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England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Turnastone St Mary Magdalene

 

The Parish

The parish of Turnastone lies in southwestern Herefordshire not too far from both borders with Breconshire & Monmouthshire. Turnastone is located about 11 miles west of the city of Hereford and sits of the B4348 road which connects Hay on Wye with Wormelow Tump. Turnastone sits on the western side of the valley of the River Dore, also known as the "Golden Valley". There is very little to modern day Turnastone, no village as such, merely a scatter of farms and cottages on the edge of the Dore's floodplain. The economy of Turnastone would have been almost totally involved in pastoral, mainly dairy cattle, farming, at the time of this transcript; today there is much more arable hereabouts due to the use of heavy machinery on the clay-rich soils. The Dore drains the parish southwards, joining in turn the Monnow south of Pontrilas and then the Wye at Monmouth to eventually reach the Bristol Channel through the port of Chepstow. Turnastone is sited at around 110 metres above the sea in deeply rolling border countryside, local heights rise steeply to reach almost 330 metres within 2 or 3 miles. Herefordshire is a county of many small parishes but even so Turnastone was one of the smaller, covering just 550 acres it would have supported a population of fewer than 100 parishioners. In Domesday times Turnastone was recorded within the manor of Elnodestune, held by Robert de Lacy, it was a very modest place even then offering just 2 ploughs.


The Church

St Mary Magdalene's church sits on the northern side of Turnastone's lane where it does a double kink before crossing the Dore to join the B road. The church has ancient origins with a southern doorway dateable to c1200. The nave shows lancet windows of the 13th century Early English Gothic confirming the early date for the church. The 15th century priest's doorway and the similarly aged wagon roof internally are all that remain from the great Perpendicular church-building era. Much else was rebuilt, refreshed and altered during an extensive Victorian restoration of 1884 whence the timber southern porch was rebuilt. The church entrance is on a sharp right-angled bend with a small pull-in for parking, metal gates grant access to the churchyard. The churchyard is relatively small limiting views from the normal, southern aspect making for a limited range of angles available for photography.


The Records

Register No Covering Dates Deposited With Register Style Quality Standard Comments
1 14th April 1761 - 17th December 1812 Herefordshire Archives & Records Centre - Reference - AW35/1 Plain, unruled book, a continuation of the extant composite register in contravention of Hardwicke's segregation & wording requirements Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of misreads None
2 17th June 1813 - 1st January 1832 Herefordshire Archives & Records Centre - Reference - AW35/3 Standard Rose style preprinted and prenumbered Marriage register Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of misreads None
3 1754 - 1818 Herefordshire Archives & Records Centre Bishop's Transcripts on loose-leaf folios Grade 3 Register - there are sufficient quality issues with this register to indicate that some misreads will occur albeit few in number Both registers are deficient in their coverage of their relevant periods, additional records have been located from the extant BTs albeit with the usual caveats as to quality


Vowchurch St Bartholomew
Vowchurch St Bartholomew
Vowchurch St Bartholomew
St Margaret
Vowchurch St Bartholomew
St Margaret
St Margaret
Vowchurch St Bartholomew

Register Reference Date Groom Forename Groom Surname Groom Status Groom Abode Bride Forename Bride Surname Bride Status Bride Abode
14/04/1761 William EVANS     Mary WILLIAMS    
02/05/1762 William FRANCIS     Ann JONES   St Margaret
08/12/1772 William ROBERTS     Mary ROBERTS    
18/07/1777 John THOMAS   Vowchurch Elizabeth POWEL    
27/04/1786 John HUGHES     Mary HANLEY    
11/05/1786 James FRANCIS     Anne ANTONY    
15/05/1789 Evan BEVAN     Mary WOOD    
28/06/1789 Thomas MATHEWS     Elizabeth BEVAN    
17/10/1795 John WILLIAMS     Jane PRICE    
04/12/1797 Thomas LEAMAIN     Mary JONES    
14/05/1798 Thomas JONES     Elizabeth EDWARDS    
02/07/1798 James MATHEWS     Martha WILLIAMS    
29/05/1800 Benjamin JAMES     Mary EMBRY    
13/11/1806 John HAMMOND     Elizabeth PARRY    
29/05/1808 Samuel JONES     Elizabeth JONES    
24/12/1811 Thomas MATHEWS     Ann ROTHERO    
17/12/1812 Thomas JENKINS     Elizabeth JONES    
1 17/06/1813 William PROBERT     Ann DAVIS    
2 27/07/1813 John BUTTLER   Vowchurch Ann HOPE   Vowchurch
4 13/10/1816 William STEPHENS     Susannah JONES    
5 16/05/1820 William WILLIAMS     Susan EMBRY   Peterchurch
7 13/07/1822 Thomas PRICE     Elizabeth DAVIS    
8 11/04/1825 Thomas PROBERT     Mary MORGAN    
10 27/02/1827 John WATKINS     Susannah HAVARD    
11 03/04/1827 Thomas DAVIS     Elizabeth BAILEY    
12 30/03/1830 John WATKINS   St Margaret Mary PROBERT    
16 01/01/1832 William BISHOP Single   Catherine MAINWARING Single Eardisley

Corrections to Tinstaafl Transcripts