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

The Parish

The parish of Ditcheat lies in eastern Somerset about 5 miles south of the market town of Shepton Mallet. Ditcheat is a substantial village which sits, in lanes, midway between the A37 (Shepton Mallet to Ilchester, the ancient Roman Fosse Way) and the A371 (Shepton Mallet to Castle Cary) being roughly a mile east of the former and a mile west of the latter. Most properties in Ditcheat are built around an "L" shape of lanes, enclosing the large churchyard of St Mary Magdalene, and sitting at the foot of Ditcheat Hill. The local economy would have been based upon pastoral farming at the time of this transcript and whilst modern machinery has increased the percentage of arable, it is still the dominant landuse. The River Alham drains the parish southwestwards the short distance to the Brue, the latter heads westwards across the Somerset Levels to reach the Bristol Channel through Highbridge. Ditcheat is sited at around 60 metres above the sea and sits on the edge of the lower ground formed by the River Brue's valley, local heights rise to 143 metres on Ditcheat Hill, to the north, whilst Creech Hill a few miles east reached almost 200 metres. Ditcheat parish was one of the larger in its area, covering 4,400 acres it would have supported a substantial population of just over 1,200 parishioners. In Domesday times Ditcheat was a holding of nearby Glastonbury Abbey and was a well-developed village and highly profitable even then, an impressive 29 plough, extensive meadows, pastures and woodlands plus 4 mills made for a precious holding for the monks.

The Church

St Mary Magdalene's church sits at the heart of Ditcheat, its extensive churchyard forming a broad open space to the east of most of the village yet enclosed by lanes. The church was largely built during the late 13th century on a classic early church cruciform layout with a central crossing tower and transepts in addition to the nave and chancel and the whole forming the cross-shape if seen from above. The period of construction crosses the style change from Early English Gothic to Decorated, lancet windows in the tower are complemented by the more styled windows of the main body with their trefoils. The church was, however, extensively modified during the late 15th century and Perpendicular elements from the rebuild can be found in the top stages of the tower, aisles & clerestory and the southern transept. Pevsner does not mention a Victorian restoration so any which took place must have been light and sympathetic. The lane running past the church, Wraxall Road, is sufficiently wide enough to permit careful parking and a series of diagonal pathways, ignoring the unused lychgate, crisscross the ample churchyard which has no obstacles to photography whatsoever.