Eartham St Margaret

England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Eartham St Margaret

The Parish

The parish of Eartham lies in southwestern Sussex roughly 6 miles northeast of the city of Chichester. Eartham sits about a half mile east of the A285 road which links Chichester with Petworth, it sits on the gentle dip slope of the chalk that forms the South Downs. Eartham is a small village, to its north the ancient Roman road of Stane Street cuts straight southwest for Chichester, to the south a narrow lane forms into a shallow fork like a tuning fork, within that fork sits most of the properties of this small village. Eartham sits within the confines of a shallow dry valley with billowing chalk downs to both east and west at the time of this transcript sheep would have dominated the short cropping grasses but today much is now arable. Because Eartham sits on porous chalk it isn't until the bustling A27 has been crossed that any kind of coherent stream emerges, eventually these sketchy channels form into Aldingbourne Fife and reach the English Channel to the east of Bognor Regis. Eartham parish was rather small, covering just under 1,500 acres it would have only supported a population of close to 100 parishioners. Eartham is mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Margaret's church sits on the western branch of the fork of the main lane nestled within said fork and adjacent to the independent Great Ballard School. It is difficult to discuss the church without initially referring the final act in its creation, the restoration of 1869 which seems inappropriately harsh and is labelled with vehemence as "terrible" by Pevsner never a fan of such things. This restoration gives the church an external image of complete modernity, the truth could not be more different. Internally it is revealed as an extremely ancient church with the chancel arch having fabric that is certainly as early as the 12th century and could very well be pre-Conquest, the arch is massive and roughly carved with a face and a rabbit. Also Norman in style is the rather plain western doorway whilst the 2-bat arcade is 13th century and of the Early English Gothic era. The whole is sadly encased in the Victorian's intervention which whilst attractive is not as is should be. The verge is of sufficient width to allow on-street parking as very little traffic passes, the churchyard is set above road height with a flight of 7 steps to gain entry, the churchyard has no obstacles whatsoever to hinder the photographer.

The Records

Register No	Covering Dates	Deposited With	Register Style	Quality Standard	Comments
1	19th December 1754 - 5th October 1811	West Sussex Record Office - Reference - Par74/1/1/2	Standard preprinted and self-numbered Marriage register with 4 entries per page	Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of misreads	None
2	9th November 1813 - 10th September 1836	West Sussex Record Office - Reference - Par74/1/3/1	Standard Rose style preprinted and prenumbered Marriage register	Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of misreads	None

East Dean by Chichester All Saints	Up Waltham St Mary the Virgin	Up Waltham St Mary the Virgin
Boxgrove St Mary & St Blaize		Slindon St Mary
Boxgrove St Mary & St Blaize	Aldingbourne St Mary	Slindon St Mary

