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

The Parish

The parish of Westcote lies in northeastern Gloucestershire forming a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Oxfordshire. Westcote is located roughly 4 1/2 miles south of the market town of Stow on the Wold and sits a quarter mile east of the A424 road which links Stow on the Wold with Burford. Westcote consists of two distinct villages, Church Westcote, holding the parish church, is formed around a shallow triangle of lanes either side of said church whilst Nether Westcote lies a quarter mile to the southeast and is a small and compact crossroads settlement. Both villages lie within Gloucestershire's share of the Cotswold range sitting on limestone from the Jurassic era. The villages sit at quite a height for southern England with much land above 200 metres, the combination of limestone and this height would have made the area noted for its sheep which provided not only meat but a source of the fleeces that made the weavers of the nearby market towns wealthy. Today much of the former sheep pastures have been ploughed and many of the iconic stone-walls removed for access of modern machinery. Westcote is drained northeastwards by the Westcote Brook which soon passes into the River Evenlode and heads back south to meet the Thames to the northwest of Oxford, from here the Thames passes through Reading, Windsor and the capital before reaching the North Sea. Both small villages stand at around 200 metres on a prominent ridge of higher land which is followed by the A424, the high point is to the west at Wyck Beacon standing at 250 metres above the sea. Westcote parish covered roughly 1,500 acres and that size was typical of its area supporting a population of close to 250 parishioners. Both Church & Nether Westcote were recorded in Domesday Book not under their present names but as the lost manor of Combe Baskerville held by Ralph de Tosny and mustering just 10 ploughs as its only assets.

The Church

St Mary's church sits in Church Westcote within the fork of the triangle formed by its twin lanes. St Mary is a church which has been almost entirely rebuilt in the 19th & 20th centuries and as such has lost much of its history as that rebuilding is not guaranteed to have followed the style of the original medieval church. Some medieval features have been reused sufficient to determine that the main body was from the 14th century whilst that of the tower was 15th and most of style would have been Perpendicular. In 1876 the main chancel and northern vestry were rebuilt, quickly followed in 1886 by the nave and the southern porch. The architects of these rebuilds chose to use the 13th century Early English Gothic style as their medium rather than matching the Perpendicular. The western tower was also rebuilt early in the 20th century, completed in 1902, the 15th century tower arch was, at least, retained to show the original dating. Further changes to the internal appearance of the chancel were made in 1913 to make the church into a more "high church" form known as "Anglo-Catholic". The lane to the south of the churchyard is of sufficient width to allow safe on-street parking, the entrance to the churchyard is by a footpath which links the twin lanes. Whilst there are a few trees dotted around most are easily avoided by the photographer.