England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Stanton Harcourt St Michael

The Parish

The parish of Stanton Harcourt lies in southwestern Oxfordshire forming a lengthy stretch of the county's border, here formed by the River Thames, with neighbouring Berkshire. Stanton Harcourt is located roughly 5 miles west of the city of Oxford and stands immediately east of the B4449 road, a linking road between the A40 (Oxford to Witney) road and the A415 (Abingdon to Witney) roads. Stanton Harcourt is a mid-sized village formed around 3 lanes which forms a "Y" shape, two limbs arriving from the B4449 and a third headed for the Thames-side water-meadows. These water-meadows fringing the course of the Thames provided some variation for the farming economy of the parish, pastoral farming of mainly cattle along the river with typical arable methods on drier land. The village today is surrounded with flooded pits, testimony to the extensive extraction of gravel from the flood-plain of the Thames which have filled following completion and depletion of the gravel, many are now highly valuable for wintering wildfowl. Lying along the Thames the parish is home for a lengthy stretch of the Thames Path National Trail which passes through the parish en route to Oxford. To Stanton Harcourt's west runs the River Windrush, this and the Thames drain the parish eastwards after meeting, the Thames passes through Oxford, Reading and the capital before reaching the North Sea. Stanton Harcourt is sited at around 70 metres above the sea in generally flat terrain where 90 metre heights are a rarity within several miles. Stanton Harcourt parish was a large one for its area covering just over 3,600 acres it would have supported a population of close to 650 parishioners. In Domesday times Stanton Harcourt was a much more important place with a population sufficient to place it in the largest 20% of settlements by that measure, held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux its assets were impressive with 22 ploughs backed by 1 1/2 leagues of woodland, 3 mills and 2 fisheries making for a very wealthy holding indeed.

The Church

St Michael's church sits together with the manor house and parsonage on the southeastern edges of the village accessed from Main Road by a short gravelled dead-end lane. The cruciform layout of the church was one favoured by Norman church designers and on this occasion fabric from the mid-12th century survives later rebuilding to prove an origin of that early date. Both doorways, to north and south, together with windows in the nave are all of the Norman Romanesque style. In the 13th century the church was remodelled with Early English Gothic additions, the central tower was completed, transcripts to both north and south added and the 12th century chancel enlarged albeit retaining its 12th century Norman doorway. The enlarged chancel shows a fine selection of lancets from the 13th century proving the style. The later medieval period of the Perpendicular era saw the bell-stages to the tower added in the 15th century whilst a few windows dotted about also reflect that era. The principal addition of the 15th century was, however, the addition of the chapel for the local Harcourt family, it is 3-bays and standard Perpendicular in style. A modest Victorian restoration of 1843 added the northern porch whilst sensitively restoring the remainder. The short gravelled lane ends at a broadened turning circle with room for a car or two to park outside the metal gates to the churchyard which is relatively free of obstacles for the photographer.