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

The Parish

The parish of Thornbury lies in southwestern Gloucestershire roughly 12 miles north of the city of Bristol. Thornbury sits a mile west of the A38 road which links Bristol with Gloucester and is a much expanded small market town. Early maps show Thornbury as an inverted "Y" of lanes, the castle and church sitting to the northwest of the main centre of the village set within the fork of that "Y" shape containing the former market hall. Thornbury was a constructed and planned town of the mid-13th century which expanded a settlement already large in Domesday times and in possession of a market from as early as 1086. During medieval times the town was involved with the clothing trade but later industrial developments more or less saw that trade disappear. For much of its life Thornbury was a regional market and centre for specialist skills. The wider parish is extensive and stretches to the Severn foreshore, it includes the licensed chapelry of Oldbury on Severn which will have its own page within this project. That wider parish was largely pastoral. reflecting the western England location, supplemented by the fruits of the estuary of the Severn. The area sits on limestone interspersed with tough fossilised coral reefs, which are exploited for building stone and employed a few. Modern developments have resulted in much growth of Thornbury as a commuter location, the railway line from Yate serves only the limestone quarries but the arrival of the M5 made Thornbury an attractive place for commuters from, in particular, Bristol and also from Gloucester. This growth has created a substantial town largely oval in shape and stretching for a mile and half in diameter, strangely both church and castle still lie on its northwestern edge facing rural countryside. Thornbury is drained by the Pool Brook northwestwards to the nearby outer Severn estuary. Thornbury is sited on a rising site, its northern edges sit at around 25 metres whilst the southeastern quarter rises to 70 metres land continues rising eastwards to 108 metres at nearby Milbury Heath. Thornbury parish, including the acreage of Oldbury chapelry, stretched for almost 11,000 acres making it one of the largest not only in its county but for much of southern England, within that acreage it would have supported a population of around 4,700 parishioners, much higher still today. Thornbury already held its market by the time of Domesday and was also amongst the largest 20% of settlements recorded by population, held directly by King William its assets of 25 ploughs, a league of woodland, a fishery and 3 mills made it a wealthy holding, indeed, for the King.

The Church

As already mentioned St Mary's church sits together with the town's castle on the northwestern edge of the town accessed along Castle Street from the main centre. Whilst there has been a church here from early times and certainly one since it was recorded as subservient to Tewkesbury Abbey in the early 12th century, today's church is a product, however, of the later medieval period and of the Perpendicular style of architecture, a few earlier features do remain notably both northern & southern doorways of the short Transitional period c1200 and Early English Gothic stiff-leaf foliage remaining in the southern aisle from the 13th century. The classic design of nave, chancel and western tower has many augmentations, the chancel with chapels, the nave with aisles and a clerestory and the whole with a southern porch. The western tower is the church's stand-out feature, described by Pevsner as "noble" and dating from the late 15th century; built of 4 stages and crowned with pinnacles it is a landmark for many a mile. Whilst the tower carries a late 15th century date other features of the main body suggest an extended build, the eastern bay carries a hood-mould bearing Richard II's badge suggests a late 14th century date also Decorated style feature dot the chancel from the early 14th century. Victorian work at the church was extensive and Pevsner notes 3 distinct phases amounting to substantial change, the first of 1849 was targeted at the western tower, the 2nd created the northern chapel and vestry in 1877 whilst the third of 1889 largely completed the splendid crown for the tower. Parking for the church is made easy by a lay-by immediately outside allowing several cars to safely get off-road. Whilst the churchyard is relatively free of obstacles, the church sits rather close to its southern boundary making the better views from the opposite side of Castle Street.