England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Mixbury All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Mixbury lies in the extreme northeast of Oxfordshire at the meeting of that county with both Northamptonshire & Buckinghamshire, the parish forming a stretch of the border with both neighbours. Mixbury is located roughly 3 miles southeast of the Northamptonshire market town of Brackley, it sits a half mile north of the A421 road which connects Buckingham through to the busy A43. Mixbury has a long and interesting history, ancient tumuli and barrows dot the landscape to its southwest whilst the lumps and bumps of a, believed Norman, castle lie to the northeast. Mixbury, itself, was uprooted and recreated at its present site as a model village after the period of this transcript, its ancient cottages being replaced by semi-detached houses. Modern developments have some and gone for Mixbury, the branch rail line connecting Brackley with Aylesbury once passed just east but has been largely dismantled. Mixbury, like so many rural communities, was a farming parish, arable growing of cereals, beet and oil seed still dominates the local landscape. Mixbury is drained northeastwards by a small tributary of the infant Great Ouse which is soon met for a long journey to the North Sea reaching that through The Wash. Mixbury is sited at 120 metres above the sea but despite that relatively high level it sits, once away from the valley of the Great Ouse, on something of a plateau where land is at that height or similar for some distance. Mixbury parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering about 2,800 acres it would have supported a population of just under 400 parishioners. In Domesday times Mixbury was held by one Roger D'Ivry and could offer just 7 plough and a small pasture, despite this small size the manor also had 2 mills.

The Church

All Saints' church sits at the heart of Mixbury alongside the junction of Evenley Road and Church Lane. All Saints has a long history, too, its earliest parts being 12th century and Norman Romanesque in style. Both chancel and nave come from this period with the southern doorway being tentatively dated by Pevsner to c1170 which pushes the build to the latter stages of that style period. The later additions to that small 12th century origin are the western tower and the northern aisle which show the early 14th century style of the Decorated period. Like many medieval churches internal lighting was poor so in the latter stages of the 14th century and in a Perpendicular style a clerestory was inserted to improve that. A thorough restoration of 1840 saw much rebuilt, albeit reusing the original windows and mouldings. Entrances exist at both southern, on Evenley Road, and eastern, on Church Lane with small parking areas at either, a pathway crosses the churchyard diagonally between the two kissing gates. Once within the churchyard is open and relatively uncluttered with few obstacles to the photographer.