England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Over Whitacre St Leonard

The Parish

The parish of Over Whitacre lies in northern Warwickshire not too far from its border with neighbouring Leicestershire. Over Whitacre is located roughly 4 miles northeast of the small market town of Coleshill and sits on the meandering B4098 road which connects Kingsbury through to Coventry. Over Whitacre is a tiny place, little more than a scatter of farms and cottages across the wider parish area with no defined village as such, the church sits on the B4098 with a few cottages whilst to its northwest sits Furnace End the most defined settlement. Over Whitacre had a diverse economy based between farming and the extractive industries, arable farming in the main whilst the local stone was quarried extensively, deep-seated coal measures were exploited for a while in more modern times. Modern developments have come to the parish, the railway line connecting Nuneaton through to Birmingham passing through without granting a station. Over Whitacre is drained westwards by a small tributary of the River Blythe which is reached despite being intercepted by Shustoke Reservoir, the Blythe takes water northwards as far as Tamworth from where it continues as the Tame until reaching the Trent, that river's long course takes it east and further north to reach the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Over Whitacre is sited at around 120 metres above the sea with land rising northeastwards to local high points of over 160 metres in undulating and rolling countryside. Over Whitacre parish was typically sized for a southern farming parish, covering just under 1,400 acres it supported close to 300 parishioners. In Domesday times Over Whitacre barely existed, held by Hugh de Grandmesnil it had bit a single household with a third share of a plough and was largely waste.

The Church

St Leonard's church sits on the northern side of the B4098 accompanied by a car repair shop and some cottages. The church is relatively modern having been constructed to replace a medieval predecessor during the period of this transcript and completed in 1766. The church follows the standard layout with nave and a short chancel augmented with the stand-out feature of the western tower. The tower was altered in 1850 by removal of its original dome and the addition of today's spire which Pevsner finds "astonishingly sympathetic given its date". The tower has a Baroque style whereas windows in other parts are a curious variety from arched windows in the nave to a Venetian-styled east window in the chancel. The B4098 is quite busy so parking immediately outside the church is difficult, the shallow entrance to Sandy Lane being a welcome refuge from where a rising tarred path rises to the churchyard which is above road height. Wooden gates grant entry to a churchyard which is dotted with trees but most are readily avoidable to obtain adequate images.