Register Reference	Date	Groom Forename	Groom Surname	Groom Status	Groom Abode	Bride Forename	Bride Surname	Bride Status	Bride Abode
1	19/12/1754	Joseph	HOAR		Boxgrove	Sarah	MUNVILL
2	12/11/1758	Richard	NYREN	Single		Frances	PENNYCUD	Single	Slindon
3	14/02/1760	Thomas	OLIVER	Single	East Marden	Ann	BAYLY	Single
4	26/05/1768	Edward	DAVY			Elizabeth	STANDING
5	30/10/1770	William	LONGHUST			Hannah	HAMMOND
6	02/08/1772	Robert	CARVER			Elizabeth	KING
7	17/02/1778	William	METCALF			Amy	JEP
8	21/07/1778	William	WEDGE		Bosham	Mary	BURCHER
9	22/12/1778	John	SAITT	Single	South Bersted	Mary	BAYLY	Single
10	01/06/1779	John	BAYLY	Widower		Sarah	IRISH	Single
11	06/04/1780	Robert	THORPE	Single	West Stoke	Jane	BAYLY	Single
12	12/05/1780	Richard	AYLING	Single	Aldingbourne	Elizabeth	TREAGUSS	Single
	03/03/1783	William	DAWTRY			Sarah	HABBEN
	04/06/1786	John	TUPPER	Single	Godalming, Surrey	Mary	GREEN	Single
	17/03/1788	William	PIERSE	Single		Jenny	CHASEMORE	Single
	15/03/1792	Robert	MOORE			Sarah	MANSEL
	28/08/1792	Henry Ellis	WADE	Single	St Andrew Holborn, City Of London	Elizabeth	IRISH	Single
	27/11/1792	Richard	STUTELY	Single	Walberton	Elizabeth	CHARLES	Single
	13/12/1795	Richard	EDWARDS	Single	Boxgrove	Elizabeth	HERRINGTON	Single
	27/04/1799	John	MASON	Single	Slindon	Jane	FIELD	Single
	05/12/1799	James	GRANT	Single	Felpham	Hannah	MANCER	Single
	21/07/1801	James	BATEMAN			Elizabeth	MIDCALFE
	12/10/1801	John	WHYMARKE	Single		Charlotte	MANSELL
	04/01/1804	William	HUSON		Boxgrove	Susanna	KENT
	12/04/1804	John	COLLINS		East Grinstead	Ann	BAYLEY
	26/12/1804	William	COOPER			Hannah	BINGHAM
	03/10/1805	Richard	MILLINGTON			Frances	KENT
	20/07/1807	Richard	PRATT			Sarah	CHARLES
	09/08/1807	James	SHEPHERD		Aldingbourne	Ruth	DEAN
	09/08/1807	Edmund	TRUSLER			Emily	BARNS
	16/10/1810	John	MARTIN			Elizabeth	WILKES
	05/10/1811	George	BONIFACE	Single		Hannah	REED	Single
1	09/11/1813	George	MORLEY			Mary	POWLEN
4	00/00/1815	William	SQUIERS			Nancy	FOGDEN
2	11/06/1815	William	SQUIERS			Anne	REED
3	19/09/1815	William	AYLING			Sarah	SQUIERS
5	18/12/1815	William	FROST			Martha	MUDY
6	09/03/1816	William	BENNETT			Clara	BARNS
7	20/10/1817	John	TRAGERS			Mary Anne	FOGDEN
8	22/04/1820	William	KIMBER	Single		Mary	BENNET	Single
9	11/10/1821	Thomas	BRIDGER			Sophia	TILL
10	15/04/1823	William	BISHOP	Single		Martha	BRASSINGTON	Single
11	16/08/1824	John	WISDOM	Single		Deborah	MANSWER	Single
12	11/06/1825	George	MARTIN	Widower		Lucy	COLLINS	Single
13	27/05/1826	George	SHERWIN	Single		Elizabeth	WHITE	Single
14	17/01/1827	Charles	BAILEY	Single		Louisa	MARTIN	Single
15	28/04/1827	Charles	BENNET	Single		Charlotte	HALCOMBE
16	14/10/1827	James	BENNETT	Widower		Mary	FORSTER	Single
17	20/10/1827	William	BATEMAN	Single		Harriet	COLLINS	Single
18	29/11/1828	Thomas	SMITH	Single	East Dean By Chichester	Harriet	CARVER	Single
19	27/05/1829	Thomas	COOK			Mary Emily	BATEMAN
20	01/08/1829	George	KENT			Rhoda	COLLINS
21	01/11/1831	John	GOBLE	Single		Eliza	AYLING	Single
22	19/06/1832	Edmund	HAMMOND	Single		Mary	BRIDGER	Single
23	25/06/1833	Charles	WOODROW	Single		Miriam	FARENDEN	Single
24	19/11/1834	James	BAYLEY			Emily	GRANT
25	14/09/1835	William	CURTIS			Charlotte	GRANT
26	10/09/1836	Richard	HOLCOMB			Jane	HASLETT

Corrections to Tinstaafl Transcripts