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

The Parish

The parish of Horton sits in southeastern Northumberland forming a short stretch of the county's eastern, North Sea, coastline. Horton is located roughly 7 miles southeast of the market town of Morpeth. Today's Horton does not even warrant a name on modern Ordnance Survey maps as the original settlement that gave its name to the parish has almost disappeared, rather the main settlement in the parish is the port of Blyth together with its suburbs of Bebside & Cowpen. The site of the parish church is on the short stretch of the B1505 road, a mere connection between the A19, the main coast road in eastern Northumberland, and the A193 linking Blyth with Bedlington. Whilst Horton, itself, was once a small village of approximately 200 folk it has since ceased to be a notable settlement. The paris economy was split between that of the coastal settlement of Blyth which was devoted to fishing whilst the inland area was largely arable with wheat & oats supplemented by beans and turnip being the main crops. Later development of coal mining has transformed this semi-rural area with towns such as Cramlington springing up with largely Victorian development to exploit said coal. Modern developments criss-cross the area, branch railway lines supporting the mining operations, now largely disused, whilst the A19, itself, has been upgraded to a fast dual-carriageway connecting eastern Northumberland through the Tyne Tunnel to the south, avoiding the traffic of Newcastle upon Tyne. The River Blyth, which forms the northern boundary of the parish heads east the short distance to reach the North Sea as it and its side tributaries drain the parish. Horton is sited at around 40 metres above the sea at the church site whilst land s largely only gently undulating to local high spots of little more than 50 metres. Parishes in Northumberland are often extensive and Horton was no exception, covering a little over 5,200 acres it supported a population of around 2,800 parishioners in the early 19th century. Like most of Northumberland Horton is not mentioned in Domesday Book which has little coverage north of the Tees and none north of the Tyne.

The Church

St Mary's church sits on the eastern side of the B1505 (Horton Road) in splendid isolation amidst fields with only a pair of nearby farms for company.  The church is also one which, sadly, had little architectural interest ofr Pevsner being largely built during the last 10 years of this transcription period. There had been a medieval predecessor and a northern transept which had been attached to that medieval church in either the late 18th or early 19th century was retained when today's church was built in 1827. Pevsner rather disparagingly describes today's church as a "preaching box" and his description is a terse 5 lines of text. The Gothic details were a late addition to the church having been added in 1903. The tantalising note of a 12th century tympanum inside the porch is perhaps a taste of what was lost when the medieval church was demolished. The Horton Road is straight and not too wide making parking something of an issue as traffic travels at speed passing the church, whilst the footpath which links through from the quieter Hathery Lane appears to be one for the determined hiker only. The local stone wall of massive blocks is breached by a gateway with a roughly surfaced path leading to the church, sadly the church is rather hemmed in from the south making it a slightly tricky subject on a sunny day.