England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Feltham St Dunstan

The Parish

The parish of Feltham lies in southwestern Middlesex roughly 4 miles southwest of Hounslow. Feltham sits in a profusion of significant numbered roads, it is bounded to the north by the A315 which links Hounslow with Staines whilst the A244 forks off to pass through Feltham en route for Walton on Thames. Feltham is a much changed place, early maps show two settlements, the smaller and more southern being the ancient village holding the parish church, Lower Feltham, the larger settlement to the north clustered around the junction of A roads and the newly arrived railway station being Upper Feltham, an entirely 19th century creation. At the time of this transcript Feltham would have sat amongst fields largely growing traditional crops but also the market gardened product required by the nearby capital. Feltham also sits on Thames valley gravels which were and still are exploited  leaving often flooded pits to return to nature. It is the railway which arrived in 1848 which parked Feltham's conversion into a mere suburb and integral part of the vast urban area of Greater London. Nowadays only the course of the River Colne prevents it being contiguous through Hounslow to the remainder of the capital. Modern developments abound, following the railway many of the roads either side of Feltham have been upgraded to fast dual-carriageway, also and not too far to the northwest looms London's Heathrow Airport. As a largely urban area most of the town's drainage now gets to the Thames either by the Colne or simply by sub-surface means, the Thames passes Ricmond and becomes tidal beyond Teddington passing through the capital to the North Sea. Feltham is sited at around 20 metres above the sea, nowhere in the vicinity exceeds 30 metres in very gentle terrain. Feltham parish covered just over 2,600 acres and would have supported a population of close to 1,050 parishioners. Domesday Feltham was a holding of Count Robert of Mortain and was exclusively rural at that early time, it offered 18 ploughs and a small meadow as assets.

The Church

St Dunstan's church sits within the original village of Lower Feltham, early maps show it on the western edge of a tight loop of lanes that today are still present north of the A244. Sadly the medieval church which once stood here was demolished and today's church built to replace it in 1802, as such only the later marriages would have taken place in the illustrated building. The church is a relatively plain brick structure with a low battlemented tower facing St Dunstan's Road, it is topped by a shingled spire. Despite the recent completion there has still been times for later intervention, in 1856 aisles were added whilst the windows were also made more Norman-like. There is acceptable on-street parking to the north of the site in St Dunstan's Road. The photographer will sadly find the church amongst a veritable forest of trees, the view from the northwest being the only acceptably free aspect.