England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Lower Lemington St Leonard

The Parish

The parish of Lower Lemington lies in the extreme northeast of Gloucestershire amongst the jumble of fretted borders that formerly constituted the area, a mile to its southeast sits 4-shire stone marking where Gloucestershire met with Oxfordshire, Warwickshire & Worcestershire. This jumble was resolved only in 20th century county reorganisations to smooth the boundaries. At the time of this transcript Lower Lemington had borders with both Worcestershire & Warwickshire. Lower Lemington is located about 2 miles northeast of the small market town of Moreton in the Marsh and sits a half mile east of the A429 which, following the ancient Roman Fosse Way, links Moreton in the Marsh with Warwick & Leamington Spa. Lower Lemington is a mere hamlet and has always been a relatively tiny place of fewer than 100 folk, a collection of farms and cottages at the end of a dead-end lane whilst to its southeast is the lost medieval village of Upper Lemington. Farming would have been the mainstay of the local economy with arable methods in the main dominant. Small tributaries of the River Stour drain the parish northeastwards becoming that river at Shipston upon Stour and turning northwards and northwest to meet the Avon at Stratford, the Avon turns water back westwards and the circle is complete on meeting the Severn where it again turns south to eventually reach the Bristol Channel. Lower Lemington is sited at around 130 metres above the sea in an area of similar height whilst westwards the Cotswold range rises reaching 265 metres just west of Bourton on the Hill. Lower Lemington was one of Gloucestershire's smallest parish, covering barely 786 acres it supported close to 50 parishioners. In Domesday times Lower Lemington was equally small, retained by King William its assets a mere 6 ploughs and 15 households.

The Church

St Leonard's church sits at the far end of the dead-end lane that leads to the small hamlet and sits behind all of the fronting farms. Whilst much was refurbished in Victorian times there retains features indicative of a 12th century Norman church, both northern and southern doorways are 12th century Norman Romanesque in style as is the cross which sits above the bellcote. The chancel is of the 13th century Early English Gothic in style with two deeply splayed lancet style windows as chief indications thereof, its arch is however, probably the earliest feature of the church being just later than the Conquest and only 4 feet wide and 6 feet in height, it is very early Norman indeed. The nave shows a mixture of all 3 main styles of window, Early English Gothic lancets are alongside Decorated and Perpendicular styled versions indicating  steady reworking of a 13th century origin. Given its remote location it is perhaps surprising that damage was wrought during the English Civil War but there was and it needed repairing in the 17th century replaced the southeastern window and queen-post roof of the chancel. A typical Victorian restoration of 1880 saw much refreshing of the content as well as the addition of a vestry, the re-plastering of the internal walls, an unfortunate decision, was removed in 1909. Parking around the farm buildings is recommended from where the church is only a short stroll, sadly for the photographer not only is the churchyard tiny but it is also beset by trees which both surround the edges but also by the presence of a single large specimen right next to the southern face, a real challenge to obtain adequate images.