England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Wolferlow St Andrew

The Parish

The parish of Wolferlow lies in the extreme northeast of Herefordshire forming a short stretch of the border with neighbouring Worcestershire. Wolferlow is located roughly 5 miles north of the market town of Bromyard and sits just over a half mile west of the B4203 road which links Bromyard through to Great Witley & Abberley in Worcestershire. Wolferlow is a tiny place, a genuine lost medieval village, its site is in the fields southwest of the church, with little remaining of its former extent, a mere scatter of loosely aggregated farms and cottages across the wider parish with no real village or, indeed, significant cluster.Wolferlow's economy is totally that derived from farming with a largely pastoral regime at the time of this transcript, today a more mixed scene thanks to modern machinery & fertilisers. Wolferlow is drained southwards by a small tributary of the River Frome which passes through Bromyard before turning southwest to meet, in short order, firstly the Lugg & then the Wye to the east of Hereford. From here a long journey follows to the outer Bristol Channel arriving through the port of Chepstow. Wolferlow sits on a high plateau at around 190 metres, to the west a steep escarpment drops away towards Stoke Bliss but not before reaching a local high spot of 238 metres in the former deer park of Wolferlow Park. Wolferlow parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering a little under 1,500 acres it would only have supported around 100 parishioners. In Domesday times Wolferlow was small and rural too, shared between Roger de Lacy and Ralph Mortimer it could muster a mere 6 ploughs.

The Church

St Andrew's church sits at the southern end of a dead-end lane, Wolferlow Court, and is nowadays disused as a church, indeed in recent times it was offered for sale as a private house. Whilst there is much left of really ancient origin the changes made in later centuries, in particular the major rebuild of the 1860s have created a relatively modern building that the participants in these marriages might fail to recognise. The core of the church is 12th century and Norman Romanesque in style, the chancel arch, southern doorway and the north wall of the nave being the chief remaining pieces of that early date. The iconic half-timbered bell-turret stands on timbers of the 16th or 17th century but is a product of the 1860s work. That major rebuild also added the southern porch and, to the northeast, a vestry as well as rebuilding most of the chancel and the southern wall of the nave. Despite all of this work further restoration followed in a second campaign running between 1890 & 1894 to arrive at today's building. Wolferlow Court is narrow but immediately outside the white gates is a small worn area of verge that is usually used for a car. The churchyard is open and uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer. It should be noted that if the church passes into private hands then access may be restricted in the future.