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

The Parish

The parish of Holcombe lies in eastern Somerset roughly 6 miles northeast of the market town of Shepton Mallet. Holcombe is a substantial village lying just over a mile east of the A367 road, which follows the ancient Roman route of Fosse Way, which links Shepton Mallet with Radstock. Holcombe is rather linear in its layout with most properties lining a north to south running lane or its side branches, the village being almost a mile in length from end to end. Despite being close to the small Somerset coalfield Holcombe would have been a largely farming community as the coal was not apparently workable in this area. A mixed farming regime would have been in place but dominated by pastoral farming of, mainly, cattle. Holcombe is drained eastwards by the infant Mells River which joins and becomes the Frome to the north of the town of the same name where matters turn north until the Avon is met, here direction is reversed to flow back westward reaching the Bristol Channel through the iconic Avon Gorge. Holcombe occupies a distinctly sloping site, the southern end being at 140 metres whilst the northern is just above 190 metres, beyond the valley of the Mells River land continues to rise reaching 288 metres on Beacon Hill on the Mendip range.Holcombe parish was a relatively small one covering only a little under 800 acres within which a population of around 450 parishioners would have been supported. In Domesday times Holcombe parish was represented by the small manor of Pitcote, about a mile southwest of the present village, here it was equally shared by Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances and one Payne's son Edmund with assets of 8 ploughs, extensive meadows, pastures and woodland and no fewer then 3 mills.

The Church

St Andrew's church, old St Andrew to give it its formal name now that a replacement church of the same dedication has been built within the village, sits well over a mile north of the centre of Holcombe village, indeed it is closer to Stratton on the Fosse than to its own village. The church has been deconsecrated following the creation of the new church but is preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust. Its showpiece is its Norman doorway reset into the southern porch, a florid piece showing spiral-fluted columns scalloped capitals and billet moulding, an excellent 12th century creation. The remainder of the church is largely of the 14th or early 15th century and Perpendicular in style but the whole shows signs of substantial rebuilding in the 16th or 17th century. In its rural setting, the church being accessed along a narrow and winding dead-end lane, it is a picturesque sight so much so that it was recently selected as a location for scenes in the BBC Poldark series, standing in for Cornwall. The rough and ready lane leaves Burrows Lane at a small white signpost pointing to the church, it passes a farm and winds downhill to the churchyard sitting on the edge of a small wood, thankfully it ends in a small car park, the churchyard is open and uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.