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

The Parish

The parish of Lower Hardres lies in the central portion of eastern Kent about 3 miles south of the city of Canterbury. Lower Hardres sits just a half mile east of the B2068 road, a former Roman Road connecting Canterbury with the ancient port of Hythe. Much of Lower Hardres is located wither along that road (the settlement being Street End) or along the lane which heads southeastwards towards Bossingham. Lower Hardres would have earned its economy largely from farming at the time of this transcript and it remains largely a rural settlement albeit with some modern development along the B2068. Lower Hardres is drained largely by field drains and there is little actual surface drainage, what there is is headed northeastwards to join first the Nail Bourne, then the Little Stour to reach the North Sea through the port of Sandwich. Lower Hardres is sited at around 70 metres above the sea in gently rolling countryside, local heights rise gently westwards to reach almost 110 metres on Chartham Downs. Lower Hardres parish was on the small side for Kent, it covered just under 1,200 acres and would have supported a population of about 250 parishioners. In Domesday times Lower Hardres was returned for the Book together with its neighbour Upper Hardres both being held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, collectively they could offer around 5 ploughs together with pig-populated woodland.

The Church

St Mary's church sits on the eastern side of the village as the lane to Bossingham (School Lane) leaves the built area. Sadly this church is not some mediaeval masterpiece as the original church was demolished in the Georgian era and the present church erected in the early 1830s. The architect used the style of the Early English Gothic period with semi-authentic details of that period including lancet windows, Pevsner decrees the attempt "tolerable". The talking piece of the church is the broach spired tower, unusually set in a southwestern position. The church sits on a sharp bend in School Lane partially masked by a large tree, a rising pathway leads past neighbouring properties to a set of gates in the surrounding brick wall. The churchyard is somewhat crowded with mature trees which do somewhat limit the angles available for photography.