England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Atherstone on Stour St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Atherstone on Stour stands on the southern edge of Warwickshire despite the county extending for some miles further south to its east. The pre-1974 boundaries of the counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire & Gloucestershire were, in this area, a complex fretted series of boundaries, enclaves and exclaves which was not resolved until Local Government boundaries were reset at that date, thus Atherstone on Stour formed part of the border with both of those counties at the date of this transcript. This Atherstone should not be confused with Atherstone in the parish of Mancetter, the suffix "on Stour" seeking to differentiate it. Atherstone on Stour is located about 3 miles southern of the Shakespearean town of Stratford on Avon and was a small hamlet sitting on the western banks of the Warwickshire Stour and a quarter mile west of the A3400 connecting Stratford with Shipston on Stour. A pastoral farming community Atherstone would have exploited the watermeadows of the Stour for its pastures. The Stour drains northwards the short distance to the Avon, turning westwards it meets the Severn and the Bristol Channel through the latter's estuary. Atherstone on Stour is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in fairly gentle terrain, a local summit sitting to its west tops out at 85 metres. A relatively small parish by Warwickshire standard Atherstone on Stour covered just over 1,000 acres and would have supported barely 100 parishioners. In Domesday times Atherstone on Stour was equally small, a holding of Bishop Odo of Bayeux it could offer just 5 ploughs and a 3 acre meadow but did possess a mill.

The Church

St Mary's church was declared redundant for worship in 1993 and is now a private house. The former church stood on the northern side of the main lane through the hamlet, close to the Stour itself. The church was a Victorian replacement for the building in which these events occurred and was clearly of little architectural interest to Pevsner, who's account is barely 3 lines of text describing the main features. The crocketed pyramid spire is, perhaps, the most distinctive feature otherwise all was in a style from the Decorated period. Given the building's present status views are limited to those from the lane and the residents privacy should be respected.