England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Fillongley St Mary & All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Fillongley sits in north central Warwickshire about 7 miles northwest of the city of Coventry. Fillongley is a fairly large village sitting at a crossroads of B roads, the B4102 connecting Nuneaton to Hampton in Arden and the B4098 running from Coventry to Kingsbury. Unusually Fillongley has two former castle site, both with little remaining visible but testament to a strong 13th Norman presence in this area. Most of modern day Fillongley is built along these two roads as well as with some infill between them. The local economy was dominated by farming, mixed arable and pastoral in this area, some quarrying of the local sandstone also took place but mainly for local use in road mending etc. Modern developments have come to the area, the Nuneaton to Birmingham railway line running a couple of miles north through the wider parish whilst to the south a similar distance runs the modern M6 motorway on its way from London to the northwest & Scotland. Fillongley is drained by a small tributary if the River Tame which heads northwestwards to join that river, the latter meets the Trent and after a long cross-country journey the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Fillongley is sited at around 120 metres above the sea, the land rises steadily to the south reaching 170 metres on Burrow Hill at Corley. Fillongley parish was one the larger in its area, covering almost 4,600 acres it would have supported a population of close to 1,000 parishioners. In Domesday times Fillongley was shared almost equally by 4 landholders including a Saxon relic, Alsi, collectively their assets could muster 8 ploughs as well as the usual meadows & woodland.

The Church

St Mary & All Saints' church sits towards the south of the village on the eastern side of the B4098 as it heads northwestwards towards the main crossroads. Like many churches there has been major changes over the centuries but detailed analysis by Pevsner identifies a Norman origin for St Mary & All Saints. Of course little remains of that period thabks to later alteration but masonry remains of a Norman Romanesque style within the chancel. That Norman original was clearly rebuilt in the Early English Gothic style of the early half of the 13th century, lancet windows in nave and western tower as well as the southern doorway (since reset) and the rebuilt chancel also date from this period. A second major rebuild occurred in the Perpendicular style of the late 14th century, the topmost stage of the tower, the clerestory and a northern two bay chapel all being in this style. Two main recent restorations have also occurred, that by the Victorians in the 1880s being described as "good" by Pevsner whilst as recently as 1981 an extension was added. The B4098 is relatively wide and a broad pathway sits outside the churchyard permitting considerate parking, a lychgate of 1902 grants entry to a churchyard which mature evergreens dotted about making for a challenge to adequately capture the building.