England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Byfleet St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Byfleet lies in northwestern Surrey roughly 5 miles northeast of the market town of Woking. Byfleet sits on the A245 road which links Woking through to Leatherhead. Today's Byfleet is a much changed place from that pertaining at the time of this transcript, modern developments haev swamped what was at one time a distinct small village which straggled along the route of the A245 with its church standing isolated in fields to the south by 3/4 of a mile. Growth came with the arrival of the railway creating a location ideal for commuting and not only is the church no longer isolated but the entire village is nowadays almost contiguous with Greater London's sprawl. The original village centre stretched west from the River Wey and most inhabitants would have been engaged in farming the light sandy soils of the Surrey heaths with arable farming dominant but leavened with sheep pastures. Modern developments have come aplenty with the Guildford Canal arriving first followed by the railway line from London to Southampton which also granted Byfleet its station; today the modern M25 motorway's busiest section thunders through to the west of the village. Of modern historical interest the parish also contains the former Brooklands motor racing track, constructed on a former airbase that was at one time a candidate as a London airport. Byfleet is drained northwards by the River Wey which soon meetes the Thames at Weybridge before turning east through the capital to the North Sea. Byfleet is sited at around 15 metres above the sea in gentle terrain where land rises only gently to around 30 metres to the west. Byfleet parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering just over 2,000 acres it would have supported a population of around 650 parishioners, many thousands today. In Domesday times Byfleet was a rather small manor held by Chertsey Abbey which offered just 3 ploughs, the usual meadows & woodland but there was a mill and a fishery together with a half share of a second granting some wealth to the Abbey.

The Church

St Mary's church sat in fields a good distance from its village before modern development swept south powered by the impact of the railway, it sits at the junction of Church Road with Sanway Road. Whilst there was a church here from earliest times the building that we see today is largely the result of an early medieval rebuild given a tentative date of c1290 by Pevsner. This late 13th century date could be described either as Early English Gothic or as Transitional into the flourish of Decorated styling. The core of the church, nave, chancel and western tower were obviously built in a single continuous build maintaining a consistent if somewhat plain design style. The shingled belfry and splayfoot spire are the church's stand-out features and are undoubtedly picturesque. Timber is also present in the northern porch too of similar age. Victorian restoration is the only significant change that has occurred since initial completion, a rather large southern aisle was added to increase capacity in 1841 and this was followed in 1864 by the rebuilding of the southern arcade and in 1881 the addition of a vestry to complete today's church. Church Road is of sufficient width to allow careful parking with the main entrance, a lychgate, falling in a restricted parking area, however. For the photographer the better views are actually from the north as the big 1841 addition renders the southern aspects rather unsatisfactory, the church is also hemmed in to both east and west by trees making for a tricky subject to fully appreciate.