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

The Parish

The parish of Canons Ashby lies in southwestern Northamptonshire not too far from its borders with neighbouring Oxfordshire & Warwickshire. Canons Ashby is located about 8 miles west of the market town of Towcester. Canons Ashby sits in a very rural area, several miles from any significant main road, about 4 miles east of the A361 road which connects Daventry with the Oxfordshire market town of Banbury. There is rather little to Canons Ashby, just a collection of farms and cottages on a bend in a lane The hamlet is dominated by the former site of the Augustinian priory which is now in the hands of the National Trust. The area, at the time of this transcript, would have made its income from a mixed farming regime, arable on the drier parts but pastures in the valley bottoms. Canons Ashby is drained westwards by a small tributary of the River Cherwell, which it joins just east of Chipping Warden, this makes its way southwards to join the Thames and thence the North Sea through the Thames Estuary. Canons Ashby is sited at around 160 metres above sea level and sits some 30 metres above its stream, local heights rise a further 20 metres in gently rolling countryside. Canons Ashby parish included the chapelry of Adstone and was quite large for the area, it covered just over 3,000 acres and would have jointly supported a population of around 250 parishioners. In Domesday times Canons Ashby was held by one Hugh of Flanders and was a small place indeed offering just 4 ploughs and a small meadow.

The Church

St Mary's church sits flush to Canons Ashby's main lane sitting less than 10 feet from the traffic and separated by just a fence of thin poles. The church was much bigger when it was part of the Augustinian priory, just 2 bays of the nave and the northern aisle remain from what must have been an extensive building prior to the dissolution. The priory was founded around 1150 and the church is confidently dated by Pevsner to 80-90 years later, the large northwestern tower he states was added a further century later. The remnant nave is just a small portion of the former nave, claimed at 96 feet long with aisle-less chancel beyond this must have been an impressive sight indeed. There is parking for a few cars to the left of the tower and access to the site is at the southern end but it is not required to obtain adequate photographs to enter the churchyard.