England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Epwell St Anne

The Parish

The chapelry of Epwell, its mother parish being Swalcliffe, lies in the extreme northwest of Oxfordshire forming a stretch of the border with neighbouring Warwickshire. Epwell is a small and compact village lying roughly 7 miles west of the market town of Banbury and sits a mile north of the B4035 road which links Banbury with Shipston on Stour. Epwell is within Oxfordshire's share of the Cotswold range and the honey-coloured limestone, which is such a feature of this area, gives the village a picturesque appearance. Traditionally the area was a sheep rearing district, the resulting wool growing towns like nearby Banbury to their relative prosperity, nowadays sheep are in decline and with modern machinery and fertilisers arable is growing as the main farming sector. Epwell is drained eastwards by the infant Sor Brook which joins the Cherwell to head south whence the Thames is met and the North Sea through the capital. Epwell is sited at around 170 metres above the sea, quite high for "lowland" England, land rises northwards to its eponymous Hill reaching 226 metres. The chapelry carved almost 1,200 acres from the extensive parish of Swalcliffe and within that acreage there would have been roughly 300 parishioners. Epwell is not specifically mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Anne's church sits at the heart of the village enclosed within the double-bend formed from Church Street & Back Lane. The church is notable simply for the position of its tower, placed at the southwest rather than the normal western position and clearly later than the main body, a puzzle for Pevsner too as it shows mixed styles. The main body of nave, chancel and southern aisle owes its origin to the 13th century and the early English Gothic style, a few windows were replaced with Decorated styling in the following century but essentially all was left unchanged until the Victorian era. The tower, however, is largely Perpendicular in style except for the presence of Early English Gothic lancets of the bell openings, this leads Pevsner to speculate that an original tower was rebuilt in the new position during the late 14th century and reused some of the original tower. The usual Victorian restoration left little changes, quite a rarity, so we see a largely intact 13th century church. Back Lane, at the eastern end has sufficient room for a carefully parked car and also has the main entrance to an open and uncluttered churchyard with no obstacles for the photographer.