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

The Parish

The parish of Upleadon lies in northwestern Gloucestershire, prior to county reorganisation it formed a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Worcestershire, nowadays smoothed out by parish transfer, Herefordshire, too, is not too far away. Upleadon is located about 3 miles east of the small market town of Newent and sits about 2 miles northeast of the B4215 road which links Newent with the A40 near Gloucester. Upleadon is a small crossroads village sitting on the western edges of the flood-plain of the River Leadon, which donates its name to the village & parish. Other than gathered around the crossroads properties straggle along the lane leading south and a small cluster of farms gather around the church at Upleadon Court. Upleadon sits upon rather clay-rich soils which determined the farming to be largely pastoral, modern maps also show extensive orchards to the northwest of the village. A pair of small brooks drain the parish into the Leadon which flows southwards to meet the Severn to the west of Gloucester, the Severn eventually reaching the sea as the Bristol Channel. Upleadon is sited at around 60 metres above the sea in gently rolling terrain where a spot height of 73 metres to the northwest marks the highest land hereabouts. Covering just over 1,100 acres Upleadon parish was toward the smaller end of parish scale, that acreage would have supported a population of around 250 parishioners. In Domesday times Upleadon was also a typical rural holding, here it was held by Gloucester Abbey and offered 10 ploughs, typical meadows & woodland and there was a mill.

The Church

St Mary's church sits at Upleadon Court some mile and a quarter east of the main village and almost on the banks of the Leadon. Like many small rural churches St Mary has ancient fabric left untouched for many centuries, the nave is the example here being 12th century and Norman Romanesque in style. Upper windows in both northern & southern faces show the characteristic style of that period rather well as does the northern doorway. It is, however, the late Perpendicular wooden tower that is the church's greatest treasure and a major rarity. Built c1500 it has a timber frame infilled mostly with 1930s brick but with some original stone and topped with a pyramidal cap in a greenish slate. The design, according to Pevsner, is one frequently used in the Tudor era with all of the supporting features hidden internally. More prosaically the chancel is a Victorian rebuild built in the first restoration of 1849, a further restoration in 1884 added the northern vestry. Even into modern times the church's site, standing on clay, has caused concern for potential subsidence such that between 1966 & 1969 the church was temporarily closed on safety grounds, happily a further substantial restoration has allowed it to be reopened. The church sits south of the lane which heads east from the village, Forge Lane, and is accessed by a dead-end track leading to both church and a substantial group of farm buildings, the track opens at its southern end into a broad space including the church parking area. A little disappointingly for the photographer the church is placed tight to the southern boundary of the churchyard removing the favoured aspects from the portfolio, all other angles are available.