England
& Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index |
The ParishThe parish of Coventry St Michael, one of three making up the ancient city of Coventry together with St John the Baptist & Holy Trinity, occupies the southern portion of this ancient city which lies to the northeast of central Warwickshire. Coventry sits roughly 18 miles southeast of Birmingham and 91 northwest of London. Prior to modern road-spread Coventry sat upon the rout of the A45 from London to Birmingham but today a wealth of major roads meet and pass by the city. Coventry's origins date back to the early 11th century when a Benedictine priory was founded jointly by the Earl of Wessex and Countess Godiva. Later, in 1139 a castle was built to the east by the Earl of Chester creating a second city foundation site and a triangular centre emerged. Coventry was granted its market in the reign of Henry II and was walled between 1356 & 1423 with 12 gates for entry. The area covered by these walls roughly corresponds to that within the present inner ring road. By the 14th century Coventry was estimated to be the 4th city of England by wealth, a wealth developed by firstly wool production and then, and more profitably, by cloth production. With the industrial revolution cloth production notably shifted to the powered factories of the north and Coventry went into something of a decline. The twin trades of ribbon & watch making saw the city through. Modern developments abound, canals somewhat passed by, only a spur of the Oxford Canal arriving, but the railways, the main line from London to Birmingham & associated branches, saw Coventry's spectacular growth from its medieval core, industry arrived and Coventry became a major centre for car production following the opening of both Daimler and, what became, Armstrong Siddeley works, the latter evolved into aircraft production in the 20th century. Today Coventry is surrounded by modern motorways, the M45 to the south and the M6 to the north being supplemented by fast dual-carriageway road encircling the expanding city. From the medieval core Coventry now extends for almost 8 miles from west to east whilst it forms an industrial & commercial corridor through Bedworth to Nuneaton to the north. Coventry is drained by the river Sowe which heads south to join the Avon to the east of Kenilworth, the Avon heads westwards joining the Severn and thence to the sea through the Bristol Channel. Coventry is sited at around 80 metres above the sea in fairly gently rolling countryside where local heights rise, away from the river valley, to around 120 metres in the northwestern suburbs. St Michael parish occupied both the south of the city and an extensive once rural hinterland, it covered roughly 1,700 acres and would have held roughly something over 15,000 parishioners. In Domesday times Coventry was a holding of Countess Godiva offering 23 ploughs, a small wood and a mill. |
|
|
|
|
Register No | Covering Dates | Deposited With | Register Style | Quality Standard | Comments |
1 |
22nd April 1754 - 29th June 1801 |
Staffordshire History Centre |
Bishops Transcripts on document rolls & loose-leaf
rebound folios |
Grade 4 Register - there are notable quality issues with
this register which may have resulted in many misreads |
Original records were destroyed by enemy action, the BTs are
of a variable quality, sadly the rebound folios have tight binding
which results in the loss of some data, chiefly the day of the
marriage and sadly in some cases, the surname of the bride.
Because of quality deficiencies there may also be a few misreads |
2 | 29th June 1801 - 18th June 1805 | Sadly for this period the original registers were destroyed and there are no surviving BTs, all marriages in this period are therefore lost to history. | |||
3 | 18th June 1805 - 27th May 1827 | Staffordshire History Centre | Bishops Transcripts on loose-leaf folios | Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of misreads | Once again original registers have been lost but better quality BTs are available for this period |
4 | 29th May 1827 - 18th February 1833 | Warwickshire County Record Office - Reference - DR0090/32 | Standard Rose style preprinted and prenumbered Marriage register | Grade 3 Register - there are sufficient quality issues with this register to indicate that some misreads will occur albeit few in number | The register shows evidence of burning in the destruction and there is some loss of data as a consequence |
5 | 18th February 1833 - 26th June 1837 | Warwickshire County Record Office - Reference - DR0090/33 | Standard Rose style preprinted and prenumbered Marriage register | Grade 1 Register - Few issues noted and a low likelihood of misreads | None |
Coventry
St John the Baptist
|
Coventry
Holy Trinity
|
Stoke
St Michael
|
Coventry
St John the Baptist
Stivichall St James |
Binley
St Bartholomew
Coventry Holy Trinity (detached) |
|
Stivichall
St James
|
Stivichall
St James
|
Baginton
St John the Baptist
|
1755 1760 1765 1770 1775 1780 1785 1790 1795 1800 1805 1810 1815 1820 1825 1830 1835
Corrections to Tinstaafl Transcripts