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

The Parish

The parish of Rudbaxton lies in central Pembrokeshire roughly 3 miles north of the county town of Haverfordwest. Rudbaxton sits a quarter of a mile east of the A40 road which links Haverfordwest with Fishguard. Rudbaxton is a distributed settlement with no real village, there is a cluster of farms and cottages close to the parish church whilst a slightly larger settlement is found near Poyston, most of the parish is farmland dotted with scattered farms and cottages. The parish holds much pastureland with early gazetteers estimating 50% as set to pasture with the balance split between managed woodland, gathered along the two valleys of Rudbaxton & Poyston Waters, and arable where hardy cereals would have been the main crop. Modern developments just penetrate the eastern edges of the parish, the railway line linking Carmarthen with Haverfordwest passing through without granting a station. The twin streams of Rudbaxton and Poyston Waters drain the parish westwards into the nearby Western Cleddau which takes water south through Haverfordwest before opening out into the extensive ria of Milford Haven and turns westward to reach the Irish Sea. Rudbaxton is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in gently undulating terrain, west of the Western Cleddau land rises onto more defined hills reaching 178 metres on Dudwell Mountain. Rudbaxton parish was towards the larger end of the scale for Pembrokeshire parishes, covering 4,000 acres it would have supported a population of close to 650 parishioners. Like most of Wales Rudbaxton is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Michael's church stands south of the lane which leads to Rudbaxton from the A40, it stands in a hollow behind a copse and is largely hidden from the lane. The presence of a 12th century font indicates the church probably dates back to that century but the exact dating of the medieval core of nave and chancel is uncertain, Pevsner merely states "medieval", other sources place it to the Perpendicular period of the late 14th or early 15th centuries. Of more certain 15th century dating is the vaulted southern porch which is late 15th century. The 16th century saw the addition of the southern aisle which is large, almost mirroring the scale of the main core. The western tower, now lime-rendered, is a tapering affair of confusing dating too, a pair of lancet styled windows on the western face would indicate a 13th century origin but no source claims any date earlier than the 15th century. Two phases of Victorian restoration are noted, that of 1845 rebuilt the chancel arch and replaced much of the roofs, the second of 1892 replaced the roofs of 1845. Internally the church is noted for the monuments to the local Howard family some of which contain effigies almost life-size. The southern verge of the lane passing the site is worn by repeated local parking allowing on-street parking, a track dog-legs through the copse to reach the churchyard which has no obstacles for the photographer.