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

The Parish

The parish of St Briavels lies in the extreme west of Gloucestershire forming an extensive stretch of the border with Monmouthshire and hence also Wales. St Briavels sits on and mostly west of the B4228 road which joins the Monmouthshire town of Chepstow with the Forest of Dean's town of Coleford. St Briavels is dominated by its castle around which most of the village clusters, a further stretch of properties heads southwards from this compact centre. St Briavels has a long history, the castle first mentioned in 1130 was built by the Earl of Hereford as part of the border defences for England's border with Wales, it also functioned as a royal castle for visits to the nearby Forest of Dean, a royal hunting forest. Early St Briavels grew into the administrative centre and market town for the area with its market granted in 1208 but by c1700 that market status had been lost and the village status returned. The Forest of Dean formed the backbone of the village economy, a managed forest with forest products important trade goods, the wider parish had almost equal proportions of arable and pastoral farming regimes but it was the exploitation of coal deposits that really grew the settlement to today's size and importance. Today the economy is underpinned by tourism, the castle is now a Youth Hostel and the nearby Wye valley, forming the border with Wales not only is an important river for fishing and canoeing it also carries the route of the Offa's Dyke National Trail which brings St Briavels some overnight stays. Small streams run down the steep slopes into the nearby Wye which heads south to arrive at the outer Bristol Channel through the port of Chepstow. St Briavels is sited at around 200 metres above the sea, high above the Wye which is at nearly sea level, land rises to the south a further 50 metres onto Wivelsfield Common. St Briavels parish was extensive, as are many Marches parishes, covering just over 3.300 acres it would have supported a population of close to 1,300 parishioners. Whilst St Briavels is not specifically mentioned in Domesday Book, a manor, Little Lydney, within the wider parish does carry an entry, held by Baderon's son William it could offer 4 ploughs, a small meadow and extensive forest plus had a mill and a half share in a Wye fishery.

The Church

St Mary's church sits in the centre of the village immediately north of the castle on the northern side of Church Street. The church is contemporary in its origins with that castle and was originally built in the classic Norman Cruciform design with transepts and a central crossing tower. The core of the building comes from the short Transitional period, a short period between Norman Romanesque and later styles, a consecration in 1166 indicates the era of first build. The church's clerestory, normally a 14th or 15th century feature, is also of this period but given a tentative date of c1200 by Pevsner. Much work followed through 13th and 14th centuries but much of this has been replaced or severely restored by later work. The 13th century saw addition of a chancel, replaced in 1861, and a rebuilding of the northern nave arcade whilst the windows of the transepts are from c1300. It was in the 19th century, however, that most major change took place beginning in 1829 with the demolition of the central crossing tower and its replacement 2 years later by today's 4-stage porch tower. The major restoration of 1861, besides replacing the 13th century original chancel saw most of the exterior "severely restored" according to Pevsner also inserting a "crude" Neo-Norman southern doorway. Outside the churchyard there is ample parking for both church and castle, the church, however, sits uncomfortably close to trees bordering the southern edges of the churchyard making only the views available from the less favoured north for the photographer without some creativity, a challenging subject on a sunny day.