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

The Parish

The parish of Buckland lies in northeastern Hertfordshire not too far from the joint border with neighbouring Cambridgeshire & Essex. Buckland is located just under 5 miles south of the town of Royston and sits on the busy A10 road linking Royston & Cambridge with London. The A10 has the characteristically straight line that signifies it follows an ancient Roman route, here the line of Ermine Street which once ran from London to Lincoln as one of the Roman's most important military routes. Buckland is a small and compact village, a few properties line the main road whilst most are offset to the east on minor lanes. Like most parishes in this area Buckland made its income from arable farming, early gazetteers estimate as much as 75% of the parish acreage would have been set to arable with the majority of the remainder in woodland management. Buckland is drained southwards by the River Rib which eventually merges with the Lea at Hertford before passing through the eastern edges of Greater London to reach the outer Thames estuary & the North Sea. Buckland sits on chalk-lands at around 110 metres above the sea, here the strata are almost flat producing not billowing downs but gently rising plateau which reach local high points at around 150 metres such as at nearby Kelshall to the northwest. Buckland parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering close to 2,000 acres it would have supported a population of around 450 parishioners. In Domesday times Buckland was a fairly typical rural arable holding of Bishop Odo of Bayeux offering 10 ploughs and the usual meadows & woodland.

The Church

St Andrew's church sits on the eastern edges of Buckland accessed by a short rough track from the lane which heads east toward Barkway. Pevsner notes that it is nowadays managed by the Churches' Conservation Trust. The church shows an almost contiguous build starting around the mid-14th century and continuing into the 15th placing it firmly into the era of the Perpendicular style. An inscription etched into stained glass records the construction of the church to 1348, a date that is confirmed architecturally by the main body of nave & chancel which show windows typical of that era. Slightly later but still 14th century the western tower was added probably around turn of the century into the 15th when a southern aisle & porch were also added to complete the initial build. The windows of those two features date either to the late 15th century or even possibly into the start of the Tudor period of the 16th. Like most churches St Andrew shows the work of the Victorian restorers too, here the event took place during the 1870s to complete the church as we see it today. The narrow lane has sufficient verge to permit parking opposite the green footpath sign marking the track to the church, a short walk brings you to a square churchyard which is open & uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.