England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Shenley St Botolph

The Parish

The parish of Shenley lies in southern Hertfordshire not too far from the county's border with neighbouring Middlesex. Shenley is located roughly 5 miles southeast of the city of St Albans and sits on the B5378 road which links St Albans with Borehamwood. Shenley has many settlements within its extensive parish, that of Shenley, itself, is a rather linear village stretching for over a mile along the B5378 enhanced in modern times by developments to both east and north. In addition Borehamwood, which is shared with Elstree parish, Radlett, shared with Aldenham, and London Colney, shared with St Albans, all have part of the properties within Shenley parish, all are substantial villages in their own right. Like many parishes close to the capital market gardening for supply of fruit & vegetables to London was important, cereal production was also present and many in the village were engaged in using the resulting straw in plaiting. Modern developments have come to the parish, the London to St Albans railway line just engages with the west of the parish whilst to the east and north runs London's Orbital Motorway the modern M25 which skirts the estate of the 14th century Salisbury Hall. Shenley is drained westwards by small streams which feed into the nearby River Colne, the latter passes to the west of urban Greater London to meet the Thames at Staines, the Thames passes back east through the capital to the North Sea. Shenley is sited on rising ground from 80 metres above the sea at the former parish church in Shenleybury to 130 metres above the sea at it's replacement St Martin; that area at 130 metres is the highest ground for some distance. Parishes in Hertfordshire's southern area are often much larger than is customary for southern rural parishes, Shenley parish covered just under 4,100 acres and would have supported a population of close to 1,200 parishioners. In Domesday times Shenley was shared between 3 landholders, St Albans Abbey, Geoffrey de Mandeville and Count Robert of Mortain, collectively their assets of 14 ploughs backed by substantial woodland and smaller meadows reveal a prosperous rural manor.

The Church

St Botolph's church actually sits at Shenleybury on the eastern side of the B5378 and some 3/4s of a mile northwest of the main centre of the village. The church was declared redundant in 1972 and is now a private house. There is documentary evidence of the church from 1424 in will bequests and this dating is backed up by the typical Perpendicular tracery shown. The church formerly had both chancel and western tower but following a serious fire in 1753 these were demolished leaving simply the former nave as the entire church. The churchyard is preserved as a site of war graves and access to this area is permitted but the church is obviously out-of-bounds to respect the owners privacy. The church sits adjacent to a bus stop which permits a quick visit as it has a parking bay for the buses.