England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Amesbury St Mary & St Melor

The Parish

The parish of Amesbury lies in southeastern Wiltshire not too far from the county's border with neighbouring Hampshire. Amesbury is located roughly 7 miles north of the city of Salisbury and sits immediately south of the A303 road from London to Exeter. Amesbury is a market town which occupies a meander within the course of the River Avon, from the A303 the A345 road heads south towards Salisbury and forms the spine of the town, to the west of that road sits the parish church whilst to the east runs a series of shopping streets. In more modern times Amesbury has expanded markedly southeastwards as a result of the military presence in the area with a major suburb supporting Boscombe Down military airfield and the major tank training areas to the northeast of Bulford. Amesbury has a long history which begins before the advent of written records, it sits within the historic landscape of Stonehenge and its associated archaeology. It is also the site of a Romano-British settlement, a Saxon royal estate and became important through the foundation and establishment of a major Benedictine nunnery, founded in 979 which by the mid-12th century had become a priory of the Order of Fontevraud. The early proto-town initially supported this large religious foundation which grew to hold 77 nuns and yet more lay brothers by 1256. By this time Amesbury had become a fully fledged market town supporting a mainly rural hinterland, the wider parish being a mixture of arable on the lower chalk-lands, sheep upon the higher downs and cattle upon the Avon's rich meadows. Following the dissolution of the priory much of the church-lands was passed into the hands of wealthy local landholders who systematically replaced much of the sheep-runs with arable fields. Amesbury's strategic position upon the main route from London to the southwest prompted a boom as it provided a major staging post for the stage-coach routes leading to the establishment of many inns at which stabling was held for the changes to the horses. Amesbury sits uncomfortably between the ancient landscape of Stonehenge and the modern military presence, the latter undoubtedly also lead to growth in population and spread of the town whilst the former supports Amesbury's role a a centre for archaeological tourism. Today Amesbury forms an oval, constrained to the north by the A303 and to the west by the Avon, which spreads for a half mile north to south but for almost 2 miles west to east, it remains a market for the area and has attracted some light industry and services. Modern developments have come to the parish, the A303 now being a modern fast flowing dual-carriageway highway. Amesbury is drained southwards by the Avon which heads through Salisbury, Fordingbridge and Ringwood to reach the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour. Amesbury is sited at around 70 metres above the sea at the parish church whilst rising to 110 metres to the southeastern edges by Boscombe Down, chalk downs rise around the town to 143 metres within the military training area to the northeast at Silk Hill, the highest local spot. Amesbury parish was extensive covering 5,600 acres which would have supported a population of close to 1,200 parishioners. Amesbury's 111 households in Domesday times saw it as one of the country's major town at that time, the manor was shared between King William and Wilton Abbey and was comfortably within the top 20% of settlements recorded by population, it held formidable assets too with an impressive 39 ploughs, meadows, several leagues of both pasture and woodland and no fewer than 8 mills alongside the Avon making it one of the crown's most valuable manors.

The Church

St Mary & St Melor's church stands on the eastern side of Church Street as it descends from the main commercial area to cross the Avon. The town's parish church was initially established in Saxon times associated with the nunnery, the only evidence for that early origin is a fragment of pre-Conquest stonework embedded in the northern wall of the nave. The cruciform layout is typical of a 12th century Norman foundation and, indeed, the nave shows the Norman Romanesque style of this era and came complete with an early clerestory, now blocked. Following the re-foundation of the nearby abbey as a priory in 1177 the church was substantially expanded in the Early English Gothic style with the addition of the chancel, centrally placed transepts and the erection of the crossing tower, all three areas show the characteristic lancet windows of this style. Additional side chapels were also constructed, 2 eastern chapels attached to the northern transept and a further one to the southern, the northern chapel did not last very long being demolished, but leaving scars marking their presence, in the early 14th century. Further changes took place in the 15th century and in the Perpendicular style when the southern aisle was added to increase capacity, the southern transept's eastern chapel was rebuilt and new windows replaced earlier version on both the east and west facades. In 1803 the remaining transept chapel was finally removed. Whilst most churches received a typical Victorian restoration here the work was conducted between 1852 and 1853 by the architect William Butterfield who sought to remove all traces of the later medieval work, stripping the church back to its Early English Gothic core, the 15th century windows were replaced with faux-13th century replacements, rebuilt the southern wall of the south transept again replacing 18th century windows with old-styled replacements, added the steeply pitched roof to the chancel and removed most of the later fittings and fixtures from the interior. Like most town churches parking nearby can be an issue so this is one best visited after finding a town car park. The site has a large bank of trees to the west of the church but the favoured southern aspects are readily available for the photographer.