England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Magor St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Magor lies in the extreme south of Monmouthshire forming a stretch of the county's coastline with the puter Bristol Channel. Magor is located roughly 8 miles east of the Victorian port of Newport and on the B4245 road which heads out-and-back as a coast-road from the busy A48 linking Newport with Chepstow. Magor is a large village which has grown substantially in modern times, early maps show the village forming a rough triangular shape with its long axis paralleling the newly laid railway lines; today's village occupies almost all of the land betwixt railway and M4 engulfing neighbouring Undy in the process. At the time of this transcript Magor would have been a simple pastoral farming community exploiting the rich pastures of the Gwent Levels, siltation of the coastline prevented port development but did also allow inshore shell-fisheries and local fish taking. Modern developments have created modern Magor, the railway line between Newport & Bristol Parkway, under the Severn, was an integral part of Brunel's Great Western Railway taking the line west to western Wales. More  modern still is the modern M4 motorway following s similar but more northern course to cross on the iconic Severn Bridge. As a consequence Magor has become something of a commuter village for both Newport and, surprisingly, even Bristol. Much of the parish drainage is man-influenced designed to preserve the pastures from becoming too water-logged, most water reaches the outer Bristol Channel through Magor Pill. Magor is sited at just 10 metres above the sea with the suburbs of Vinegar Hill rising to 40 metres, land rises in waves inland to reach 275 metres on Gray Hill above Llanvair-Discoed. Covering just 1,300 acres Magor parish was towards the smaller end of the Monmouthshire scale, there are quite a few small parishes on the Gwent Levels, that acreage would have supported a population of close to 650 parishioners. Magor sits just beyond the western limits of Domesday Book in this area consequently it is not mentioned in that book.

The Church

St Mary's church sits within a large churchyard immediately north of the railway line, it can be accessed from either north, west or east. Pevsner rightly regards St Mary as "one of the most ambitious churches in its county", it is certainly complex with fabric from most of the classic medieval periods contained within it. The church has a cruciform design with central crossing tower and transepts, it is the central tower and its supporting structures which are the oldest fabric from the Early English Gothic era of the 13th century. The belfry stages show the characteristic lancet style opening that betray its dating. Heading eastwards the super-long chancel is next in date sequence, from the early 14th century and Decorated in style albeit clearly from building scars a replacement for a 12th century predecessor. West of the tower, and cutting into the Early English Gothic fabric runs the 3-bay nave in the later Perpendicular style complete with aisles which continue eastwards to clasp the tower. Victorian restoration, mainly the work of a lengthy phase running from 1861 to 1868 has masked much else by renewing almost all external cut stonework as well as replacing the chancel's east window. Parking should be sort in the main portion of the village, the recommended approach is from The Square where a lane runs beside the white-washed post office to the expanse of the churchyard. Sadly only the northern aspects are best shown with the church sitting tight to adjacent buildings at the southern edges of the churchyard.