England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Cheddar St Andrew

The Parish

The parish of Cheddar lies in the western part of North Somerset. Cheddar is located about 8 miles northwest of the town of Wells and sits at the foot of the Mendip Hills. Cheddar is a large village, formerly a substantial market town and is, of course, famous not only for its Gorge but also for the brand of cheese developed and marketed with its name. Cheddar sits on the A371 road which connects Wells with the A38, Bristol to the southwest, road about 3 miles to the west of Cheddar. Cheddar is very much a springline settlement, it formed where the limestone start to rise out the Somerset Levels and today largely fills the exit point of the famous Cheddar Gorge. The Gorge, is actually a collapsed cave system and Cheddar, today, is a popular caving, climbing and hiking centre. Cheddar's grant of a market was given in the reign of Henry III but it didn't flourish and despite the livestock in the area that status gradually dwindled away. Cheddar, at the time of this transcript, would largely have earned its living from dairy & sheep farming; cattle on the Somerset levels and sheep on the limestone of the Mendips. However, the stream that issues from Cheddar Gorge also powered mills and Cheddar had a thriving paper-making business too. The parish is drained by the Cheddar Yeo which joins the Axe west of the village and reaches the Bristol Channel just south of Weston Super Mare. Cheddar is sited at just 10 metres above the sea, enough to keep its feet dry above the levels, although local heights rise to 325 metres on Black Down within the Mendip Hills and just 3 miles from the village. Cheddar parish was one of the larger in the area, larger still if one counts the extra-parochial area of Charterhouse on Mendip, it covered almost 7,000 acres and would have supported a population of over 2,300 parishioners. In Domesday times Cheddar was shared by two Normans, Roger of Courselles & Robert of Aubervilles, it was a prosperous place offering 22 ploughs, meadows, pastures & woodland as well as 2 mills and 3 fisheries.

The Church

St Andrew's church sits alongside the A371 road in the southeastern corner of Cheddar. The church's principal feature is its fine western tower, standing at 110 feet tall its not only dominates the village but is taller than any surrounding tower. The church is large as befits the substantial village it supports. The building appears to have been built almost in a single continuous build stretching through the end of the Decorated style's period and into that of the Perpendicular. The build probably spanned the latter stages of the 14th century, Pevsner cites the nave arcades and the chancel's chapel arches as confirmation of these dates, and onwards into the 15th century, the aisles windows being a mixture of Perpendicular and Decorated in style. For once the building did not receive a substantial restoration during Victorian times and looks very much as its builders intended. The building stands, behind a low brick wall, at the junction of the A371 (here Church Street) with Parsons Pen, which has free parking for visitors. A pair of broad wooden gates grants access to the churchyard. The building is somewhat hemmed in by properties to its east but to the south an extensive graveyard permits one to get back far enough for adequate photographs.