England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Burwarton St Lawrence

The Parish

The parish of Burwarton lies in southeastern Shropshire roughly 9 miles southwest of the town of Bridgnorth. Burwarton is a rather small village which sits on the B4364 road which links Bridgnorth through to Ludlow. Burwarton has only a few properties on the B4364 with most of the small village, little more than a hamlet, tucked away along a dead-end lane, the village is the former estate village of the Viscounts Boyne, whose name lives on in that of the inn which sits prominently on the B4364. Burwarton has a rather dramatic scenic position sitting, as it does, at the eastern foot of Brown Clee Hill, a notable hill of this area which dominates the local landscape. Within Burwarton parish the economy would, at the time of this transcript, have been subject to the whims of the estate and would have largely been pastoral husbandry or woodland management. Burwarton is drained eastwards by the Wallemoore Brook which soon joins the River Rea, the Rea joins, in turn, the Teme and finally the Severn on a long journey to the Bristol Channel. Burwarton is sited at around 240 metres above the sea, but this relative height is well over-topped by nearby Brown Clee Hill which rises to an impressive 540 metres a couple of miles to the northwest. Burwarton parish was small even for the Marches, covering barely 1,200 acres it would have supported a population of around 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Burwarton was an equally obscure rural settlement, held by Ralph de Mortimer it had potential for just 3 ploughs but only 1 was recorded.

The Church

St Lawrence' church was replaced in 1876 by a newer version which sits opposite the Gate Lodge of the estate, the original medieval church, within the village proper, being unroofed and left to deteriorate is out-of-bounds for access and must be admired from afar. Pevsner was not permitted to visit and could merely list the state of the church, which was "overgrown with ivy, brambles and briars" at that time. What remains shows traces of the 12th century Norman Romanesque both in the chancel arch and from records it also sat in the windows of the eastern gables. The replacement church has also been declared redundant for worship and is now a private house leaving Burwarton without a working church. Whilst old St Lawrence is closed for access it can be viewed from public footpaths crossing to the southern end of the village from the B4364.