England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Hammerwich St John the Baptist

The Parish

The parish of Hammerwich lies in south central Staffordshire about 3 miles southwest of the city of Lichfield. Hammerwich is a small village lying in lanes just south of the A5190 road which connects Lichfield with Cannock, the parish lies on the fringes of the former hunting forest of Cannock Chase and stands on a relative high point in the area. Hammerwich would have had a mixed agricultural economy at the time of this transcript, arable and pastoral with some grazing on the "waste" of Cannock Chase. Nowadays the village is hemmed in by large commuter towns sprung up to house the workers of the West Midlands conurbation that is Birmingham and its surrounds. Modern communications pass through the area, the M6 Toll runs through the south of the parish and formerly the Lichfield to Walsall rail line boosted the local economy. The parish is drained to the southeast by small headwaters of the Black Brook, these join with the Tame and thence the Trent to reach the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Hammerwich stands at around 140 metres above the sea, its relative eminence being only slight yet lending extensive views. By Staffordshire standards Hammerwich was a relatively small parish, it covered around 2,000 acres and supported a population of just under 250 parishioners. In Domesday Book Hammerwich is granted an extensive entry but this includes a number of other parishes within it so is not a direct comparison with today's parish. The enlarged Hammerwich was held by the Bishop of Chester, it could boast a mighty 34 ploughs as well as 2 mills and meadows and woodland.

The Church

St John the Baptist church stands in the southeastern corner of the village and is accessed, appropriately enough, by the dead-end lane of Church Lane. This is not a mediaeval church but a Victorian replacement built between 1873 and 1883. Whilst Pevsner is usually reticent in praising churches of this period he does comment that St John is "far better than the average" somewhat grudging praise. The building has the normal nave, chancel & western tower but is augmented by a northern aisle and an apse. Much use of the local sandstone throughout. At the end of Church Lane the building has a larger parking area, the church sits in a slightly elevated position buttressed by a low wall and wooden gates grant access to the churchyard at the western end. Once inside there are mature trees which restrict some angles but with care adequate photographs are possible.