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

The Parish

The parish of Milton lies the southwest of Hampshire forming a stretch of Hampshire's coastline with the English Channel. Milton is located about 5 miles east of the large town of Christchurch and sits on the A337 road which connects Christchurch with the port of Lymington. Milton sits between the former Royal hunting forest of The New Forest and the Channel coast and today consists of the original village (Old Milton) together with modern developments to the north (New Milton. Modern development in the form of the Bournemouth to London railway line also pass through the parish with a station within the modern New Milton. As a coastal community the economy would have been more diverse than the usual farming, although lacking harbour facilities Milton would have been predominantly a mixed farming community. Today the beaches of Barton on Sea form part of Hampshire's leisure coastline and Milton is part of the growing conurbation that follows the coast westwards as far as Poole Harbour. As a coastal parish numerous small brooks drain the parish into the nearby English Channel. Milton (Old) is sited at around 30 metres above the sea on a gently sloping plain rising inland to just over 50 metres in places. Southwestern Hampshire's parishes are quite large compared to the east of the county and Milton parish was typical of that trend, it covered a little over 5,300 acres and would have supported a population of close to 1,200 parishioners. In Domesday times Milton was a tiny place, a holding of Hugh de Port it could muster just 3 ploughs and a small meadow.

The Church

St Mary Magdalene sits within Old Milton on the northern side of the A337 surrounded by modern commercial premises. Sadly the church is not some mediaeval masterpiece having been completely rebuilt in the 17th and 19th centuries. The 17th century is an unusual period for church building due to the conflicts raging within England at that time but it is to that period that the western, stubby, brick tower is attributed. The remainder of the church was built in 1831 with 20th century changes adding the eastern end, 1928, and the northern aisle, 1958. The dead-end Church Lane heads north from the A337 between a bathroom showroom and the Wheatsheaf Inn to an extensive car park to the north of the church, a few trees close in around that east end but otherwise an unobstructed churchyard presents an easy photographic opportunity.