Wantisden St John

England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Wantisden St John

The Parish

The parish of Wantisden lies in southeastern Suffolk not too far from its North Sea coastline. Wantisden is located roughly 6 miles northeast of the market town of Woodbridge and sits just over a miles north of the B1084 road which connects Woodbridge with Orford. Wantisden is a tiny place, even on ancient maps it merely shows as a group of properties around the hall with a satellite settlement at Wantisden Corner on the B1084, indeed it is only the hall and corner which show up as labelled Wantisden on today's Ordnance Survey mapping. Wantisden sits on the low-productive soils of Suffolk's coastal belt, their sandy and nutrient poor nature led to much grazing by both sheep and a local speciality, rabbits. Arable farming was generally unproductive on such poor soils but has become prevalent with modern fertilisers and machinery. The other main use of these soils if for modern forestry, the growing of fast growth conifers dominating much of the area. It is the modern development, initially caused by the necessity of World War 2, that dominates the area as cheek-by-jowl with church & hall is the airbase of Bentwaters. There is little surface drainage on the sandy soils but what there is heads for the Butley River which meets the River Ore at Orford Ness being heading into the North Sea. Wantisden is sited at just 20 metres above the sea in gentle terrain, land is at or even below that height for many miles in most directions. Wantisden parish is fairly typically sized but sparsely populated, it covered close to 2,000 acres and would have supported merely around 100 parishioners. Strangely in Domesday times Wantisden was sufficiently large enough to count amongst the largest 20% by population recorded in said book and was shared between no fewer than 5 owners of land, collectively the assets of 9 ploughs and a small meadow are more typical of today's settlement than such a populous place.

The Church

St John's church had a remote and isolated feel until Bentwaters was constructed right against it, planes would have scraped its tower inbound in emergency World War 2 landings. A few tentative remnants of an early origins are indicated by Pevsner, the chancel arch, often the earliest part of a church from which building would have extended to both east & west, shows signs of the 12th century Norman Romanesque styling with characteristic nook-shafts, capitals and mouldings typical of this early style. Like many other Suffolk churches the church was extensively rebuilt in the 15th century when Perpendicular styling was in vogue. Documentary evidence indicates that the western tower in Coralline Crag was in build in the 1440s and 1450s and that date seems good for much of the church. A typical Victorian restoration of 1864 is supposed to have resulted in a rebuild of the chancel and as recently as 1965 work was carried out to rebuild the tower's top stages. The nearest public road is Drydale Bottom which runs from Wantisden Corner towards Tunstall, from here the prominent rower can be readily seen across the flat fields, a winding roughly surfaced track, indicated by a footpath sign head across the fields arriving at the church where a stretch of former runway serves as a small car park. The churchyard is open & uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.

The Records

Register No	Covering Dates	Deposited With	Register Style	Quality Standard	Comments
1	11th October 1759 - 12th October 1807	Suffolk Record Office - Ipswich - Reference - FC167/D1/4	Standard preprinted and self-numbered Marriage register with 4 entries per page	Grade 1 Register - Few issues noted and a low likelihood of misreads	None
2	12th October 1814 - 12th October 1836	Suffolk Record Office - Ipswich - Reference - FC167/D1/5	Standard Rose style preprinted and prenumbered Marriage register	Grade 1 Register - Few issues noted and a low likelihood of misreads	None

Rendlesham St Gregory	Tunstall St Michael	Tunstall St Michael
Rendlesham St Gregory Eyke All Saints		Chillesford St Peter Butley St John the Baptist
Eyke All Saints	Butley St John the Baptist	Butley St John the Baptist

