England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Datchworth All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Datchworth lies in central Hertfordshire roughly 2 1/2 miles northeast of the town of Welwyn. Datchworth sits about a mile east of the B197 road which links Welwyn with Stevenage. At the time of this transcript early maps show three distinct villages in a triangle, to the north Datchworth, itself, holding the parish church and built around a T-junction, to the south Datchworth Green, a simple crossroads settlement and to the west Woolmer Green sitting in a compact triangle within the fork of the B197 and another lane. Today all 3 are virtually conjoined into a triangular settlement. Datchworth was a farming parish with early gazetteers estimating that over 75% of the parish acreage was set to arable, between the housing developments little has changed. Modern developments have come to the parish, the East Coast railway line between London & Newcastle passing through without granting a station. Datchworth is drained northeastwards by a small brook which soon meets the River Beane which turns matters southwards merging in Hertford with the Mimram to become the Lea, after Hertford the Lea passes through the eastern edges of Greater London before reaching the outer Thames Estuary and the North Sea. Datchworth is sited at around 120 metres above the sea with its 2 subsidiary settlements some 20 metres lower, the parish church stands on the highest ground for some distance. Covering just over 1,900 acres Datchworth parish was fairly average in size, that acreage would have supported a population of around 550 parishioners. Domesday Datchworth was a fairly small settlement shared largely between Westminster Abbey and the Archbishop of Canterbury, just 5 ploughs were reported backed by meadows and woodland.

The Church

All Saints' church stands on the western side of Bury Lane towards the northern end of Datchworth village, it sits in a site showing traces of having been a moated manor house. All Saints has early fabric from the 12th century Norman Romanesque period, the nave shows capitals and bases to columns from this early time. Whilst the main nave is 12th century the 4-bay northern aisle was a late 13th century addition, either Early English Gothic or Transitional. Whilst the centre of the church is oldest both the eastern end, the chancel, and the western end, the tower both date from the 15th century Perpendicular era, dating is imprecise as both have been modified in later times. The chancel was remodelled in the 17th century whilst the tower acquired its topmost stage and shingled splay-foot spire as part of the major Victorian restoration of 1869-70. A further piece of Victorian work re-roofed the northern aisle in 1886. Visiting the church is made easy by a lengthy parking bay outside the gates allowing a few vehicles to safely park away from the traffic. The churchyard has a few trees placed within the favoured aspects from the south but most other angles are available to the photographer.