England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Marsh Baldon St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Marsh Baldon is located in southern Oxfordshire quite close to its border with neighbouring Berkshire. Marsh Baldon is located about 6 miles southeast of the city of Oxford, it sits on a narrow lane to the east of the A4074 road which connects Oxford with the Berkshire town of Reading. Marsh Baldon is a rather strung out kind of place although the is a distinct grouping of properties around a junction & village green about 400 yards north of the church. The area today is largely used for arable agriculture, formerly there would have been a more mixed farming regime. Marsh Baldon sits on a low ridge of land just above the valley of the River Thames, the drainage from the parish is headed for that river but strangely eastwards to join the River Thame first then south to its junction with the Thames at Dorchester. The village is sited at about 80 metres above the sea on a rather flat plain. The parish was rather small, even for a southern parish, and covered a mere 800 acres; it would, however, have supported around 350 parishioners. In Domesday times Marsh Baldon was held jointly by one Miles Crispin & the Bishop of Lincoln, the parish boasted a healthy 13 ploughs.

The Church

St Peter's church is located on the southern edge of Marsh Baldon and on the southern side of its main lane (Baldon Lane) St Peter's is a church from the principal church building era of the 14th & 15th centuries. Pevsner places the western tower as the earliest portion in early 14th, then dates the nave & chancel to the boundary between the two centuries. In common with many churches there was an extensive restoration, in the 18th century a north aisle was added and then rebuilt in the late 19th century. St Peter's church sits back from the lane on a bend, a tree-shaded pathway, accessed through wooden gates, leads to the churchyard. There are some mature trees which restrict views from some angles but there sufficient to obtain acceptable photographs.