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

The Parish

The parish of Sutton Maddock lies in eastern Shropshire not too far from the border with neighbouring Staffordshire. Sutton Maddock is located about 6 miles north of the market town of Bridgnorth and a similar distance south of the modern new town of Telford. Sutton Maddock is little more than a hamlet which sits on the A442 road which connects Telford with Bridgnorth and which parallels the valley of the nearby River Severn. Sutton Maddock would have been dominated by the activities of Sutton Hall which would have owned most of the land and employed most of the labour in the mainly agricultural use of the land, pastoral farming being the mainstay. The River Severn drains the parish southwards on its long journey to the Irish Sea eventually reaching the latter through the Bristol Channel. Sutton Maddock is sited at around 90 metres above the sea, some 60 metres above the incised course of the Severn, in land gently undulating to local heights of little more than 100 metres. Sutton Maddock parish was fairly typically sized for its area, it would have covered just under 2,700 acres and would have supported a population of around 350 parishioners. In Domesday times Sutton Maddock was equally small, held by one Gerard of Tournai sur Dive it could offer just 10 ploughs.

The Church

St Mary's church sits about a quarter mile to the west of the A442 accessed along a short and narrow lane. The church carries features relating to separate periods, the western tower, in the Perpendicular style, is original and carries a date of 1579; the remained is the result of a Victorian rebuild from the 1880s. The tower is classic late-Perpendicular and features the local red sandstone; the tower carries diagonal buttresses, battlements and pinnacles typical of the period. The nave and chancel mixes Perpendicular style with the earlier Decorated features but is consistent with the piece as a whole. Pevsner's description is short as befits a church of little architectural interest. At the end of the lane one finds church, hall and farms, the church being in a slightly elevated position behind its low brick wall. The churchyard, entered through a nice lychgate at the southern end of the site, is open and has no impediments to photographic angles.