England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Lee St Margaret

The Parish

The parish of Lee is located in the extreme northwest of the county of Kent close to its border with neighbouring Surrey as well as the counties of Middlesex and Essex. Lee is situated in the outer suburbs of London having been absorbed by the growth of the capital during the early 19th century. The parish is about 7 miles southeast of the City of London and covers an area that would have one time been part of Blackheath Park. The area was developed for housing during the 1820s as London expanded beyond its confines and further growth resulted from the building of the railway line along the North Kent coast which passed through Lee. Nowadays, given the extensive and quite dense housing it is difficult to imagine what a rural spot this was in 1754 at the beginning of this transcript. Lee is sited between the triangle of main roads east of the major centre of Lewisham and is enclosed by the A205 & A210 roads. Situated on the terraces that rise from the banks of the Thames Lee is sited at about 20 metres above sea level, if there were once surface streams they would have drained northwards into the Thames. The parish was elongated from north to south and squeezed in between those of Lewisham and Eltham, the parish covered some 1,200 acres and had grown to support well over 2,000 parishioners. In Domesday times the land was held by one Walter of Douai and supported 4 plough as well as meadow and woodland; pig husbandry seemed to be an important livelihood.

The Church

St Margaret's church is sited adjacent to Lee Terrace but it is a Victorian replacement for the original parish church which experienced structural problems and rather than fix the issues it was decided to build a new church. The present building was commenced in 1839 so none of the marriages in this transcript took place in this building. The church building was financed by the "Commissioners" and what resulted is described by Pevsner as a typical example with nave, aisled chancel and western spired tower, all decorated with lancet style windows. Pevsner even goes so far as to describe the tower as "picturesque". In typical suburban style the church faces across Lee Terrace a motor dealers. The grounds with a few tombs and stones are enclosed by iron railings and entered at the eastern end of the site through a pair of wooden gates under a spreading tree. There are a few trees dotted around but not enough to disrupt photography. The ruins of old St Margaret, with its many notable tombs including that of Sir Edward Halley (Astronomer Royal and famous for the comet) lies to the north of the present building.