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

The Parish

The parish of Allington lies in the extreme southeast of Wiltshire separated from neighbouring Hampshire only by a this strip of Boscombe parish. Allington is located about 3 1/2 miles southeast of the town of Amesbury and sits on the A338 road which links Salisbury with Marlborough. Allington is a linear village, a short out-and-back lane east of the A338 holding most properties whilst others line the A-road. Allington is one of a number of small villages that line the rather meandering course of the River Bourne, the parish consists of a narrow strip of land from north to south yet extending westwards to encompass not only the riverside pastures of the Bourne but also rising up onto chalk downs which would have been dominated by sheep but are increasingly arable today. Much of the parish area sits, today, below the runways of Boscombe Down ,a key government military airfield and test facility. The other modern development is the railway line from Salisbury to Andover which skirts the parish without granting Allington s station. Allington is drained southwestwards by the Bourne which meets the Stour at Salisbury continuing south to reach the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour. Allington is sited at around 80 metres above the sea in its valley setting, to the east downs rise to 172 metres at Tower Hill within the military training area. Allington was a small parish of just 936 acres which would have supported close to 100 parishioners. In Domesday times Allington was held by Alfred of Marlborough with a small share with Amesbury Abbey, its assets of 7 ploughs backed by meadows & pastures shows little has changed over the centuries.

The Church

St John's church stands on the astern side of the A338 as it passes the village, the church has been closed for regular worship due to declining congregation numbers and is now managed by the Friends of Friendless Churches. Whilst the original medieval church was an ancient structure from Norman times the church was largely rebuilt in 1848 - 1851 and so is not technically the venue for these few marriages. However, extensive parts of the original Norman church were re-used and an attempt to copy the original was made. The blocked northern doorway is 12th century and reused as is part of the chancel arch, the lancets in the chancel are also reused and 13th century, a Perpendicular east window is also from the original structure. The principal addition of the rebuild was the addition of a battlemented bell-stage to the western tower. As the A338 carries fast traffic it is fortunate a layby has been provided to allow parking outside the churchyard gates, the small foot-print of the churchyard with hedged boundaries to both east & west will create some issues for the photographer but most angles remain viable.