England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
St Pauls Cray St Paulinus

The Parish

The parish of St Pauls Cray lies in northwestern Kent roughly 4 miles east of the town of Bromley. St Pauls Cray sits on the A224 road which links Sidcup through to Orpington & Sevenoaks. Whilst St Pauls Cray was once a discrete village sitting within the valley of the River Cray it has become today part of the urban fringe of Greater London, a small green-belt keeps it and Orpington separate but the march of London spreading southeast has almost reached the pair. At the time of this transcript most incomes would have come from farming, predominantly arable but also some orchards for which its county is noted. In addition to these rural incomes, a paper mill employed almost a tenth of the population. Modern developments have come to St Pauls Cray the railway line linking London with the Medway towns of Rochester and Chatham passes through giving the area a station and leading to growth in commuting in both directions. St Pauls Cray is drained northwards by the Cray which joins the Darenth just prior to reaching the outer Thames Estuary and the North Sea. St Pauls Cray is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in gentle terrain that rises steadily southwards to a little over 100 metres within a mile or so. One of many small parishes in its county, St Pauls Cray covered just under 1,700 acres and would have supported a population of around 550 parishioners. In Domesday times St Pauls Cray was one of the many holdings of Bishop Odo of Bayeux but was a small place offering just a pair of ploughs, some woodland but did possess a mill, even in those days the Cray providing.

The Church

St Paulinus has ceased to be the parish church, a new church St Barnabas took over in the 1960s, St Paulinus is now "The Redeemed Christian Church of God" so remains a place of worship. The church sits on the eastern side of Main Road which parallels the River Cray's course. This is a building with an ancient history and certainly pre-dates the Norman Conquest. Pevsner notes a quoin of Roman tiles in the chancel and within the nave enough Saxon work to convince of a pre-12th century origin. These ancient pieces are headed by the western tower complete with shingled spire to which Pevsner gives a date c1200. Like most churches the Victorians got to work, in this case the major restoration came in the 1850s and was extensive, it was followed by further work in 1863 to add the southern chapel to complete today's building. Main Road has street parking allowing an extended visit, the churchyard sits behind a high brick wall with a small lychgate for entry. Sadly the churchyard has an extensive tract of woodland within making the building something of a challenge especially to obtain adequate views in landscape mode.