England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Bemerton St Andrew

The Parish

The chapelry of Bemerton, its mother parish being Fugglestone, lies in southeastern Wiltshire roughly 2 miles west of the city of Salisbury. Bemerton sits immediately south of the A36 road which links Salisbury with Wilton. Bemerton is a place in change, earlu maps show a simple riverside linear settlement sitting on the northern banks of the River Nadder, today as Salisbury has expanded westwards it has partially engulfed Bemerton, its eastern edge becoming merely a suburb of the city. At the time of this transcript Bemerton would have been a pastoral farming parish, the rich water-meadows of the Nadder providing grazing for mainly cattle, with the city so close some market gardening would also have been present. Modern developments have come to the parish, the railway line from Salisbury to Wilton passing through without granting Bemerton a station. Bemerton is drained eastwards by the Nadder which meets the Avon at Salisbury, the latter heads south passing Ringwood to reach the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour. Bemerton is sited at around 50 metres above the sea in its valley setting, away from the Nadder & Avon land rises onto downlands rise to heights of around 130 metres. Covering just under 1,800 acres Bemerton parish was typically sized for the area, that acreage would have supported around 100 parishioners. In Domesday times Bemerton was equally small, held by Bishop Odo's brother Aldred it mustered just its mill and a small meadow.

The Church

St Andrew's church stands within the fork formed by Lower Road and Church Lane it is a small church constructed in flint with greensand dressings. Pevsner identifies the earliest fabric to be Norman, a blocked doorway on the northern face. It is likely that the core of the nave is also of that vintage but has been much modified in more recent times. The southern doorway and most windows show an expansion of the church during the early 14th century, the Decorated era. In the 17th century the rector was George Herbert, a noted poet and orator, during his time in post the nave acquired a new roof and southern door. More modern changes occurred during the typical Victorian interventions, the first of 1866 added the porch and the western bell-turret whilst the second of 1894 re-roofed the chancel and replaced many of the internal fixtures and fittings. Lower Road, both east & west of the church, offers the better on-street parking, the church sits within only a small churchyard such that the better views are from the street.