England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Seasalter St Alphege

The Parish

The parish of Seasalter lies in northeastern Kent forming a stretch of the county's North Sea coastline. Seasalter is located roughly 5 miles northwest of the city of Canterbury and adjacent to Whittstable. Seasalter sits about a mile north of the A299 coast road which links Faversham with the Isle of Thanet. At the time of this transcript Seasalter was a tiny village focussed on the foreshore and the assets on the nearby sea. Oysters were the speciality of this coastline and beds sat offshore and had been exploited since medieval times. The wider parish was largely pastoral, much of the land low-lying and marshy grazing land. Today Seasalter has grown to become merely a western suburb of nearby Whitstable with modern developments lining the coast for over 3 miles between western Seasalter and eastern Swalecliffe. All of this growth came from the arrival of the railway line linking Whitstable with London and the fashion for sea bathing. As a coastal settlement numerous drains and streams take water into the nearby sea, Seasalter is sited at between sea level and 20 metres at its southernmost, land rising steadily southwards to the local high point of Clay Hill at 86 metres. At just over 1,300 acres Seasalter was quite a small parish but supported a population of almost 1,100 parishioners due to the riches of the sea. That wealth was also apparent in Domesday times when Seasalter was large enough to be amongst the top 20% of settlements recorded in that book; held by the Archbishop of Canterbury its meagre agricultural assets of 2 ploughs being over-compensated by the 8 fisheries that sustained that community even then.

The Church

St Alphege's church sits away from the coast within a patch of parkland surrounded by 19th & 20th century development. The church has had a colourful history having been replaced by a modern church, converted into a mere burial chamber for the local Hyder family and finally brought back into service in 1906. During all of these changes the medieval nave was demolished in 1846 leaving only the former chancel to make up today's church. Lancet style windows, notably the triplet in the eastern wall, betray the church's Early English Gothic credentials and date it firmly to the 13th century. Following removal of the nave the present bellcote was added to finish off the western end, a knapped flint western wall built in 1870 sits below. The church is not one to which one can roll up and visit, a short walk from a care park set off Church Lane is required. A large brown sign marking the site leads to a shady path through trees before opening out into the broad space within which the church sits, the church is entirely open to its south but hedged in to the north by thick trees but still presents its best face to the photographer.