England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Norton St Andrew

The Parish

The parish of Norton lies in the extreme east of Radnorshire forming a stretch of the border with neighbouring Herefordshire and thus also with England. Norton is located roughly 3 miles north of the small market town of Presteigne and sits on the B4355 road which links Presteigne with Knighton. Norton is a rather linear village, it sits within a deeply cut valley which constrains its growth to both east & west, with properties lining the B4355 for over a half mile, those in the south being more modern in age. The area is hilly rather than mountainous and pastoral farming, cattle in the main, dominates the local economy. Despite being in western Britain Norton also grows a few hardy crops including some cereals. Immediately west of Norton run Offa's famous dyke, designed to keep out the Welsh but nowadays followed by the Offa's Dyke National Trail, a roller-coaster path along the border which attracts some overnight stays. The Norton Brook has carbed its valley in which the village sits and it drains the parish southwards to the Lugg at Presteigne, the latter heads east and then south to meet the Wye east of Hereford and thence to the outer Bristol Channel through the port of Chepstow. Norton is already a hill village at 200 metres above the sea, outside the valley land climbs to double that height on Hawthorn Hill at 408 metres wherein runs the Off'a Dyke Trail. Norton parish, at 2,200 acres, was toward the smaller end of the scale of Radnorshire parishes, within that acreage it would have supported a population of close to 300 parishioners. As a border settlement Norton does manage an entry into Domesday Book unlike most of Wales, however it is described merely as "waste" but with ambitions for as much as 12 ploughlands all held by one Hugh the Ass, a fool or stubborn is not recorded.

The Church

St Andrew's church sits on the eastern side of the B4355 as it passes through the core of the village. Given the extensive restoration that was dealt in the 1860s it is difficult to determine the medieval from the merely copied styles of that restoration. A single old window on the southern side of the nave is attributed by Pevsner to be original 13th century Early English Gothic in the style of its tracery, a style thus copied in the east window and both northern & southern windows of the transepts. Of more definite dating is the church's stand-out feature, the two-stage timber bell-turret complete with shingled spire that adorns the western end of the church. This piece dates from the unusual period for church-building, the 17th century. Also from this 17th century period is the southern doorway. The 2-year phase of restoration from 1867-1868 saw many changes to the church almost amounting to a rebuild in parts. This work not only impacted the exterior it also inserted a "chunky" timber arch between nave and chancel, exterior wise it also added the transepts and a southern porch as well as refacing almost the entire core of nave & chancel. The B4355 is fairly busy so parking is better sought in the quieter Mynd Road opposite, a neat lychgate grants entry to a churchyard which has no obstacles to worry the photographer.