Tinstaafl Logo

England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Bedstone St Mary

 

The Parish

The parish of Bedstone lies in southwestern Shropshire very close to both the border with neighbouring Herefordshire and also not too far from the border with Wales, here formed by Radnorshire. Bedstone is located roughly 4 miles northeast of the Radnorshire market town of Knighton and sits on the B4367 which links Craven Arms with the Teme valley. Bedstone is a fairly small village with most properties along a lane which climbs westwards from the B4367 towards the church. Whilst Bedstone has a valley edge setting the hinterland of the parish is very much border hill country with tall hills rising to the west. The main economic activity would have been farming and it would have been almost totally pastoral with cattle on the lower ground and sheep on the higher hills. Modern developments did come to Bedstone with the rail line crossing mid-Wales from Craven Arms to Llanelli passing through the parish but no station exists for Bedstone. Bedstone sits between two streams both feeding into the nearby River Clun, the latter soon meets the Teme at Leintwardine. The Teme eventually reaches the Severn at Worcester and thence to the Bristol Channel. Bedstone is sited at around 160 metres above the sea but land rises sharply westwards, Bedstone's eponymous hill topping 365 metres and further west Stow Hill at 424 metres. By upland Shropshire standards Bedstone parish was tiny, covering only a little over 900 acres it would have supported a population of just under 150 parishioners. In Domesday times the border settlement was mentioned in the Book as a holding of Picot de Sai but described as !waste" with the potential for only 4 ploughs.


The Church

St Mary's church sits towards the northern edge of the village on a rather narrow lane curving back towards the B4367. Whilst the church has its origins in the 12th century little remains from the era thanks to extensive rebuilding during the usual Victorian restoration. The restorers have left us only the 12th century chancel arch together with a single window in both nave and chancel from that Norman Romanesque period. This trivial set of remains is all that is left from the medieval period as the western bellcote with its timber framing has its origins much later and believed to have been initially constructed in the 17th century and topped by its shingles spire during that Victorian campaign. Much else is from the 1870s when the major rebuild of the church occurred albeit re-utilising a Romanesque style in its replacement windows. The lane past the church is very narrow but folk do park there albeit tucked tightly against the banked walls of the churchyard which sits well above road height. At the western end of the site a pair of wooden gates grant access to a churchyard which has few obstructions for the photographer.


The Records

Register No Covering Dates Deposited With Register Style Quality Standard Comments
1
18th July 1756 - 10th October 1810
Shropshire Archives - Reference - XP26/A/3/1
Standard preprinted and self-numbered combined Banns & Marriage register with 4 entries per page
Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of misreads
None
2 5th April 1814 - 16th August 1836 Shropshire Archives - Reference - XP26/A/3/2 Standard Rose style preprinted and prenumbered Marriage register Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of misreads None


Hopton Castle St Mary
Hopton Castle St Mary
Hopton Castle St Mary
Bucknell St Mary
Clungunford St Cuthbert
Bucknell St Mary
Bucknell St Mary
Bucknell St Mary

