England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Dodington All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Dodington lies in western Somerset no too far from the northern coastline with the Outer Bristol Channel that runs along that western arm of the county. Dodington is located roughly 9 miles west of the port & market town of Bridgwater and sits a half mile north of the A39 road which connects Bridgwater with Minehead. Dodington is a tiny place, an estate parish where all land was held by a single landowner and inbound migration restricted such that no village developed. Besides the hall and church there are just a few scattered farms and cottages across the parish. In this area of western England, particularly with the sea close by, pastoral farming dominated the local economy. Copper had been mined here at one time but ceased and the local stone was valued for its pretty inclusions. Dodington is drained northeastwards by small streams which merge together to reach the sea at Stolford. Dodington is sited at around 90 metres above the sea but sits at the base of the Quantock Hills which dominate the southwestern horizon rising to 325 metres at the hill-fort at Dowdsborough. Dodington parish was tiny at less than 600 acres one of the smallest in its county, its size permitted only around 100 parishioners to be supported. In Domesday times Dodington was equally small, a holding of one Doda it could muster just a single plough (but was assessed with potential for 3 more) plus the usual meadows, pastures & woodland, surprisingly it had a mill for such a small settlement of just 11 households.

The Church

All Saints' church sits cheek-by-jowl with Dodington Hall, a 15th century manor house of the Dodington family from whom the parish takes its name. The church makes good use of the local red sandstone, a rough rock that gives a warm glow in evening sunshine. The church is a mixture of late-Perpendicular styling and later modifications. The main core of the church probably dates from the 15th century with the prominent western tower the most notable feature, coming complete with a square stair-turret at its northeastern corner. Both nave and chancel are completed in a rough-cast finish showing the stone rather well. Additions to the church came firstly during the Jacobite period, an unusual era for church building, Pevsner identifies both the southeastern chapel and it arch to the nave as features of this era as is the bell-stage of the western tower. Victorian restoration seems to have been limited to replacing of a few windows and Pevsner neglects to date such an insignificant event. As one passes along the lane passing both church and hall it is easy to miss the church as it is shielded from the roadside by thick and luxurious foliage with only the lychgate as an indication of its presence, a space for a single car outside said lychgate is the only reasonable parking. Once through the guarding trees a compact square churchyard is found, space to get sufficiently far away is limited restricting the angles thus available to the photographer.