England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Orleton St George

The Parish

The parish of Orleton is in northern Herefordshire, indeed it forms a small portion of the border with neighbouring Shropshire. Orleton is a substantial compact village which lies about 5 miles southwest of the Shropshire market town of Ludlow. Orleton is sited just east of the B4361 road which links Ludlow with Leominster and just south of its junction with the B4362 (Brimfield to Presteigne) road. Within Orleton parish the Marches railway line runs north to south on its way from Shrewsbury through to South Wales. Orleton had a mixed agricultural regime at the time of this transcript with roughly half the land pastoral and half arable, nowadays the arable tends to dominate. Orleton lies at the junction of two drainage systems, some heads south to join the Lugg at Leominster others flows east to join the Teme to the east of Brimfield, the low ridge between the two valleys being flat and marshy in the past. Orleton is sited at around 90 metres above sea level but land rises steeply to the west to the tops of Yeld's Hill & Yatton Hill, the latter crowned by a hill fort. orleton parish was a fairly typical size for a Herefordshire parish at around 2,500 acres it supported around 600 parishioners. In Domesday times Orleton was held by Ralph of Mortimer (a prominent landowner in the region) and supported 11 ploughs.

The Church

St George's church lies towards the eastern end of Orleton, hidden from view behind houses (except for its prominent steeple). The majority of the church dates from the 13th and 14th centuries although Pevsner is quick to point out Norman features that may push it further back in time. With the classic nave, chancel & western tower (topped by a very distinctive shingled spire) most is in the Early English style of that period. The chancel, however, was essentially rebuilt in the Victorian restoration but sympathetically retained the same styling. The church can be approached from both east and west, at the eastern end a pair of wooden gates gives access from an entrance hidden behind the houses. Once inside the views open out and although somewhat hemmed in from the west the views from the north allow photography.