England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Martindale St Martin

The Parish

The chapelry of Martindale, its mother parish being Barton, lies in the extreme northwest of Westmorland forming a stretch of the county's border, here formed by Ullswater, with neighbouring Cumberland. Martindale is located roughly 8 miles southwest of the market town of Penrith and stands within an area devoid of significant numbered roads, indeed the closest such road is the A592 on the western side of Ullswater which links Penrith with Windermere via the Kirkstone Pass and which stands over 2 miles west of Martindale as the raven flies. Martindale is a tiny upland settlement of a few farms and cottages tucked way into a side valley from that holding Ullswater. Martindale is a hill farming chapelry with hardy Herdwick sheep grazing some of the high fells of the Lake District National Park. Martindale also contains a tourism hot spot in holding a way-station at Howtown for the pleasure boast that traverse Ullswater from Pooley Bridge to Glenridding, the hotel a welcome break for visitors and even more welcoming for the many thousands of hikers and ramblers following the fell tracks in the steps of A A Wainwright. Martindale is drained into nearby Ullswater by the Rampshill Beck, the vast water body that is Ullswater is drained by the River Eamond which passes through Penrith northeastwards until meeting the Eden whence water turns northwestwards to Carlisle and reaches the Irish Sea through the Solway Firth. Martindale is sited at around 190 metres above the sea by the church, the surrounding fells culminate in the peaks of Place Fell (657 metres), Beda Head  (509 metres) and Loadpot Hill (672 metres) in dramatic hill country. Roughly 8.100 acres of the vast Barton parish were assigned to Martindale with fewer then 1,000 capable of arable farming, that acreage would have supported a population of close to 200 parishioners, the low volume of marriages recorded in this transcript is because St Martin was not licensed for all of the transcript period, all other marriages being at Barton or nearby Patterdale. Like most of western England this far to the north Martindale is mit mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Martin's church stands south of the notional centre of Martindale on the narrow lane which heads into the head of the dale in the heart of Martindale Common. Sadly this is not a medieval church nor indeed is the one in which these marriages would have been celebrated rather it is a late Victorian church completed in 1882. Built in the re-fashionable Early English Gothic style with lancets throughout it is a humble single celled structure. The first church on the site is recorded as early as the 13th century but was replaced during the 16th century, even in the 18th century the church retained a dirt floor until a stone version was laid in 1714, even today the church has no electricity. The denouement for the 16th century church came in January 1882 when a severe storm collapsed the roof destroying the roof timbers hence the hurried erection of today's replacement. The area outside the churchyard is often used for hikers' parking and allows a relaxed visit to a churchyard with no obstacles for the photographer.