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

The Parish

The parish of Berrow lies on the western coast of northern Somerset roughly 8 miles south of the resort of Weston super Mare. Berrow sits on and mostly north of the B3140 a linking road connecting Burnham on Sea with the A370 road heading south from Weston super Mare. At the time of this transcript Berrow was a discrete village separated from its larger southern neighbour Burnham on Sea by a distinct gap. The heart of the village was around the point where the B3140 meets the coastal sand-dunes before turning south to Burnham on Sea, from that core a tail of coastal development headed northwards towards the isolated church within the dunes. Growth in coastal properties has been such in  modern times that the two are now contiguous, as Pevsner puts it "continuous coastal development". Despite it proximity to the sea Berrow lacked a port so its economy was underpinned by more inland resources, the coastal grazing marshes in particular being the main source of income. Today the dunes are the major attraction for their botanical and wild-life interest as well as being a playground despite the "beach" tending more to mud & silt than fine sand. Modern developments pass by for the parish, the Bristol to Bridgwater railway line cutting a swathe across Berrow's grazing marshes to its east. As a coastal and low-lying settlement much drainage is man-influenced with channels funneling water to either the River Parrett's estuary or even the wider outer Bristol Channel. Berrow is sited below 10 metres but the landscape is dominated by the isolated outcrop of Brent Knoll sitting some 3 miles to the east and reaching 135 metres at its ancient hill-fort. Berrow parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering close to 1,700 acres it would have supported a population of around 550 parishioners. Berrow is not specifically mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Mary's church has an iconic position deep amongst the dunes of the coastal strip and almost a mile north of the main centre of the village. At one time the wind-blown sand threatened to engulf the church, early gazetteers state that "the church is likely to be buried in the sands, which have accumulated to such an extent, that the wall of the churchyard is twenty feet below the surface of the ground", fortunately the church has survived that fate. Outwardly appearing mainly from the Perpendicular era, the church does, in fact, have earlier origins. Both the chancel arch, with its double chamfer, and the chancel's southern doorway, showing continuous roll moulding, are from the 13th century and Early English Gothic in style. It is likely the church was rebuilt during the 14th century as the east window is Decorated in style from the early half whilst much else is Perpendicular and likely to be from the latter half of that century. The two-light bell-openings of the three-stage western tower illustrate the style rather well as does the southern aisle. The nave ceiling dates from the Georgian period whilst there was the usual restoration during Victorian times, in this case two phases in the early 1840s and also in 1885 during which times many windows were renewed or replaced. The church sits just under 100 metres west of the Coast Road accessed by an out-and-back lane which has a substantial car park outside the churchyard allowing an extended visit, the car park is also used to access the track through the dunes to the foreshore so can be busy in summer. The churchyard, itself, no longer threatened by sand, is open and uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.