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

The Parish

The parish of Temple Guiting lies in northeastern Gloucestershire, an area of the county with convoluted borders with its neighbours such that Temple Guiting has a border with the detached Worcestershire parish of Cutsdean, which lies wholly within Gloucestershire territory. Temple Guiting is located roughly 7 miles northwest of the market town of Stow on the Wold and stands just under a mile south of the B4077 road which links Stow on the Wold with Tewkesbury. Temple Guiting is one of a pair of Guitings and takes its prefix from being a holding of the Templars , originally a Knights Templar settlement it passed to the Hospitallers in 1312 when they were suppressed. Temple Guiting is built either side of a fast flowing stream, the infant River Windrush, the main village rising to its east along the lane connecting to the B4077 whilst the parish church and a few cottages sit to the west. That fast flowing stream provided a source of power for the fulling-mill supporting the cloth making industry of the area that made good use of the extensive sheep grazing that characterised the Cotswolds for much of the medieval and early modern period. Today the area has largely turned over to arable despite the thin soils formed on the limestone, aided by modern machinery and fertilisers. The Windrush drains the parish initially southwards before it continues trending broadly southeast to pass through Bourton on the Water & Witney before meeting the Thames west of Oxford, the latter heads eastwards through Reading & Windsor to the capital and to the North Sea. Temple Guiting is sited between 190 & 220 metres above the sea in undulating countryside which rises to 305 metres at the top of Cutsdean Hill the highest spot nearby. Temple Guiting parish was one of the largest parishes in its area covering 5,700 acres it would have supported a population of close to 500 parishioners. Held by the prominent Templar, Roger de Lacy, Temple Guiting was large enough at Domesday to be amongst the largest 20% of manors by population in the land, the assets were formidable too, 24 ploughs were backed by no fewer than 3 mills, exploiting already that stream, and a salthouse.

The Church

St Mary's church sits to the west of the stream that passes through, hidden away from the lane which runs to nearby Kineton. The original church was undoubtedly built by the Templars in the 12th century, fragments of this early church survive, the corbel table of the chancel, the eastern corners of the nave and fragments of a doorway reused in later redevelopment. Throughout the church's existence, however, it has been modified, remodelled and redesigned in whatever fashion prevailed. The 12th century church was first modified in the early 14th century, a blocked window in the chancel and a lancet in the nave as well as a piscina in the northern transept proclaim that period. The next phase of modification was in the early 16th century when most windows were replaced in a Perpendicular style and the embattled parapet was added. The 17th century saw the addition of the western tower, in Gothic Survival style, complete with gargoyles and pinnacles, a Venetian style north window was also added to the northern transept. The usual Victorian restorations made further changes, adding the clock dial in 1870 and the northern porch in 1884. The church sits a little over 100 metres south of the lane, parking is tricky but possible, accessed by a rough track beside a limestone-walled cottage, once within the churchyard there are few obstacles to impede the photographer.