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

The Parish

The parish of Mitcham lies in northeastern Surrey roughly 9 miles south of the city of London. Mitcham sits amongst a jumble of A roads leading southwards from the city. Mitcham, at the time of this transcript, was still a discrete village of a few hundred folk but its proximity to the capital soon saw growth in population and development. The economy of the 18th century was based upon supplying the city with specialist products such as chamomile, liquorice, peppermint, roses, lavender, and other aromatic plants. Its proximity first saw growth as a rural retreat for the wealthy, mansions sprung up for the well-heeled as weekend retreats & summer lodging. The late 18th and early 19th century saw explosive growth as ribbon development along the main route to Reigate soon lead to infill and first suburban and finally total urban sprawl. The increased access provided by the roads and eventually rail lead to industry notably fabric printing and production of snuff. Today Mitcham is an integral part of the urban monster that is Greater London and, other than the welcome open space of the common & golf course, is a mass of housing, businesses and transport infrastructure. Much of that growth came from the arrival of the railway line & station which soon allowed commuting into the city for a rapidly expanding population. Mitcham is drained northwards by the River Wandle, once a famous trout stream but nowadays a very urban river, the Wandle reaches the Thames at Wandsworth and thence flows through the capital to the North Sea. Mitcham is sited at around 20 metres above the sea, the broad southern terrace of the Thames soon rises to 50 metres within a mile or two. Reflecting its rural origin Mitcham parish was sized to the dimensions of such a parish, covering close to 2,900 acres it would, at the time of this transcript have supported barely 1,000 residents, by the mid-19th century that had risen four-fold or more. In Domesday times Mitcham was a tiny place, largely held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux it could offer just 3 ploughs and a half share in a mill.

The Church

St Peter & St Paul's church sits on the northern side of Church Road where it performs a significant right-angled bend to the east. Sadly few of these marriages would have been performed in this church it having been erected between 1819 & 1821. The medieval predecessor had become decrepit and was demolished in 1822, it was said to be an ancient structure of flint & stone. Only the medieval northwestern tower remains of the original church, the rest is built to a rather bleak Perpendicular-like style and is described by Pevsner as "with bald detail". Clearly this building was of little architectural interest as his description in his 1962 edition is short and succinct with little comment. Given the church's urban setting there is little scope for parking in the area, one might be lucky on Church Path opposite. The churchyard is vast, being also the civil cemetery, and is surrounded by a knee-high wall topped with neatly clipped hedging. Strangely the church sits very close to the southern edge of this space making the better views from outside and even across the road.