England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
East Woodhay St Martin

The Parish

The parish of East Woodhay lies in the extreme northwest of Hampshire, indeed it forms part of the border with neighbouring Berkshire and is probably more in common with that county than with Hampshire being beyond the ridge of the Downs. East Woodhay is located about 5 miles southwest of the Berkshire market town of Newbury. East Woodhay sits in a broad area almost devoid of significant roads, the closest being the A343 which connects Newbury through to Andover. Of East Woodhay, itself, there is very little, not much more than a hamlet; the principal settlements being North End and East End. A largely farming community, East Woodhay would have made use of the lower lands below the Downs for arable farming whilst the northern slopes of the hills were for, mainly, sheep rearing. East Woodhay is drained northwards by a small tributary of the River Enborne, this heads eastwards, forming the county border with Berkshire, to join the Kennet near to Aldermaston and thence the Thames at Reading before reaching the North Sea through the capital and the Thames Estuary. East Woodhay is sited at around 150 metres above the sea and sits on rising ground from the Enborne's valley to the foot of the Berkshire Downs, here local heights rise in a dramatic escarpment to reach almost 300 metres on Walbury Hill. By Hampshire standards East Woodhay parish was rather large, covering almost 5,000 acres it is more reminiscent of a northern parish, at the time of this transcript it would have supported a population of about 1,400 parishioners which is difficult to reconcile with its rural location today. There is no mention of East Woodhay in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Martin's church sits on the northern edge of the hamlet for which the parish is named. Sadly St Martin is not a mediaeval church of historic interest but a Georgian replacement built in 1823. Despite this recent creation there has been time for significant changes, the flint chancel was built in 1849 and the southern porch added in 1887 whilst all of the nave windows were replace utilising a Decorated style of tracery in Victorian times. St Martin sits on the southern side of the narrow lane heading northwestwards towards Inkpen, a large car park facilitates a visit with gates to access gravel paths which cross the broad churchyard. Whilst there are trees around, in particular close to the western tower, they did not unduly restrict photography.