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

The Parish

The parish of Wormleighton lies in the extreme southeast of Warwickshire where it forms part of the 3-counties meet with both Northamptonshire and with Oxfordshire. Wormleighton is located roughly 6 miles south of the market town of Southam and sits about a mile east of the A423 road which links Southam with Oxfordshire's Banbury. Wormleighton is an estate village, once the home of the Spencer family, it was largely depopulated to create the estate by 1495 when the Spencer's took on the estate, they created today's small estate village around their manor on a hilltop. To the west of the present small village one can see the humps and bumps of the early Middle Ages village. Today's village largely consists of a run of properties on a north running dead-end lane headed for the parish church. Like mots estate villages the economy of the parish was dictated by the needs of the estate and here pastoral farming occupied almost the entire acreage. Modern developments have come to the area as the contour canal, the Oxford Canal, almost performs a complete meander around Wormleighton, there is a wharf and marina where it crosses the A423 and a reservoir to the village's south to maintain water levels. Wormleighton is drained westward and then north by the River Itchen which eventually meets the Leam, the latter in turn passes through Leamington Spa to meet the Avon from where water eventually reaches the Severn and turns back south to reach the sea through the Bristol Channel. Wormleighton's hilltop reaches 154 metres above the sea and forms a viewpoint across the 3 counties, to the southwest it is only over-topped by the ridge above Burton Dassett with just cross the 200 metre contour. Wormleighton parish was fairly large covering just under 3,200 acres yet would only have supported just over 150 parishioners. The original village was recorded in Domesday Book where its 50 households saw it amongst the top 20% by population in the Book, shared between 3 landholders including a Saxon survivor Thorkil of Warwick its assets of 23 ploughs and extensive meadows show it to have been a substantial rural manor.

The Church

St Peter's church sits almost at the northernmost end of the lane which becomes a major local footpath headed for Marston Doles beyond. The church is essentially a product of the 13th century Early English Gothic period but with minor modifications made in the later medieval and Victorian periods. Pevsner cites the western tower as the earliest part of the build passing east through the aisle arcades to a chancel arch which seems almost Transitional or late 13th century. Many of the chancel's windows, as are those of the northern aisle, are from the Decorated period of the early 14th century but whether they are replacements or original is not determined. Many of the nave windows are clearly Perpendicular replacements and that was also when the clerestory was inserted to improve internal lighting. Most of the Victorian restoration appears to be the work semi-skilled estate workers rather than an architect lead deliberate phase, piecemeal work appears to have been ongoing through much of the 19th century.As the lane is a dead-end it carries little traffic allowing safe parking partly off road, the churchyard is open and uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.