1760 1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830

Register Reference	Date	Groom Forename	Groom Surname	Groom Status	Groom Abode	Bride Forename	Bride Surname	Bride Status	Bride Abode
	16/01/1754	John	BARNES	Single	Eyke	Sarah	COOK	Single
1	11/10/1759	Richard	DENNY	Single		Mary	FISHER	Single
2	10/09/1761	William	COOK	Single	St Mary At Quay, Ipswich	Ann	BIRT	Single
3	04/01/1765	George	CULLUM	Single	Butley	Elizabeth	BLAXELL	Single
4	11/08/1766	Robert	PISA	Single		Beersheba	SHEPPARD	Single
5	04/11/1771	William	OLDRIN	Single		Mary	CROSBY	Single
6	07/01/1772	Timothy	UTTING	Widower		Elizabeth	BRANCH	Single
7	12/10/1772	William	REEVE	Single		Elizabeth	FAIRHEAD	Single
8	18/08/1774	Gregory	KIDNEY	Single	Blaxhall	Hannah	MALLETT	Single
9	03/10/1774	Joseph	BENNINGTON	Single	Butley	Mary	SIMPSON	Single
10	03/10/1776	Thomas	SIMPSON	Single		Susannah	BENNINGTON	Single	Butley
11	26/11/1776	Samuel	PULHAM	Single		Martha	NAPPIT	Single
12	28/10/1778	Thomas	GARRARD	Single		Mary	MILLS	Single
13	14/01/1779	John	FOREMAN	Single	Chillesford	Sarah	WARNER	Single
14	12/12/1782	Stephen	VERTUE	Single	Knoddishall	Mary	CUTTING	Single
15	01/07/1783	Samuel	SIMPSON	Widower		Mary	BAKER	Single
16	29/09/1783	John	BORRETT	Single		Sarah	KEMP	Single
17	25/12/1783	Robert	BRIGHTWELL	Widower		Ann	DAMMONT	Single
	11/10/1786	Richard	DENNY	Single	Tunstall	Martha	GREEN	Single
1	05/07/1792	Samuel	RICHARDSON	Single		Esther	CLARKE	Single	Eyke
2	09/10/1792	Noah	PATRICK	Single	Rendlesham	Susan	HUTTON	Single
3	20/05/1793	Alexander	COOK	Single		Ann	RUNACLES	Single
4	18/06/1793	James	EDWARDS	Single		Ann	WALLER	Single
5	11/03/1794	Robert	RICHARDSON	Single	Blaxhall	Mary	CRACKNELL	Single
6	29/10/1797	John	SAVAGE	Single		Mary	MARTIN	Single
7	12/11/1797	Thomas	HAWARD	Single		Mary	SMITH	Single
8	22/10/1804	Trusson	LYON	Single		Ann	SMITH	Single
9	28/11/1805	William	MARTIN	Single		Rebecca	CLOUTING	Single
10	13/10/1806	John	MAY	Single		Phoebe	BARHAM	Single
11	12/10/1807	Thomas	PINKENEY	Single		Mary	BRITEL	Single
1	12/10/1814	John	GRAY	Single	Sudbourne	Mary	MOWER	Single
2	12/10/1814	John	WRIGHT	Single		Dorcas	SMITH	Single
3	25/06/1816	Samuel	WYART	Single		Susan	ALDHOUS	Single
4	15/09/1817	William	EDWARDS	Single	Framlingham	Emma	EDWARDS	Single
5	12/10/1821	John	CLARK	Single		Rhoda	SMITH	Single	Orford
6	05/11/1821	John	OBEE	Single		Sarah	BORRETT	Single
7	03/04/1822	John	FISHER	Single	Ufford	Susan	BORRETT	Single
8	22/06/1822	Charles	CORDY	Single	Cretingham	Ann	KEER	Single
9	29/12/1822	John	WRIGHT	Widower		Elizabeth	WYATT	Single
10	20/04/1824	Robert	GILBERT	Widower		Sarah	CLARKE	Widow
11	26/05/1824	William	WADE	Single		Lydia	ALDRIDGE	Single
12	29/05/1824	Robert	BOND	Single	Sternfield	Emma	KEER	Single
13	10/06/1824	Frederic	EDWARDS	Single	Whitfield, Northamptonshire	Harriotte	EDWARDS	Single
14	13/10/1824	Robert	GRAY	Single		Hannah	FROST	Single
15	23/04/1825	John	BARHAM	Single		Emma	BENHAM	Single
16	22/09/1825	Edward Thomas	ALDER	Single	Wallasey, Cheshire	Eliza	EDWARDS	Single
17	06/08/1829	John	FOREMAN	Widower		Charlotte	COOPER	Widow	South Cove
18	19/09/1830	Robert	PLANT	Single	Blaxhall	Sally	BENHAM	Single
19	07/10/1830	Garnham	FRENCH	Single	Middleton	Hannah	GROOM	Single
20	12/10/1830	William	LION	Single		Mary	DANIELS	Single
21	12/10/1830	George	HAWARD	Single		Elizabeth	DANIELS	Single
22	20/12/1831	John	BRADLEY	Single	Stanton	Celia	GROOM	Single
23	06/01/1832	John	SPINK	Single		Sarah	SAWYER	Single
24	05/02/1833	Samuel	FRENCH	Widower	Snape	Sarah	GROOM	Single
25	26/05/1833	Charles	SMITH	Single	Butley	Emma	ALDRIDGE	Single
26	12/10/1833	John	PINKNEY	Single		Sarah	HAWARD	Single	Snape
27	21/06/1836	Thomas	PINKNEY	Widower		Elizabeth	CLARKE	Single
28	12/10/1836	Benjamin	HOWARD	Single		Elizabeth	GOODING	Single

Corrections to Tinstaafl Transcripts