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

The Parish

The parish of Wilcrick lies in southern Monmouthshire not too far from its southern, Bristol Channel coast. Wilcrick is a tiny place, a collection of farm located 6 miles east of the port of Newport. Wilcrick sits on the B4245 road which links Magor with the main A48 (Newport to Chepstow) road. The cluster of farms that is all that exists of Wilcrick sits at the base of Wilcrick Hill, topped by earthworks of a fort site of the Iron Age. This tiny parish would have been mainly engaged in farming, whilst pastoral farming was dominant some arable also occurred. Today Wilcrick is little more than a name on a map, the hill and fort being the principal interest, modern developments have intruded into this rural setting, Brunel's Great Western Railway line runs through the south of the parish whilst just north lies the modern M4 motorway. The Gwent Levels, Wilcrick sits on their northern edge, are heavily man-influenced and a series of modified drains leads most drainage to the Bristol Channel through Magor Pill. Wilcrick parish was tiny, covering just 400 acres it would only have supported at its height fewer than 50 parishioners. Like most of Wales Wilcrick is not mentioned in Domesday Book which has scant coverage of this border region.

The Church

St Mary's church sits at the foot of Wilcrick Hill embedded in a copse of woodland. A simple small church of nave & chancel, the latter smaller and lower, and the western end topped by a bellcote. Whilst scant evidence of earlier origins exists, a single dated stone of 1621, the church was almost totally rebuilt in 1860 and is thus considered a Victorian replacement for anything medieval. Internally the wagon vault of the nave also suggests something medieval but Pevsner does not give an indicative date. A narrow lane leads south from the B4245 and where it jinks right a lane carries on ahead, the church is offset to the left and almost invisible within its bank of trees. Those trees crowd tightly around making for a difficult photographic subject.