England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Wield St James

The Parish

The parish of Wield lies in northern central Hampshire about 6 miles west of the market town of Alton. Wield has two distinct centre Lower & Upper Wield separated by over a mile on the chalk downlands of this area of Hampshire. Both settlements lie in a wide area devoid of major roads, the closest numbered road being the B3046 road which connects Alresford with Basingstoke and which lies nearly 3 miles west of Lower Wield. The area is underlain by chalk giving ideal conditions for sheep rearing for both wool & meat the mainstays of the economy of Wield parish. Given that chalk is porous there is virtually no surface drainage immediately around the village, dry valleys head west and then south to emerge as a tributary of the River Itchen near to Brown Candover thence to the English Channel through the port of Southampton. Wield is sited at around 170 metres above the sea in rolling chalk downland countryside, the village of Upper Wield sits on something of a ridge with local heights barely 10 metres higher. Wield parish was fairly typically sized for its area covering 2,100 acres it would have supported a population of just under 300 parishioners. In Domesday times Wield was a relatively small place, held by the Bishop of Winchester it could offer solely 10 ploughs.

The Church

St James' church sits in Upper Wield tucked away behind properties on the western side of the village. The church has its origins in the 12th century but little remains from that period as a result of a major rebuild in the 1880s. Pevsner notes that both the southern & priest's doorways show 12th century features as does the chancel arch (often the oldest part of any church). The remainder of, what is a simple nave & chancel design topped by a weatherboarded bell-turret, dates from that 1880s rebuild. Just south of the main village junctions there is a broad grassy pull-in, opposite a footpath sign points the way to church & village stores, St James is a few yards along on the left and accessed through a pair of wooden gates. Once within the churchyard is relatively open and with no impediments to photography.