England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Packwood St Giles

The Parish

The parish of Packwood lies in western Warwickshire not too far from its border with neighbouring Worcestershire. Packwood is located about 4 miles south of the town of Dolihull and a similar distance north of Henley in Arden. Packwood sits, in lanes, around a mile east of the A3400 road which the above mentioned two places. Packwood was an estate village, dominated by the activities of Packwood House, and has not grown into a village as such. Packwood is thus a scatter of farms and cottages with the bulk of the parish acreage within the grounds of Packwood House estate. As an estate village Packwood's economy would have been largely agricultural with a mixed farming regime of both arable and pastoral farming. Packwood is drained southwestwards by small tributaries of the River Alne which makes its way by the Arrow, Avon & Severn to the Irish Sea through the Bristol Channel. Packwood is sited at around 120 metres above the sea in a rather gentle landscape where local heights reach to just 20 metres higher within a few miles. Packwood parish was small by Warwickshire standards, it covered just over 1,600 acres and would have supported a population of around 350 parishioners. There is no mention of Packwood within Domesday Book.

The Church

St Giles' church is separate from Packwood House estate being in the grounds of the moated Hall and accessed by a metalled footpath from Glasshouse Lane. There are three distinct periods covered by the build of St Giles. Earliest are nave and chancel which Pevsner dates to c1300 and in the Decorated style of that date. To this basic structure is added the western tower, Perpendicular in style and dateable by documentary evidence to the early 16th century. A century later in 1704 the brick structure of the northern transept was also added. Like most churches the Victorians did their usual restoration here notably adding tracery where, according to Pevsner, none was needed. From Glasshouse Lane, a sign indicating the route to the church, the metalled track curves around the outskirts of the Hall grounds to reach a small parking area by the tower. The site is relatively open with few obstructions to photography.