England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Loveston St Leonard

The Parish

The parish of Loveston lies in southeastern Pembrokeshire roughly 6 miles south of the small town of Narberth. Loveston is sited about a mile east of the A4075 road, a linking road which joins the A40 (Haverfordwest to Carmarthen) road to the A477 (Pembroke to Carmarthen) road. Loveston is a tiny place, as Pevsner deems it a "tiny unspoilt hamlet", a mere group of farms and cottages amidst typical lowland Pembrokeshire rolling farmland. That farmland provided the main income for the parish, a mixed regime offering both arable and pastoral methods being in place. The farming would have been supplemented for a while by the extraction of high-quality anthracite which unfortunately added notoriety to Loveston after its pit disaster killed 7 men in 1936. Nowhere in its county is very far from the sea due to the fretted nature of its coastline and the Cresswell River rises close by and reaches its flooded estuary very quickly draining Loveston in the process, the estuary is part of the complex of such estuaries that make up Milford Haven before reaching the Irish Sea. Loveston is sited at around 70 metres above the sea with land rising gently northwards to reach a local high point of 113 metres on the northern edges of the former Templeton airfield. Loveston parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering just over 1,200 acres it would have supported a population of close to 150 parishioners. Like most of Wales Loveston is mot mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Leonard's church sits on the eastern side of a narrow out-and-back lane that pushes eastwards from the B4586 road taking in most of Loveston's farmsteads too. St Leonard is largely a product of the late-medieval Perpendicular era with most of its basal fabric dating to the late 14th century. The basic nave, chancel & western tower is augmented by short transepts, each of a single bay topped by curiously pointed barrel-vault roofs, and by a small southern porch. Such is the uniformity of the design that Pevsner believes all was constructed in a single phase. The church was also fortunate in avoiding the typical Victorian excessive restoration, the only period of work was the "minor repairs" of 1914. One loss of historical detail did occur, however, that was the removal of the 17th century communion rail and the 19th century box-pews and double-decker pulpit which were removed in the 1970s. The lane passing the church is rather narrow but a worn and slightly muddy western verge seems regularly used for parking. From the metal gates for entry a diagonal pathway leads across to the church, sadly that is gathered tightly into the southeastern corner of the churchyard removing the favoured aspects from the photographer's portfolio as trees cluster tightly in that quarter, the other angles, difficult on a sunny day do, however, remain un-impeded.