England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Snarestone St Bartholomew

The Parish

The parish of Snarestone lies in western Leicestershire roughly 5 miles south of the town of Ashby de la Zouch. Snarestone at one time stood forming the border with a detached portion of Derbyshire, that border irregularity being resolved by the transfer of these parishes to Leicestershire. Snarestone stands on and mostly east of the B4116 road which links Aashby de la Zouch with Atherstone in Warwickshire. Snarestone is a compact village forming a "T" shape, the B4116 having many properties lining it whilst the remainder sit upon a lane running eastwards for roughly a quarter mile. The parish is a farming parish but weighted, at the time of this transcript, towards pastoral methods which formed roughly 2/3rds of the parish acreage. Modern developments have come to the parish, the first being the Ashby Canal, which once connected that town to the wider canal network but now terminates at Snarestone's tunnel; soon afterwards a railway line linking Hinckley with Burton upon Trent was built but is now closed with only its built infrastructure of bridges and cuttings remaining, a small section to the southeast being run as the steam heritage Battlefield Line. Snarestone is drained northwestwards by the infant River Meese which turns westwards to meet the Teme and then immediately the Trent at the National Memorial Arboretum, the Trent continues eastward and then north to reach the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Snarestone is sited at around 100 metres above the sea in gently rolling countryside where a few spots to its southwest reach to 130 metres in places. Snarestone parish was relatively small compared to many in its county, covering just 1,200 acres it would have supported a population of close to 400 parishioners. Domesday Snarestone, held by a bursar Robert, was an abandoned settlement without assets or recorded population.

The Church

St Bartholomew's church stands on the western side of the B4116 about 200 yards north of the main village crossroads. The medieval church which once stood here was replaced in 1752 by today's largely brick structure. The church appears largely modern as a consequence of its simplistic style and the materials used to build it. A few neat touches are shown by lining many of the original windows in stone but the 19th century replacement lack even that motif. A standard layout of nave, much lower chancel and a thin western tower was enlarged in the late Georgian period (roughly c1834) in what Pevsner terms an "ungainly fashion". The B4116 in straight and often busy so it is helpful that the verge outside the gates in enlarged for a single car to safely park, the church is largely screened by thick tree cover, that theme is repeated at the western end of the building restricting the views of that western tower but all other aspects are available for the photographer.