England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Swyncombe St Botolph

The Parish

The parish of Swyncombe lies in that portion of eastern Oxfordshire that dives deeply south into neighbouring Berkshire. Swyncombe os located roughly 7 miles east of the Thames-side market town of Wallingford and sits about a mile west of the B481 road which connects Watlington with Nettlebed in Oxfordshire's share of the Chiltern Hills. There is no defined village as such to Swyncombe most of the parish consisting of a network of independent farms and cottages. The area is diverse in its usage too with arable, pastures, woodland management its main themes. For such an isolated community it will have been visited by many as the Ridgeway National Trail passes the doors of St Botolph as it traverses the chalk hills of the Chilterns. Swyncombe sits within a dry valley, the "combe for pigs" that granted its name, with porous chalk underlying it isn't until underground water reaches the nearby Thames that drainage surfaces, the Thames passes through the capital to the North Sea. Swyncombe is sited at around 160 metres above the sea within its combe but the main Chiltern ridge to its east reaches between 220 & 240 metres above the sea. Swyncombe parish was one of the smaller parishes in its county covering around 830 acres and supporting a surprisingly dense population of close to 400 parishioners.

The Church

St Botolp's church sits just south of the narrow lane that runs east to west between Ewelme and Cookley Green, a roughly surfaced track leads to this tiny church. Pevsner places its origins firmly into the earliest period of stone-built churches, the 12th century Norman Romanesque period even noting traces of herringbone work which might make it pre-Norman that being typical Saxon work. The main body of the church is flint and stone rubble and has been lovingly maintained by this small congregation largely untouched by change the long centuries since its build. The 13th century saw a typical Ear;y English Gothic lancet window inserted into the southeastern corner but it wasn't until the 19th century that any major changes are recorded. The Georgians widened the chancel arch in 1831 and a typical Victorian restoration of 1850 which besides refreshing the building added the twin round-headed windows to the apse. An expanse of roughly surfaced ground sits outside the entrance to the churchyard which whilst compact has few issues for the photographer.