England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Yoxall St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Yoxall lies in eastern Staffordshire not too far from its border with neighbouring Derbyshire. Yoxall is a large and compact village situated about 7 miles north of Lichfield. Yoxall sits on the A515 road which connects Lichfield with Ashbourne in Derbyshire. Yoxall lies a mile or so north of that road's crossing of the River Trent. Whilst most of Yoxall's inhabitants would have been engaged in agricultural activities at the time of this transcript, an industry of weaving tape had grown up eventually employing around 150 folk. Pastoral farming in the rich valley pastures of the Trent valley would have predominated. Yoxall sits on the western banks of the River Swarbourn which drains the parish southwards to quickly join the Trent and thence the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Yoxall is sited at around 60 metres above the sea in gently rolling countryside, local heights within a few miles are only some 20 metres higher. Yoxall parish was quite large, as are many Staffordshire parishes, it covered almost 4,800 acres and would have supported a population of about 1,500 parishioners. In Domesday times Yoxall was held by the Bishop of Chester, it was small but hand an impressive 32 ploughs, a meadow and a mill.

The Church

St Peter's church sits on the western side of Main Street opposite its junction with Victoria Street and towards the northern end of the village. Whilst the church was extensively rebuilt during Victorian times there are traces to determine quite an early origin. As usual the doorway is usually a good clue as to age and Pevsner dates St Peter's southern doorway to c1200. The arcades are in the Decorated style of the early 14th century whilst the western tower is Perpendicular (albeit late-Perpendicular) as it has been estimated to date from the 17th century. The major works of the 1860s altered the remainder so dramatically that St Peter is almost a new build of that date. Pevsner is taken by the southern window of the chancel describing it as a "nice touch". The church sits behind a low local stone wall with an angled shaded driveway leading across the churchyard to the building. Once past the trees the site is fairly open and does not restrict photography unduly.