England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Chevington All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Chevington lies in western Suffolk roughly 6 miles southwest of the town of Bury St Edmunds, Chevington stands just over a mile west of the A143 road which links Bury St Edmunds with Haverhill. Chevington is a rather linear village with the hall and parish church standing at the northern end of the village which runs southwards for around 3/4s of a mile. Much of the northern area of the parish was part of the parkland estate of the Earls of Bristol, so much so the 5th Earl rerouted the main lane connecting Chevington with Bury St Edmunds to the west to remove it from his park. Whilst much of the estate would have been mixed farming the wider parish, like so many in its county would have been almost totally arable.Chevington is drained northeastwards by the River Linnet which heads for Burt St Edmunds where the Linnet meets the Lark, a convergence of songbirds indeed. The Lark heads out to the northwest crossing Fenland to meet the Great Ouse and turn north to King's Lynn, The Wash and the North Sea. Chevington stands on gent;y rising ground, the church at 90 metres whilst much of the village is 25 metres higher, that height being the highest ground around. Chevington parish was extensive compared to many in its area, covering just over 2,400 acres it would have supported a population of close to 600 parishioners. In Domesday times Chevington was a holding of Bury St Edmunds Abbey offering 9 ploughs backed by typical meadows and woodland, a fairly common type and size of rural manor.

The Church

All Saints church stands on the edge of the parkland of the estate of Chevington Hall, Church Road which heads for both church and hall peters out into a footpath but just before it does so a narrow dead-end lane heads to a broad turning circle and parking area outside the churchyard gates. All Saints is a complex church with masonry from c1200 all the way through to the later Perpendicular period, The oldest fabric is represented by the round arch of the southern doorway which leads into a nave from the short Transitional period between Norman and Early English Gothic. The nave shows a mixture of styles, one northern window being Norman another a lancet from the 13th century. More pure in its Early English Gothic styling is the chancel and its chancel arch, this has been preserved despite the chancel being reduced in both height and length in 1697. The main Perpendicular element is the western tower although its crocketed pinnacles are a Georgian addition. The tower has bequests of money for its completion from 1444 & 1476, dates in keeping with its style. A Victorian restoration of 1886 was followed by the replacement of the east window in 1909 whilst more modern repairs were carried out to the chancel in 1984. The church stands towards the northern edges of an expansive churchyard which has no obstacles whatsoever for the photographer.