England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Old Hutton St John the Baptist

The Parish

The chapelry of Old Hutton lies in south central Westmorland, the most southeastern chapelry of the vast parish of Kendal. Old Hutton is located about 4 miles southeast of Kendal and sits on the lesser of two roads, the B6254, which connect Kendal with Kirkby Lonsdale. Old Hutton has 3 distinct clusters of property, the largest grouped around the church with subsidiary settlements at Middleshaw and by the bridge across the Peasey Beck. An upland farming settlement dominated by sheep rearing there was also, by the Peasey Beck, a small worsted manufactury giving employment. Modern developments have come to Old Hutton as the modern M6 motorway carves its way through the hills to the east of the parish. The Peasey Beck drains the parish southwestwards to join the River Bela and meet the sea through Morecambe Bay. Old Hutton is sited at around 120 metres above the sea, sitting between the Lake District & Pennines it has modest hills around rising to around 200 metres or so nearby. As an upland chapelry Old Hutton carved approximately 1,800 acres from the large acreage of Kendal parish, making it small by upland standards, nevertheless it would have supported a population of just under 500 parishioners. In Domesday times Old Hutton was recorded as a holding of King William but was described as "waste" with no assets detailed.

The Church

St John the Baptist's church sits on the northern side of the B6254 within the middle of the three patches of settlement. Sadly this is not some medieval masterpiece but a late Victorian replacement for an early 17th century church which would not have been the venue for these marriages. A single retained Perpendicular window is indicative of the style of the previous church but today's building is small as befits today's congregation. The most notable features are its apse and the spirelet growing from the southern porch which Pevsner described as "naughtily". A substantial car park sits to the east of the church allowing visiting, a knee-height local stone wall, topped by rails, surrounds with wooden gates for entry; the churchyard has no obstacles for the photographer.