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.