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

The Parish

The parish of Gratwich lies in east central Staffordshire about 5 miles west of the market town of Uttoxeter. Gratwich is located about a mile north of the A518 road which connects Uttoxeter through to Stafford. A tiny place Gratwich is little more than a hamlet with no defined village as such, merely a collection of scattered farms and cottages situated on the southern banks of the River Blithe. A small farming community, its riverside setting lending it to a pastoral medium in the main. The Blithe drains the parish southwards joining the Trent near to Kings Bromley before commencing the long journey to the North Sea reached through the Humber Estuary. Gratwich is sited at around 130 metres above the sea in rolling countryside which rises to local heights of just over 170 metres on nearby Fradswell Heath. By Staffordshire standards Gratwich parish was tiny, comparable with some of the smaller parishes in the denser populated areas (in mediaeval times) within the country, covering just 850 acres it would have supported barely 100 parishioners. In Domesday times Gratwich was an equally small holding of the Earl of Stafford, offering just 3 ploughs, small meadows & woodland but there was a mill.

The Church

St Mary's church sits just east of the main lane forming the spine of the parish, a metalled track leading to the church becomes unsurfaced beyond. A simple and small church as befits a small congregation the church has its origins in some dispute. Documentary evidence dates completion to 1775 but there must have been an earlier church it situ prior to that for these events to have occurred. Pevsner hints at motifs within the chancel of a 17th century nature whilst early descriptions mention a wooden tower, quite different from today's bellcote. The present building was, however, of little architectural interest to Pevsner as his description lasts barely 3 lines of text. Church Lane runs the short distance to the church and has a parking bay close to its junction, the church sits within an uncluttered churchyard with no obstructions to photography.