England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Weston Subedge St John the Baptist

The Parish

The parish of Weston Subedge lies in the extreme north of Gloucestershire forming part of the border with neighbouring Worcestershire. Weston Subedge is a small and rather linear village which lies roughly 2 miles northwest of the small market town of Chipping Camden. As its names suggests it site below "an edge", in this case the escarpment of the Cotswold limestone ridge which looms to the southeast. Weston Subedge sits on the B4632 road which links most of the spring-line  settlements between Stratford upon Avon and Cheltenham following the line of the escarpment. A narrow lane heads towards Chipping Campden from that road and most of Weston Subedge's properties lie along it between road and escarpment. In common with many parishes Weston Subedge parish was extended across the range of land-forms to include lowland arable land as well as limestone sheep-runs. Numerous small streams drain the parish northwestwards to join the Avon at Evesham, the latter eventually reaches the Severn and turns south to reach the sea through the Severn Estuary. Weston Subedge is sited at between 70 and 100 metres above the sea, the lane rising towards the southeast, the ridge of the Cotswold tops out at 270 metres on nearby Willersey Hill. Weston Subedge parish was fairly typically sized for a Cotswold parish, covering just over 2,600 acres it would have supported a population of almost 350 parishioners. In Domesday times Weston Subedge was held by one Ansfrid de Cormeilles and was a middling sort of place offering 13 ploughs.

The Church

The dedication of Weston Subedge's church has changed over the years, St John the Baptist being the dedication at the time of this transcript, today it is known as St Lawrence. Sadly this is a church which has been so extensively restored as to have little original material remaining. Whilst the church has a 14th century mixed Decorated & Perpendicular styled origin only the western tower remains with original fabric and that is Perpendicular. Traces of the Decorated style remain in both northern and southern doorways. Work began on the church, internally in 1849 and externally between 1853 & 1861 and a thorough restoration it was too leaving little of the original. The lane from Weston Subedge towards Chipping Campden is known as Church Street and it is fairly narrow so parking must be careful & considerate. The church is highly elevated relatively to road level with a flight of 7 steps rising to the lychgate which grants entry. Unfortunately the churchyard is full of trees which substantially reduce the angles available for photography.