England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Bonchurch St Boniface

The Parish

The parish of Bonchurch lies on the Isle of Wight and forms its extreme southeast corner forming part of its English Channel coastline. Bonchurch is located just a half mile east of the seaside resort of Ventnor and is contiguous with it. Bonchurch sits just below the A3055 road which forms the Isle's coast road around this southeastern corner connecting Ventnor with Shanklin & Sandown. At the time of this transcript Bonchurch was a tiny village, little more than a hamlet grouped around the chjurch and sustained by a mixture of pastoral farming on the interior high Downs and some limited fishing. Today Bonchurch is largely sustained by tourism as is its larger neighbour. As a coastal community what drainage there is makes the short run to the nearby English Channel. Bonchurch is sited on a steeply sloping site, ranging from sea level to around 120 metres in Upper Bonchurch, the village spreading from The Undercliff onto the chalk downlands of the interior, it is here that local heights of almost 240 metres are reached on St Boniface Down just under a mile from the sea and with extensive views making it a popular spot for hikers. Bonchurch parish was tiny, it covered just under 500 acres and would have supported merely 300 parishioners. In Domesday times Bonchurch was even smaller, held by one William son of Azur it could offer barely a plough and was in the smallest 20% of settlements recorded in that tome.

The Church

St Boniface's church (now known as Old St Boniface as a newer church takes the same dedication) sits towards the eastern edge of Bonchurch on the steeply rising slopes and accessed by a short lane from the steeply rising Bonchurch Shute. The church is a small structure as befits its timy parish, consisting merely of nave & chancel topped with a small, square bellcote. Pevsner spots 2 lancet windows, one in the southern wall of the nave, a second in the northern wall of the chancel; both are in the Early English Gothic style of the 13th century and indicate the origins go back to that period. Much was altered, howver, in the great church-building era of the Perpendicular. On this occasion there is no mention of a Victorian restoration albeit it is unlikely one did not occur. Bonchurch Shute rises steeply from the village towards the A3055 with Bonchurch Village Road heading back towards the sea and becoming a footpath. The church is deeply hemmed within a rather cluttered churchyard being surrounded by trees and making for a tricky subject.