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

The Parish

The parish of Newington lies in the extreme northeast of the ancient county of Surrey, close to both the border with neighbouring Kent and also, formed by the Thames with that of the City of London. Newington sits just under 2 miles south of the city of London on the A3 road which leads from London to Portsmouth. Newington is frequently known also as Newington Butts, allegedly for the shooting paraphernalia which once stood here for the practice of archery. Newington has been an integral part of the urban scene of Greater London since well before this period transcribed, a southward extension of Southwark the parish roughly covers the area known today as Elephant & Castle with Newington Butts forming the name of the A3 on which St Mary's church once stood. The south bank of the Thames was covered by the less-salubrious activities of the city and Newington stood at one time as the edge of urban development with fields extending southwards. Today green oases are rare as a sea of dense urban property covers the parish, modern developments in the form of the Southern Railway lines leading to the south coast pass through Elephant & Castle. Such was the growth of Newington's population that it became subdivided into smaller sub-parishes during the period of this transcript with Holy Trinity being also licensed for marriages from its inception. There is little or no surface drainage within the parish all water being channeled sub-surface to the nearby Thames and the North Sea. Newington sits on the immediate flood-plain of the Thames, a rare event nowadays following construction of the barrier, at just 2 metres above sea level, land rises gently southwards away from the river but it is over 3 miles further south that it passes the 10 metre contour. As befits an urban parish Newington St Mary covered just a small area but within that tiny acreage a population grew steadily from around 5,000 to well over 55,000 by the middle of the 19th century. Newington is not specifically mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

The church of St Mary in Newington has had a long and chequered history with 4 perhaps 5 incarnations during the centuries. The earliest churches were sited at a major crossroads of Roman roads headed for London, the meeting of Watling (from Dover) and Stane (from Brighton) Streets at what is today's Elephant & Castle, the site of these churches is marked by the small park of St Mary's Churchyard on the western side of Newington Butts. Earliest documents recall a small rag-stone 14th century church similar to many in rural Surrey. This early church was replaced around the middle of the 16th century by another building which, after around 150 years, fell into ruin and was demolished in 1720. The church in which the earliest of these marriages occurred opened in 1721, at 62 feet wide and 58 feet long it still proved too small for the congregation and by 1792 it too was replaced by another building. A most unusual event then occurred in 1876 as the church was deemed too close to the ever-busier road and was moved physically further away to a new site on the east side of Kennington Park Road. Sadly enemy action in 1941 destroyed this church too and today's church was rebuilt in 1958 on the site with just a fragment of the 1876 church's stone frontage remaining.