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

The Parish

The parish of Reed lies in northeastern Hertfordshire roughly 3 miles south of the town of Royston. Reed sits either side of the A10 road which links Royston with Hertford and onwards to London. Reed is a complex village scattered across 3 village greens. The notional centre of the village consists of two oblongs made of lanes, one elongated north to south and joining a second elongated east to west, whilst south of that complex of lanes lies the church and Reed Hall, a 16th-17th century timber-framed hall-house. Reed stands on the chalk hill-country which rises south of the Cambridgeshire lowlands, at the time of this transcript it would have been transitioning from a landscape dominated by sheep grazing to one in which arable was becoming more important, today that process is almost complete and most land grows either cereals, oil-seed or beet. The A10 which forms the western boundary of the parish follows the ancient Roman Road of Ermine Street and many remains of archaeology from adjacent to that road have been found. The Domesday record for Reed indicates a substantial settlement in contrast to today, the presence of multiple moated sites, the remains of a motte-and-bailey castle and fish-ponds all indicate a degree of desertion from something much larger and more important. Reed is drained southwards by headwaters of the River Quin which meets the Rib at Braughing, the Rib, in turn joins the Lea at Hertford before passing through eastern Greater London to reach the outer Thames estuary and the North Sea. Reed is sited at around 150 metres above the sea on some of the highest ground for some distance, only nearby Therfield to the west exceeds it reaching 168 metres at its water-tower. Reed parish is a long strip of land running east of and parallel to Ermine Street, it covered just under 1,500 acres and would have supported a population of around 250 parishioners. As already mentioned Reed was a much larger place in Domesday times, it was large enough to be amongst the largest 20% of settlements by population as recorded, it was shared by 5 landholders and had assets totalling 12 ploughs backed by typical meadows & woodlands.

The Church

St Mary's church stands south of most properties in the village adjacent to Reed Hall and accessed southwards along Church Lane and a footpath. This is a church which probably has masonry from pre-Conquest times still extant within its fabric. Anglo-Saxon long-and-short-work in the corners of the nave and the northern doorway, featuring a blocked archway and crude incised carvings, also dates from this period. Today's chancel and western tower were built in the 14th century, it is believed that the latter's contrasting basal stage is derived from an Anglo-Saxon predecessor, Pevsner contends that the chancel is earlier than the tower but both show the Perpendicular styling of the late 14th and 15th centuries. The church received a substantial Victorian restoration in 1863/4 which lengthened the nave, added the southern porch and replaced much of the roofing. The footpath to the churchyard leaves Church Lane at a prominent right-angled right turn if coming from the village, the verge is well-worn from parking. Whilst there is a mature conifer standing at the eastern end of the church this does not interfere with the favoured viewpoints making for a straightforward church for the photographer.