England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Whatcote St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Whatcote lies in southern Warwickshire lying on a peninsula of Warwickshire land that penetrates deep into the territory of 3 other counties (Oxfordshire, Worcestershire & Gloucestershire). What cote is located roughly 4 miles northeast of the Worcestershire market town of Shipston on Stour and sits in a rural area devoid of significant roads, the closest numbered road being the A422 which connects Stratford upon Avon with Banbury and which lies about 2 1/2 miles to the north of Whatcote. Whatcote, like so many in this rural area, was a farming community with a mixed farming regime, one that has migrated towards arable over the years. A small tributary of the Stour drains the parish westwards to that river where things turn northwestwards to join the Avon at Stratford upon Avon and then the Severn before reaching the sea through the Bristol Channel. Whatcote is sited at around 80 metres above the sea in gentle terrain which has small isolated hills, outliers of the Cotswolds, reaching 133 metres on nearby Idlicote Hill. Whatcote was a small parish by the standards of its county, covering less than 900 acres it would have supported a population of just under 200 parishioners. In Domesday times Whatcote was equally small and rural, held by Hugh de Grandmesnil it could must just 7 ploughs.

The Church

St Peter's church sits on the western side of the small village where Church Lane performs a right-angled bend before petering out into footpaths. Remarkably considering the rural setting St Peter received serious bomb damage during the 2nd World War resulting in a dramatic reconstruction in 1947, not only were the roofs repaired but most of the eastern and southern walls rebuilt. Despite this work enough remains to show that the church had ancient origins, a pair of windows in the nave and the southern doorway are 12th century Norman Romanesque work whilst the much repaired western tower carries a date of the 13th century. The 1947 work was skillfully done, Pevsner describing the alternating gray and brown courses of the rebuilt eastern wall as "handsome". Even before the wartime damage the church had previously received major repairs in both 1767 & 1820 earlier than most churches Victorian work. As Church Lane bends leftwards the church sits to the right fronted by a small parking area from where a pathway leads to the church. The churchyard has a few trees around the southwestern corner which do somewhat limit the angles available to the photographer.