escarpment. Harescombe's economy would have been underpinned by farming with pastoral farming forming the majority of the land-use. Modern developments have skirted Harescombe, the Gloucester to Bristol railway line and modern M5 motorway both running a couple of miles further west. A small brook drains the parish northwestwards, eventually crossing the Vale of Gloucester to meet the Severn just south of the city, here matters turn south to reach the Bristol Channel. Harescombe is sited at around 70 metres above the sea but the dramatic escarpment of the Cotswolds looms nearby with local heights reaching over 240 metres within a mile on nearby Haresfield Hill. Harescombe parish was one of its county's smallest, covering under 500 acres it would have barely supported fewer than 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Harescombe was equally inconspicuous, held directly by King William it could only muster a pair of ploughs and a small meadow.

The Church

St John the Baptist's church sits, by the brook, at the eastern end of the village and is accessed by a dead-end lane leading to both church and a farm. The church owes its origins to the late 13th century and, subject to Victorian restoration, was clearly built as a single campaign during the latter stages of the Early English Gothic period. The main body consists of nave and chancel, the latter slightly lower in height. The church's centrepiece, however, is its bellcote, in which sits an original 13th century bell reputed to be the oldest in its county. The bellcote consists of an octagonal spire supported on walls to both north and south and a stone bracket, a remarkable structure for the 13th century. The octagonal pinnacles which now grace the edifice were added during the Victorian restoration of the early 1870s at which time a new southern porch and northern vestry were also added to the church, the restoration also renewed many of the windows. The lane leading to the church is narrow but carries little traffic, parking should still, nevertheless, be careful. A short track leads into a broad and relatively open churchyard with but a single evergreen to marr the favoured southeastern aspect.