England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Tugford St Catherine

The Parish

The parish of Tugford lies in southern Shropshire about 10 miles north of the large market town of Ludlow. Tugford is located a little over 2 miles east of the B4368 road which connects Craven Arms with Bridgnorth. Tugford is a small and compact village sitting at the foot of the Brown Clee Hills on the edge of nearby Corvedale. Tugford is set around a small crossroads of narrow lanes on the northern banks of a small stream. Like most Shropshire villages the local economy was dominated by pastoral farming, today with the advent of heavy machinery & modern fertilisers a more mixed regime is in place. Tugford's small stream runs steeply down from Brown Clee Hill and feeds westward into the River Corve, the Corve meets the Teme at Ludlow and eventually the Severn just south of Worcester making its way to the sea through the latter's estuary, the Bristol Channel. Tugford is an upland settlement sited at around 160 metres above the sea with land rising steeply eastwards to the summit of Brown Clee Hill at 540 metres just under 3 miles east. Tugford was one of Shropshire's smaller parishes encompassing only just over 1,300 acres in which a population of close to 150 parishioners would have been supported. In Domesday times Tugford was a holding of one Reginald, a sheriff, and offered just 10 ploughs although there was also a mill.

The Church

St Catherine's church sits on the southern edge of the village almost on the banks of the small stream which runs through. This is undoubtedly an early church and Pevsner is quick to point to the Norman Romanesque style of the nave as evidence of an origin in the early 12th century, at least. A document references the church as early as 1138. The southern doorway dates from the very end of the 12th century and is of that temporary Transitional style which gave way to the Early English Gothic. That style is seen very well in the chancel, which is built as one with the nave and designed with the lancet windows of that era, some have been replaced in the later Decorated style, however. For once Pevsner does not mention a Victorian restoration so if one occurred it was light and sensitive. A small lane heads off the main lane through the village apparently heading only for some cottages, it curves around to the church to the left. Parking is best found close to the entrance and the church approached on foot. The churchyard is open & uncluttered, however the church sits uncomfortably close to the southeastern corner removing that aspect from the photographer arsenal.