1760 1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830

Register Reference Date Groom Forename Groom Surname Groom Status Groom Abode Bride Forename Bride Surname Bride Status Bride Abode
1 18/07/1756 William MORRIS Single Mary WILLIAMS Single
12/08/1756 Thomas WEAVER Single Mary BRIDGES Single Clungunford
07/05/1759 George ABLEY Single Clun Margaret ABLEY Single
07/05/1759 William PHILLIPS Single Hopton Castle Ann BERGWIN Single
04/05/1760 John PEIRCE Single Elizabeth LINGNEN Single
22/06/1762 William VAUGHAN Single Berrington Elizabeth MORRIS Single
25/07/1765 Richard HARRIS Leintwardine, Herefordshire Elizabeth EDWARDS Single
02/06/1766 Samuel BAYLEY Leintwardine, Herefordshire Mary GRIFFITHS
11/05/1767 William MORRIS Hopton Castle Elizabeth DAVIS
17/04/1769 John TAYLOR Single Aymestrey, Herefordshire Margaret HARLEY Single
28/09/1769 John GITTINS Single Ann FORD Single
11/06/1771 Richard EDWARDS Single Mary ARTER Single
12/07/1771 Thomas CADWALLADER Single Brampton Bryan, Herefordshire Elizabeth MORRIS Single
12/05/1774 John BOTWOOD Single Sarah PRINCE Single
29/05/1774 Richard MORGAN Single Sarah HAMMONDS Single
18/12/1774 Thomas JAMES Single Knighton, Radnorshire Ann MATTHEWS Single
30/08/1775 John WILLIAMS Single Leintwardine, Herefordshire Joyce TAYLOR Single
13/07/1777 Richard HARLEY Hannah PASSEY
07/05/1779 Richard RICKARDS Single Hopton Castle Mary BODEN Single
12/05/1779 William HOLLAND Single Leintwardine, Herefordshire Ann EDWARDS Single
30/06/1779 Jacob POWEL Widower Clunbury Sarah ANTHONY Single
27/04/1780 John EVANS Elizabeth PRICE
24/06/1781 Edward MORRIS Esther HALL
16/10/1781 Thomas PRICE Ledbury, Herefordshire Mary POWEL
20/03/1782 John GREEN Clungunford Elizabeth SMITH
20/06/1782 Edward BOORE Bucknell Mary HAMAR
26/03/1786 Robert GAYTHER Single Mary ELLIS Single
12/12/1787 William MORRIS Stokesay Mary BROWNE
04/11/1791 Abraham SWAN Stoke St Milborough Eleanor SMITH
04/11/1791 John WHITE Ludlow Hannah PASSEY
12/05/1793 Thomas MASON Anne PRINCE
13/06/1793 Edward HARLEY Hopton Castle Martha ELLIS
28/02/1796 Lazarus WILLIAMS Mary MATHEWS
16/04/1796 John SMITH Catharine DAVIES
21/12/1796 John PITCHFORD Ann EVANS Clungunford
24/02/1800 John GITTINS Elizabeth ANTONY
19/11/1805 Thomas PRECE Mary MORRIS
02/05/1809 William DAVIS Elizabeth PASSEY
21/04/1810 Samuel ANTHONY Jane EDWARDS
10/10/1810 John LOYD Brampton Bryan, Herefordshire Sarah JONES
1 05/04/1814 Jonathan SMITH Single Mary GAYLEY Single
2 13/04/1814 John PITCHFORD Widower Emma PASSEY Single
3 24/08/1817 Richard STALEE Mary HOWELLS
4 20/04/1818 Thomas BRIGHT Single Stowe Sarah STEDMAN Single
5 26/05/1818 Edward BRIGHT Single Clunbury Elizabeth STEDMAN
6 06/07/1819 Richard WEAVER Maria GAYTHER
7 14/08/1819 George OWENS Mary JORDAN
8 17/05/1820 Samuel BALDWIN Single Bitterley Ann STEDMAN Single
9 13/06/1820 John GAYTHER Single Martha BOWEN Single
10 02/12/1820 John JORDAN Single Jane PRICE Single Clun
11 03/07/1823 James POWELL Dilwyn, Herefordshire Ann SMITH
12 09/11/1826 Edward OWEN Leintwardine, Herefordshire Martha JONES
13 02/01/1827 Thomas MORRIS Single Hannah MEYRICK Widow
14 17/05/1828 James EDWARDS Norton, Radnorshire Diana PRICE
15 13/05/1830 William PHILLIPS Kington, Herefordshire Sarah BATHURST
16 05/09/1830 Joseph LANE Mary GITTINS
17 21/12/1830 John GITTINS Single Maria JORDAN Single
18 27/06/1831 James GRIFFITHS Single Bucknell Mary ANTHONY
19 30/09/1832 William Henry GAYTHER Single Sarah PHILLIPS Single
20 30/06/1833 Edward CORBETT Widower Elizabeth PUGH Edgton
21 21/01/1834 Thomas PRICE Single Llanddewi Ystradenny, Radnorshire Maria SMITH Single
22 08/05/1834 George GAYTHER Single Margaret MORRIS
23 19/05/1836 Edward BRAY Single Sarah MORGANS
24 16/08/1836 William DAVIES Single Mary CHALLENGER

Corrections to Tinstaafl Transcripts