England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Stoke Prior St Luke

The Parish

The parish of Stoke Prior lies in northern central Herefordshire roughly 3 miles southeast of the market town of Leominster. Stoke Prior is located about 1 mile east, but separated by the course of the River Lugg, of the busy A49 road which connects Shrewsbury through to Hereford. Stoke Prior is a small and compact village sitting on the edge of the Lugg's flood-plain at its confluence with the River Arrow and largely built around a triangular junction of lanes. Like many Herefordshire parishes it was dominated by farming, here the cattle grazing the rich pastures of the water-meadows was augmented by that other traditional Herefordshire crop, the cider apple, the village having several cider orchards round about. Modern developments stayed slightly away from Stoke Prior, the railway line between Shrewsbury & hereford following the opposite side of the Lugg after visiting Leominster. The combined Lugg & Arrow drain the parish southwards eventually meeting the Wye to the east of Hereford and the sea through the port of Chepstow into the Bristol Channel. Stoke Prior is sited at around 80 metres above the sea in rounded countryside where local heights rise steadily eastward reaching 150 metres within a couple of miles and continuing higher further east. In a county of many small parishes Stoke Prior was one of the larger in extent, covering almost 2,600 acres it would have supported a population of around 450 parishes. In Domesday Book the entry for Stoke Prior is an anomaly, its assets, held by King William, are more typical of entire county or sub-county and cannot be those of a small village, no small village has 230 ploughs, leagues of woodland and 8 mills - this cannot be the record of this small manor!

The Church

St Luke's church sits on the western edge of the village on the southern side of the land leading southwestwards to the A49. Sadly this is not some medieval masterpiece but largely a Victorian replacement, albeit utilising some of the fabric of its predecessor in the rebuilt chancel. Neither is it the venue for these marriages as it was built in 1863 at the expense of the then rector Reverend Henry Cooper. The re-builders have shown a style mixed Decorated & Perpendicular which is perhaps indicative of a 14th century date for the church they replaced. It is something of a shock to venture inside and discover that this Victorian building has been re-roofed with the original roof of 1658, 6-bays with alternating tie-beams and pseudo-hammerbeams. The lane is fairly narrow so it welcome that room for a single car is found outside the shaded wooden gates. The church is set well back from the road with a curving pathway leading to it. Whilst the church has trees crowding to its north the favoured aspects are feee and available to the photographer.