England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Enmore St Michael

The Parish

The parish of Enmore lies in western central Somerset about 4 miles west of the port of Bridgwater. Enmore is located in a broad area devoid of major roads, the closest such road being almost 3 miles north of Enmore, the A39 connecting Bridgwater with Minehead. Enmore is a small village largely built around an oval of lanes which head northwards from a broader lane heading from Bridgwater towards the southern Quantock Hills. The small village is dominated by Enmore Castle, the Grade 2 listed mansion of the 2nd Earl of Egmont built in the 1750s which sits to the northwest and beyond the church. Early gazetteers list a mixture of land-uses with pastoral farming the largest of those uses, the parish also had arable and some managed woodland. The Enmore Brook drains the parish eastwards joining the Durleigh Brrok to form the Durleigh Reservoir, passing through Bridgwater the Parrett is joined leading to the Outer Bristol Channel. Enmore is located at around 80 metres above the sea but sits in the foothills of the nearby Quantock Hills, the strongly undulating landscape rises to almost 300 metres in a couple of miles at nearby Broomfield Hill. In a county of small parishes Enmore was no exception, covering a little over 1,100 acres it would have supported a population of around 300 parishioners. In Domesday times Enmore was equally small, a holding of Roger de Courseulles it could muster just 4 ploughs together with the usual meadows and woodland.

The Church

St Michael's church sits towards the northwestern corner of Enmore's oval of lanes with the castellated mansion of Enmore Castle beyond. Whilst the church undoubtedly has early origins, a trace remains in the late 12th century south doorway, much was rebuilt in Victorian times. Remaining from the medieval is the late 15th century western tower with its broad, diagonal buttresses topped by tall pinnacles, a feature matched on the polygonal southeastern stair turret too. Pevsner speculates that the chancel may have been earlier either 13th or 14th century but these styles were mimicked in the Victorian rebuild. The chancel arch of late 15th or early 16th century is retained from an earlier restoration. The main body of the church, however, dates from that rebuild by the Victorians, in this case of 1873 when much of the main body was rebuilt and a northern aisle added. The lane passing the church is narrow but sufficiently wide by the eastern gates to permit careful parking. A rail-topped local stone wall fronts the churchyard with metal gates forming the main entrance, whilst there are some trees within the churchyard they can be avoided and do not constitute a hazard for the photographer.