England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Exhall by Coventry St Giles

The Parish

In a potentially confusing situation there are two parishes of Exhall within Warwickshire and strangely both have churches dedicated to St Giles. The suffix "by Coventry" thus serves to distinguish this parish from that close to Alcester. Exhall is located in north central Warwickshire about 4 miles north of the city of Coventry. Exhall is situated on the A444 road and sited just northeast of that roads crossing of the modern M6, the A444 road connects Coventry with Nuneaton and onwards to Burton upon Trent. Exhall has almost been absorbed by the growing conurbation that is Coventry and runs almost seamlessly into the nearest neighbour, Bedworth, to its north. From modern maps it is difficult to spot the ancient centre of what was at one time a large village and is now part of suburbia. The area was quite industrailised even by the time of this transcript, more than half the adult population would have been employed in the manufacture of ribbons, others in mining of coal and building stone, agriculture was a relatively small portion of the area's income and would have been mixed in nature. The parish is drained by numerous small tributaries of the River Anker which drain northwards into that river, this joins the Tame and then the Trent to reach the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Exhall is sited at around 100 metres above the sea and the land hereabouts gently undulates around that contour for many miles with no significant heights. By Warwickshire standards Exhall parish was of a fairly typical size, it covered just over 2,000 acres and because of its mining & manufacturing supported a population of almost 950 parishioners. There is no specific mention of Exhall in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Giles' church sits estranged from the mapped site of Exhall, across A444 and M6 from the area marked on Ordinance Survey maps. The church sits, behind properties, within the junction of Church Lane & St Giles Road. The church consists of three distinctive architectural periods. The nave is earliest and Pevsner dates in to 1300 (approximately), much else is standard Perpendicular in style including the western tower whereas the southern aisle is a Victorian addition dating from 1842. The three ages represent a simplified statement of 12th/13th century build, 16th/17th century refurbishment and rebuild and 19th century restoration and addition. St Giles' church is best accessed from St Giles Road where there is a small car park opposite the footpath leading to the church, an arched lychgate grants access to a well-wooded churchyard which limits somewhat the photographic angles available.