England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Great Hanwood St Thomas

The Parish

The parish of Great Hanwood, simply Hanwood on modern maps, lies in western Shropshire roughly 5 miles southwest of the county town of Shrewsbury. Great Hanwood sits on the A488 road which links Shrewsbury with Bishops Castle and consists of a linear strip of properties lining that road with a smaller settlement of Hanwood Bank separate and lying a quarter of a mile closer to Shrewsbury. Despite its western location the majority of Great Hanwood's small acreage was used for arable production with around 25% also in pasture. In addition to the farming some employment was provided by both a cotton factory and a flour-mill. Modern developments have come to the parish, the railway line linking Shrewsbury through to Welshpool passing through without granting Great Hanwood a station, a further branch line forking within the parish headed deep into mid-Wales to Llanymynech and Llanfyllin but has now closed and been dismantled. Great Hanwood is drained eastwards by the Rea brook which meets the River Severn within Shrewsbury, the latter, of course, then has a lengthy journey east and then south to eventually reach the Bristol Channel. Great Hanwood, in its valley setting, is sited at around 70 metres above the sea, either side, in rolling countryside, local heights rise steeply to just over 120 metres. Great Hanwood parish was probably the smallest rural parish, in acreage, of the parishes in its county, covering merely 420 acres yet supported a population of around 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Great Hanwood was a very modest holding held by the son of one Corbet, Roger, and merely offered 3 ploughs as assets.

The Church

St Thomas' church sits on the southern side of the A488 roughly midway through the village. As can readily be seen the church is relatively modern and was built in 1701 to replace a medieval chapel that once stood here. Within the fabric is a stone plinth which Pevsner relates to that previous medieval chapel. The church consists of a nave and chancel in red brick with the latter having a polygonal apse at the eastern end. Despite the relatively recent construction date the church was extensively re-worked by the Victorian restorers in a restoration of 1856. This extensive work not only lengthened the nave westwards, rebuilt the southern wall and also added a porch to the south, a vestry to the north and topped-off the western end with its tiled, timber bellcote. Whilst the A488 is a busy road it is safe enough to park at the roadside outside the church, the churchyard, accessed through metal gates, is, however, something of a challenge to the photographer being heavily wooded with only limited views of the church being available.