England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Deptford St Nicholas

The Parish

The parish of St Nicholas, Deptford is the older of the two parishes in the former port of Deptford. Deptford is located in the extreme northwest of Kent and forms part of its border with neighbouring Surrey and is just across the Thames from Middlesex. Deptford lies about 4 miles east of the City of London and is crossed by both the A2 (London to Dover) and A200 (London to Greenwich) roads. Deptford has undergone many transformations over the centuries, it began as a small fishing village which grew up where Deptford Creek reached the Thames, it grew substantially when Henry VIII chose the town as the site for his great dockyard, for a while it was a fashionable suburb, an oasis from the city of London and nowadays has been engulfed by the growth of London to become just an amorphous but distinctive riverside settlement. St Nicholas' parish covers the older part of the town, the fishing village in Lower Deptford and covered the area between the A200 road and the Thames. At the time of this transcript St Nicholas, Deptford wore two hats - there were large and commodious mansions of the very wealthy sitting in incongruous juxtaposition with a melee of workers supporting a busy port, including boat building, dockers, smithies manufacturing anchors & chains as well as chandlers, breweries and slaughtering houses - in short a port. Deptford is located almost at sea level, the church being 1 metre above the level of the Thames, Deptford Creek cuts through the eastern side of the parish to reach the Thames. The parish was not a large one, St Paul covered most of the area of the combined parishes, but supported almost 6,000 parishioners. There is no specific mention of Deptford in Domesday Book, it is presumed the entry is subsumed in that of nearby Greenwich.

The Church

St Nicholas' church is located on the eastern side of Deptford Green, this was once a very prestigious address but not so today. Deptford Green sits just north of the A200 road which runs through the parish from London to Greenwich. Unfortunately St Nicholas' church took somewhat of a hammering in World War II, a victim of the blitz. Only the mediaeval tower base remains from the original building, Pevsner dates that to the 15th century, the rest of the original building was dated to 1697. The blitz left that portion as a ruin and the present church was rebuilt after the war on the foundations. St Nicholas' church sits behind a shoulder-height brick wall and access is by metal gates at the southwestern corner of the site. There are trees alongside Deptford Green but they do not unduly restrict photography.