England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Coddington All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Coddington lies in the extreme east of Herefordshire forming a short stretch of the border with neighbouring Worcestershire. Coddington is located roughly 3 miles north of the market town of Ledbury and sits just over 2 miles east of the B4214 road which links Ledbury with Bromyard. Coddington is a tiny place with no real defined village, a scatter of farms and cottages loosely gathered along a lane which skirts the foot of the isolated outlier of Oyster Hill, connected geologically with the nearby Malvern Hills.  sits within a sheltered vale, protected from the west by the hills of Wales, the Malvern Hills to the east aid in keeping the area warm. It is this location that lead to two of the main iconic crops of Herefordshire, hops and cider apples, to these crops today has been added a vineyard. Despite the appeal of these crops, pastoral farming typical of the rest of the county predominates. Coddington is drained southwards by a small tributary of the River Leadon which makes its way to join the Severn to the northwest of Gloucester, from here the Severn Estuary turns into the Bristol Channel.  sits on a little knoll at 110 metres above the sea but looming to the south is Oyster Hill at 211 metres whilst to the east stands the 338 metre summit of Herefordshire Beacon, on the Malvern Hills. Herefordshire is a county with many small parishes and Coddington was one of such, covering just under 1,100 acres it would have supported a population of around 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Coddington was equally small and rural, held by the Canons of Hereford it could muster just 9 ploughs and a small meadow.

The Church

All Saints' church occupies the very top of the small knoll in which most of Coddington sits on the western side of a very narrow lane meandering towards Bosbury. Like so many small and isolated churches All Saints has very early features which have not been altered by well-meaning Victorians. Indeed in 1866 in the journal The Builder it was claimed that the church was of Saxon origin although Pevsner's examination lead him to place the church into the 13th century. His opinion is backed up by documentary evidence recording altar dedication in 1231. The so-called Saxon features are relics of the earlier Norman Romanesque styles used by unfashionable builders in the 13th century, round arched doorways and similarly round arched openings, now blocked, were the features so cited. The Early English Gothic icon of the lancet window is used so frequently that this must indeed be the date of the church, 13th century, and this 13th century style is also found in the piscina with its trefoiling. The single exceptions to this style are are a southeastern window of Decorated style from the early 14th century in the nave which also bears a roof of similar date. Victorian work, normally such a feature of our churches, is here limited to a new roof to the chancel which is panelled. Given the narrowness of these lanes it is welcome that a field south of the church is used for parking allowing a comfortable visit. Sadly for the photographer the churchyard is small preventing enough space to adequately capture a full landscape view, it is also well endowed with trees that significantly limit the angles available for photography.