England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Stone All Saints

The Parish

The status of Stone changed during the period of this transcript from being a chapelry of Berkeley to a full parish in its own right, this happened in 1797, Stone is located in southwestern Gloucestershire roughly 5 miles northeast of the town of Thornbury and sits on and mostly west of A38 road which links Gloucester with Bristol. Stone is a small and compact village with most properties either lining the A38 for roughly a quarter mile of in lanes adjacent and to its west. Stone sits on the low ground lying west of the Cotswold range and close to the Severn's flood-plain, its soils are largely of clay making pastoral farming of mainly cattle the main economic mainstay. Modern developments have come to the chapelry/parish with the railway line between Bristol and Gloucester skirting to the east whilst the modern M5 motorway passes slightly closer to the village. Stone is drained northwards by the Little Avon River which passes Berkeley and reaches the Severn as the Berkeley Pill, here the Severn is already widening into its estuary before reaching the Bristol Channel. Stone is sited at just under 30 metres above the sea, views westwards are dominated by the isolated knolls formed by coralline limestone reaching 55 metres at nearby Hill and 72 at Rockhampton. There would appear to be no records recording the acreage of Berkeley assigned to Stone parish in the usual gazetteer entries but it would have been sufficient to support a population of close to 300 parishioners. Stone is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

All Saints' church sits on the western side of the busy A38 towards the northern end of the village, it is fortunate that, for those traveling northwards a lay-by is provided for access. Whilst there are indications of an earlier church with a much smaller profile and narrower chancel most of the fabric that remains is from the 14th and 15th centuries. From the early half of the 14th century and in a Decorated style is the nave and the majority of the handsome western tower complete with Decorated styled bell-openings, The western doorway and window of the tower are, however, Perpendicular. Much else is more recent with a wave of rebuilding during Georgian and Victorian times, in 1831 the previous chancel was demolished and replaced with today's shortened version, this work was followed in 1846 when a northern vestry was added, it is perhaps contemporary with the southern porch. Further work in 1874 added the organ chamber before work on the roofs followed in 1894. The church lay-by is fairly short and speeding traffic may make access tricky, once safely parked a pathway leads to the church through a churchyard which has several sets of trees but they are mostly avoidable by the photographer.