England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Acton Scott St Margaret

The Parish

The parish of Acton Scott lies in the southwestern portion of central Shropshire roughly 3 miles south of the market town of Church Streeton. Acton Scott is sited a half mile east of the A49 road which links Church Stretton with Ludlow. Whilst the is a small presence on the A40 at the hamlet of Marshbrook with an inn and a few houses most of Acton Scott lies south of a crossroads a half east to the east and runs for a quarter miles from that crossroads to the church and hall at its southern end. Despite the western position and altitude much of the parish was cultivated with hardy cereals and root crops favoured, a few also were employed quarrying the local stone mainly for road repair. Modern developments have come to the parish with the railway line from Shrewsbury to Ludlow passing through parallel to the A49 without granting a station. A small beck drains southeast to meet the Byne Brook where it turns southwest to join the River Onny to the north of Craven Arms, the Onny joins, in turn, the Teme and finally the Severn on its long journey to the Bristol Channel. Acton Scott is sited at around 200 metres above the sea but is overlooked by Long Mynd to its west which rises to 450 metres just south of its gliding club. At 1,600 acres Acton Scott parish was typically sized for a southern arable parish, within that acreage it would have supported a population of around 200 parishioners. In Domesday times Acton Scott was a tiny place held by Earl Roger of Shrewsbury it could merely muster 3 ploughs as its sole assets.

The Church

St Margaret's church sits on the western side of the main lane through the village, Henley Lane, adjacent to the hall. Whilst the church has fabric indicating an early origin it is one much changed over the centuries and majorly so during Georgian & Victorian times. A single surviving window on the northern face of the nave is believed to be 12th century and Norman Romanesque in style. The core fabric of nave, chancel & western tower is undoubtedly medieval but Pevsner declines to give a positive date such are the changes wrought in the 19th century, Hostoric England are more forthcoming giving the nave a 12th century origin and 14th century for the tower. From earlier periods we not the southern porch of 1722 whilst the roof of the chancel is mid-17th century but as Pevsner states "all other features are of the 19th century". Georgian work of 1820 saw the northern aisle added, initially as a family chapel for the local Stackhouse family resident at the hall. Further extensive work including the almost complete rebuilding of the chancel followed in Victorian and later times to complete today's church. A small driveway connects the churchyard with the lane,a facility holding a car or two safely off-road. Once through the wooden gates the churchyard is open and uncluttered with no major obstacles for the photographer.