England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
North Mimms St Mary

The Parish

The parish of North Mimms, often rendered as Mymms as it is on modern Ordnance Survey mapping, lies in southern Hertfordshire forming a lengthy stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Middlesex. North Mimms is located roughly 4 miles south of the town of Hatfield and sits immediately west of the A1M road, the Great North Road linking London with the Northeast. North Mimms is something of an anomaly, there being no actual village whatsoever yet it formed the home parish for over 1,000 parishioners. At its heart is the estate of North Mymms Park, an extensive area being parkland around its Jacobean mansion, now an exclusive wedding venue. To the east a second estate sat at Brookman's Park which developed into a commuter village with the arrival of the railway. Other substantial settlements included Welham's Green, also much expanded by the railway, and the northern edges of Potter's Bar. The parish is also home to London University's Royal Veterinary College Hawkshead Campus with its attendant student and lecturing complement. Before all of this modern development the parish would have been largely a mixture of typical Hertfordshire arable farming and extensive market gardening supplying the fruit and vegetable needs of the nearby capital. Obviously the neds of the two estates were also a major factor in the parish economy. Modern developments abound, the railway line between London & Newcastle passing through with both Brookman's Park and Welham Green having stations is a major source of commuting to the capital, in addition the former A1 has now been upgraded to motorway standard as the A1M, to the west of the parish lies a second motorway, the M25 London's orbital motorway. Leaft Hertfordshire remains with tracts of remnant woodland despite all of this development. North Mimms is drained southwestwards by the infant River Colne which skirts the western outskirts of Greater London before meeting the Thames at Staines, the Thames takes that water through London to the North Sea via its estuary. North Mimms is sited at around 80 metres above the sea at its church, the parish rises eastwards with a few spots around Brookman's Park reaching almost 130 metres as local high spots. North Mimms was an extensive parish covering 4,000 and supported its dispersed population of around 1,100 parishioners. Domesday North Mimms was a much smaller place held by the Bishop of Chester it mustered merely 2 ploughs and the more extensive woodland of the time.

The Church

St Mary's church sits within the estate of North Mymms Park accessed along St Mary's Church Road southwest of Welham Green and just beyond the crossing of the motorway. The church is largely one built in stages during the 14th and 15th centuries. Pevsner outlines a complex history in which the chancel and both the northern aisle and chapel were built first, he indicates signs that the build was originally intended to create a cruciform church with a crossing tower, a rare example in the Decorated period. He speculates that the Black Death halted building work for almost a century before continuing in the 15th in the Perpendicular style and with a more traditional layout for the period of a western tower. Documentary evidence places the tower's build as being between 1440 & 1450, a date placing it in the late Perpendicular period as confirmed by its style. The remainder of the church is largely the net effect of many phases of Georgian and Victorian modification, in 1805 a spike was added to the western tower but removed in 1953, a general restoration between 1858 & 1860 not only refreshed the building it also added the southern porch and rebuilt the northern vestry. The most recent changes of 1998 saw a large northern extension added to the church. The access road ends at a small caer park allowing a leisurely visit. There are a few trees within the churchyard which require a degree of effort to avoid but most angles are available for the photographer.