England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Brownsover St Michael

The Parish

The chapelry of Brownover, its mother parish being Clifton upon Dunsmore, lies in the extreme east of Warwickshire not too far from its border  with neighbouring Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Brownover is located roughly 2 miles northeast of Rugby and sits immediately east of the A426 road which connects Rugby with the M6 motorway and onward to Lutterworth. Brownover was once a discrete small village but today is merely the northeastern suburb of Rugby, place where the oldest parts of the village are lost within extensive modern developments. At the time of this transcript Brownover would have been a small farming chapelry with mixed methods in place. Modern developments have come to the chapelry, the first arrival being the Oxford Canal passing just south of its then church, sundry railway line criss-cross the area but those which once entered the acreage of Brownover have all closed and been largely removed. Brownover is drained westwards by the Avon which crosses the county to eventually meet the Severn at Tewkesbury, water than turns south to reach the sea through the Bristol Channel. Brownover is sited at around 100 metres above the sea in gently rolling countryside where local heights rarely rise much above 120 metres for some distance. Just 853 acres of the mother parish assigned to Brownover which then barely supported 100 parishioners. Domesday Brownover was even smaller than the pre-modern version offering just a meadow for its landholder Geoffrey de la Guerche and holding just 9 households.

The Church

St Michael's church has been consecrated and is closed for worship, the former church sits on the eastern side of Brownover Lane not too far from the banks of the Avon. This was once a more sizeable structure with a tower, however that fell during the Civil War period and the church moldered until repaired in 1701. The original fabric which remains is of the 13th century and Early English Gothic in style but is limited to a doorway, the chancel arch and a few windows including lancets again in the chancel. The great change came not from the 1701 repairs but from a thorough rebuild of 1876 which integrated these fragments into a uniform structure. Sadly due to falling congregations and the sheer convenience of the modern Christ Church which now serves Brownover the church was closed in 1987 and was managed thereafter by the Churches Conservation Trust. The site is still accessible and of a size and freedom from obstacles to allow free rein for the photographer.