England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Wrockwardine St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Wrockwardine sits in central eastern Shropshire about 5 miles west of the New Town of Telford and at the foot of the notable summit of The Wrekin. Wrockwardine is a compact village sitting about a mile north of the busy A5 (London to Holyhead) road which nowadays is converted to the modern M54 motorway for much of its length. Wrockwardine was sufficiently large, at the time of this transcript, to merit some industry in addition to the mixed farming that would have dominated the local landscape. Glass manufacture was something of a local speciality and corn milling took advantage of the power of the nearby River Tern. The Tern drains the parish westwards, soon joining the nearby Severn and heading back east and then south to reach the Irish Sea through the Severn Estuary. Wrockwardine is sited at around 110 metres above the sea and sits on a shelf at that height between the heights of The Wrekin (summit 407 metres) and the valley of the Tern (some 60 metres lower and a mile to the north). Shropshire parishes vary markedly in size and Wrockwardine parish was rather large for this part of the county, it covered over 4,600 acres and would have supported a population of over 2,700 parishioners. In Domesday time Wrockwardine was equally prosperous, it was held by Earl Roger of Shrewsbury and could offer 17 ploughs, extensive woodland and the mill was already present.

The Church

St Peter's church sits at the heart of Wrockwardine on the northern side of the main crossroads of the village. The building shows the cruciform layout of an early church and Pevsner is quick to point out features of the 12th century Norman style. Indeed much of the church is of this date, nave & chancel as well as the transepts and the base of the crossing tower are confidently given a 12th century date. The crossing is described by Pevsner as a "most impressive piece of Late Norman character" and describes the piers as "daringly wide apart", sadly that daring has led to some problems over the centuries too. Of course few churches are all of an age, the upper part of the tower as well as many of the windows of the chancel are in the Decorated style from an early 14th century upgrade and the southern chapel and transept gable windows are Perpendicular. Repeated Victorian restorations of the 1850s and 1880s resulted in today's splendid building. The church sits at its junction in a slightly elevated position relative to the road and buttressed by a chest-height local stone wall. The triangular churchyard has a few trees and the best views of the church are from outside.