Coppenhall St Lawrence

England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Coppenhall St Lawrence

The Parish

The chapelry of Coppenhall, its mother parish being Penkridge, lies in western Staffordshire roughly 3 miles southwest of the county town of Stafford. Coppenhall sits about one mile west of the A449 road which links Stafford with Wolverhampton. Coppenhall is a small and compact crossroads village with most properties sitting along the northeast to southwest running lane, which runs there from Stafford, and most between the 2 t-junctions that leave it is opposing directions. Coppenhall was and largely remains a farming chapelry, early gazetteers estimate that roughly the acreage splits roughly 3:1 in favour of arable crops with the balance pastures. Modern developments have come to the chapelry, the modern M6 motorway runs east of the village linking London with the northwest of the country. Small streams drain the chapelry eastwards into the River Penk which soon meets, in turn, the Sow and then the mighty Trent for that river's lengthy journey to the North Sea arriving through the Humber Estuary. Coppenhall is sited at around 130 metres above the sea, that height being some of the highest ground for quite a distance. 963 acres were assigned to the chapelry, the chapelry would have supported a population of close to 100 parishioners but most marriages would have been celebrated at Penkridge. Coppenhall does have an entry in Domesday Book where it is listed as a holding of Robert of Stafford offering just 4 ploughs as its only assets.

The Church

Sr Lawrence's church sits on the southern side of Church Lane which leaves the main route as the southern t-junction. This simple church is rightly described by Pevsner as "a perfect early 13th century church of great dignity". The core is, as Pevsner states, early 13th century, both nave and chancel show the characteristic lancet styled windows of the Early English Gothic era. The eastern end is graced with a set of 3 widely spaced lancets with, above them, and inserted round window. As is usual a Victorian restoration made changes, here it fell in 1861 and besides replacing the roofing and re-seating the floor the weatherboarded and shingled bell-turret was added. Church Lane is rather narrow but near it entrance a new development, Coppenhall Mews, has ample on-street parking. Entrance is through a neat lychgate with a tarred path leading diagonally to the church which sits close to the southeastern corner of the churchyard where close hedging removes the favoured angles leaving only those from north and west for the photographer.

The Records

Register No	Covering Dates	Deposited With	Register Style	Quality Standard	Comments
1	7th August 1766 - 13th April 1837	Staffordshire History Centre - Reference - D912/1	Plain, unruled book, a continuation of the extant composite register in contravention of Hardwicke's segregation & wording requirements	Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of misreads	None

Castle Church St Mary	Castle Church St Mary	Castle Church St Mary
Bradley St Mary & All Saints		Castle Church St Mary
Bradley St Mary & All Saints	Penkridge St Michael	Penkridge St Michael

Register Reference	Date	Groom Forename	Groom Surname	Groom Status	Groom Abode	Bride Forename	Bride Surname	Bride Status	Bride Abode
	07/08/1766	John	MARTIN			Elizabeth	PEYLEY
	01/10/1783	Richard	MERRY		Haughton	Elizabeth	RYLEY	Single
	08/09/1831	George	JOYNSON	Single	Tong, Shropshire	Jane	WRIGHT	Single
	13/04/1837	Benjamin	BENNETT	Single	Penkridge	Martha Elizabeth	WRIGHT	Single

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