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

The Parish

The parish of Crundale lies in eastern central Kent about 5 miles northeast of the industrial town of Ashford. Crundale is a small village which sits just over a mile east of the A28 road which connects Ashford with Canterbury. Much of Crundale is built on a shallow side valley of that of the River Stour in an area rising to the downland of eastern Kent. A largely agricultural parish Crundale's economy would have been dominated by arable farming supplemented by the Kentish crops of orchards and hop farms. Lying on porous chalk there is little surface drainage until the main valley of the Stour is reached, this heads northeast through Canterbury to reach the North Sea through the port of Sandwich. Crundale is sited on a sloping site up the valley side rising from 60 metres to 100 metres through the rather scattered properties of the village. Crundale parish was fairly typically sized for its area, it covered almost 1,600 acres and would have supported a population of close to 300 parishioners. Crundale is not mentioned in Domesday Book .

The Church

St Mary's church sits almost a mile away from the village on the crest of Crundale Downs and close by the Hall. The church has ancient origins, a window in the northern wall of the nave being early Norman and probably 11th century, later in the Norman period and possibly 12th century a two-bay arcade was cut through that northern wall. The next century and early English Gothic is represented by windows within the northern tower. The chancel has Decorated style windows of the early 14th century whilst the impressive western window is Perpendicular and probably early 15th century. The narrow lane to the church leaves the village heading eastwards and then south to climb to the ridge where it turns again eastwards, here sits the church with an extensive car parking area on the southern side of the lane. The churchyard is small and densely bordered with trees so care in selecting the best angles is needed to adequately capture the church.