England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Heyope St David

The Parish

The parish of Heyope (often rendered without the tailing "e" as Heyop) lies in the extreme east of Radnorshire, it forms a rather short stretch of the border with neighbouring Shropshire, and thus of that between Wales & England. Heyope is located roughly 3 miles northwest of the border market town of Knighton and sits about a mile west of the B4355 road which links Knighton through to the A483 south of Newtown in Montgomeryshire. The settlement labeled as Heyope on modern Ordnance Survey maps is a tiny place, just a collection of farms and cottages and the parish church, most of today's population are scattered across the parish in loose aggregations of farms. Heyope sits within a marked valley of the small Heyope Brook, a feeder of the nearby River Teme, which here forms the border with England. Much of Heyope parish was set to pasture with almost 80% of the acreage either set to cattle or to unenclosed rough grazing for sheep, the slopes, better drained, being used for such crops as cereals notably oats. Modern developments have, perhaps surprisingly, come to Heyope, the railway line from Knighton to Llandrindod Wells passing through without granting a station. The combination of brook & Teme drains the parish eastwards, the latter passing through Ludlow before meeting the Severn just south of Worcester and eventually the Bristol Channel through the Severn estuary. Heyope is sited at around 210 metres above the sea at the church, land, however, rises steeply either side of the confines of the valley to reach almost 400 metres on nearby Wernygeufron Hill, rising still further westwards to 487 metres at the course of Glyndwr's Way Trail. For an upland parish Heyope was rather small, covering just under 1,200 acres it would only have supported a population of around 200 parishioners. Like most of Wales Heyope is not mentioned in Domesday Book which has few entries within the Principality and finishes locally at nearby Knighton.

The Church

St David's church sits on the northern side of the narrow lane that passes through the notional centre of Heyope. Sadly today's church is not the venue for these marriages, its 15th century medieval church having been replaced by today's church built between 1880 & 1882. Today's church is built upon the same foundations but retains some fabric from the tower of the original church, it is, however, believed to be true to the architectural style of its predecessor, a Perpendicular style church. A simple single-chambered church, as befits the small congregation, with nave and chancel in one. The church's major affectation is the shingled broach spire which was added during the 20th century. The lane which passes is rather narrow and has no suitable verge so parking must be careful and considerate. The churchyard is surrounded by a local stone wall with steps rising to a set of metal gates for entry. Whilst matture trees line the roadside, once beyond there are no obstacles to concern the photographer.