England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Harlaston St Matthew

The Parish

The chapelry of Harlaston, its mother parish being Clifton Campville, lies in the extreme southeast of Staffordshire forming a short stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Derbyshire. Harlaston is located roughly 5 miles north of the market town of Tamworth and stands just over a mile east of the A513 road which links Tamworth with Rugeley. Harlaston is a small village sitting on the southern banks of the River Mease with Main Road its major lane curving through the settlement from south to northeast. Like many Staffordshire villages Harlaston would have been mainly pastoral in its farming regime with the floodplain of the Mease supplying rich waterside pastures. Modern developments have arrived at the chapelry, the rail line from Tamworth to Burton upon Trent carving its way through the western acres. Harlaston is drained westwards by the Mease which soon joins the Teme less than a mile from where that river meets the Trent for the long journey to the North Sea arriving through the Humber Estuary. Harlaston is sited at around 70 metres above the sea in gentle terrain where heights rarely reach much above 85 metres. Around 1,400 acres of Clifton Campville parish was assigned to Harlaston supporting a population of close to 200 parishioners, it is apparent from the few marriages listed that most probably took place at the mother church. In Domesday times Harlaston was an equally small rural settlement held by King William offering just 4 ploughs but it did hold a mill.

The Church

St Matthew's church sits on the western side of Main Road at its highest point and where it bends to the northeast from its previously northward course. Much of St Matthew dates from almost a complete rebuild in 1883 with only a few traces of the earlier church remaining. Lancet styled windows on both northern and southern faces of the blocky western tower give away its 13th century credentials, a product of the Early English Gothic period. The striking bell-frame which sits above has supporting timbers which have been dated using dendrochronology to the period 1480 -1485, the Perpendicular period, but they appear to have been re-used. A similar situation appears also to apply to the nave roof where timbers dated between 1415 & 1438 are present but also believed to be reused. The remaining main body of the church dates from the 1883 rebuild, the nave, in brick, the chancel and vestry together with the timber southern porch all hail from that work. A triangular parking area sits outside to entrance to the churchyard but the better viewes are from outside this compact unit.