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

The Parish

The parish of Harting lies in the extreme west of Sussex forming an extensive stretch of the border with neighbouring Hampshire. Harting, which actually has 3 villages, West, East & South Harting, lies roughly 4 miles southeast of the market town of \Petersfield and sits at the foot of the escarpment of the South Downs. South Harting, the main village and home for the church, sits on the B2146 road which links Petersfield through to Bosham whilst East Harting sits a mile to its east and West Harting also a mile away but almost north. South Harting is a mid-sized village largely constructed around an oval of roads for which the B2146 forms the western arm, East Harting again sits around an oval of lanes but is much smaller whilst West Harting, as Pevsner suggests is merely a straggle of cottages. Harting sits within the Weald, an area of relatively infertile land between the twin lines of chalk that form North & South Downs, its economy would have been fairly mixed with early gazetteers estimating roughly equal acreages of arable and pastoral methods. In addition the poor soils had left some 15% of the acreage as described as "waste", the area would be dominated by heath & forest and used in common for bracken, coppicing and informal grazing of, mainly, sheep. Modern developments scarcely grazed the northern extremes of the parish, a branch railway line running from Petersfield to Midhurst being closed and largely dismantled. Small streams drain the parish northwards to eet the west to east running River Rother, the Rother eventually crosses a gap in the wall of chalk to reach the English Channel through the port of Littlehampton. South Harting sits at around 65 metres above the sea with its satellite villages some 20 metres higher, looming to the south, however, is the line of Chalk Downs which reaches 242 metres on the top of Beacon Hill, the crest being followed by the South Downs Way National Trail. Harting parish was one of the larger in its county, a feature of Wealden parishes generally, covering close to 7,800 acres it was more reminiscent of a northern upland parish, within that acreage there would have been supported a population of around 1,250 parishioners. The entry of the Hartings in Domesday Book seems scarcely credible, placing it amongst the top 20% of settlements recorded and held by Ear Roger of Shrewsbury it claims that there were an incredible 64 ploughs, the usual meadows & woodland and no fewer than 9 mills, the entry is felt more likely to relate to a district rather than a single, albeit large, manor.

The Church

St Mary & St Gabriel's church sits on the western side of the B2146 as it passes through South Harting. The origins of the church are a little unclear which is largely due to a major fire which struck the church in 1576. The cruciform layout, with a central tower rising above the divide between nave & chancel, is a design favoured by the Norman but despite the nave walls being unusually thin, a typical sign of pre-Conquest construction, Pevsner is loath to assign such an early date as 11th or 12th century albeit he hints at such. The remainder of the dateable evidence places the church to the early 14th century, a period when Decorated style was in vogue, the style being well shown by both transepts. Much else that is early can be reliably dated to a period immediately following the fire, the eastern bay of the nave is such whilst the Caryll chapel carries a documented date as late as 1610. Another byproduct of the fire was the re-roofing of the church, this took place in Elizabethan times, a really rare time for major church work. The Victorians also had their way with the church a major restoration of 1858 rebuilding much of the church's eastern end in an Early English Gothic style whilst even to the late 20th century the timber porch was added and remains slightly harshly new against the medieval. A small parking area sits opposite the church and fronting the properties at the junction, a set of 4 steps rises to the metal gates breaking the brick entrance, a variation of the flint walling to be found elsewhere. The church sits rather closely to the eastern, road-side, edge of the churchyard meaning the better landscape aspect is actually from the street but the churchyard has few obstacles to really restrict the photographer.