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

The Parish

The parish of Isfield lies almost centrally within the sub-county of East Sussex roughly 3 miles southwest of the market town of Uckfield. Isfield sits about a half mile west of the A26 road which links Uckfield with Lewes. Isfield is a rather sprawling linear village, its head where most properties lie, sits at a junction of lanes closest to the A26 but the village stretches northwards parallel to the River Ouse along the winding Station Road towards the confluence of the Ouse & Uck rivers, the result if squeezed together would make a mid-sized village. Isfield sits within The Weald an area with rather poor soils and which was developed late in history when freed from its former status as a Royal Hunting Forest, only 1/3rd of the parish acreage was suitable for arable farming, the remainder pastures and managed woodland, a few hop gardens were also present. The river was a major player in the economy being navigable from here to the sea and enabling transportation of produce to the rest of the country and receipt of coal and other products, the river also powered the paper & flour mills that employed a few folk. Modern developments have come and stayed in modified form, the railway line linking Uckfield with Lewes has closed but a length of around a mile has been reopened as a heritage steam line, The Lavender Line, named for another local speciality product.The twin rivers of Ouse and Uck come together close to the parish church and continue as the Ouse passing south through Lewes to the English Channel at Newhaven. All of Isfield village sits below the 15 metre contour on the Ouse's floodplain bit away from the river land climbs to between 30 & 40 metres above the sea in gently undulating terrain. For a Wealden parish Isfield was quite small covering just over 1,800 acres, it would have supported a population of close to 450 parishioners. Like much of The Weald Isfield is not mentioned in Domesday Book which has scant coverage in this formerly reserved area.

The Church

St Margaret of Antioch's church (to give it its full dedication) sits well away from the village at least a half mile north until the Uck bridge is crossed and then a further quarter mile westwards almost to the banks of the confluence with the Ouse. For this church it is the western tower that carries the earliest masonry surviving, that masonry is 12th century and Norman Romanesque in style, its tower arch to the nave carries styling of the late 12th century so Pevsner seems content to label the tower the same date. The buttressing seems to have been added later, perhaps reflecting the softer ground of the floodplain. A single lancet window in the nave places its origins into the Early English Gothic period of the 13th century. Much else of the main body is slightly later, early 14th century and Decorated in style, the chancel and southern chapel show off this style to good effect. The church received the expected Victorian restoration which not only added the top to the tower including its little spike, it also added today's northern aisle as well as restoring throughout. Church Lane runs westwards to the church and ends at its gates, there is ample space and hardly any traffic so on-road parking is the norm. The churchyard gates are interrupted by a magnificent oak tree standing within the gap, sadly for the photographer the trees are a feature removing all of the favoured southern aspects of the church and leaving a challenging target on a sunny day with angles only viable from the north.