England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Bulford St Leonard

The Parish

The parish of Bulford lies in eastern Wiltshire, indeed it forms a small part of the border with neighbouring Hampshire. Bulford is located about 2 miles north of the market town of Amesbury and on the banks of the River Avon just north of the busy A303 (London to Exeter) road. In the past Bulford would have had a mixed pastoral farming regime, as a riverside settlement there would have been lush pastures in the Avon valley, but Bulford sits within the chalk area of Salisbury Plain and these lighter and poorer soils would have supported vast sheep ranges. Nowadays Bulford has a rather different role, it is surrounded with the military encampments and ranges of the Salisbury Plain military training area. The small village is dominated by the soldier's quarters which form sprawling small towns around the area. The Avon is heading due south on its journey to the English Channel at Christchurch Harbour, for much of its course it forms the border of Hampshire with Wiltshire and Dorset. Bulford is sited at around 80 metres above the sea but to east and west the chalk downs rise to almost twice that height. Bulford parish was of a fairly typical size for the area, approaching almost 3,000 acres it would have supported over 350 parishioners. In Domesday times the land was held by Amesbury Abbey and supported and held 8 ploughs as well as 2 mills.

The Church

St Leonard's church sits on the western edge of Bulford close to the crossing of the River Avon by the A3028, Bulford's main street - its sits on the junction of that road with (appropriately enough) Church Street. The immediate draw to one's eye is the strange squat southern tower, not only is it in an unusual position (west being the norm) but also it is of an unusual form, the tower is short such that it doesn't exceed the height of the nave. Pevsner is reticent on its date, prevaricating between a Norman or Early English date. Much else of the church is of that latter date, many lancet windows typical of the 13th century dot the building. Of a more modern date is the north transept of 1855 which date also holds for the usual Victorian restoration. The church, on its corner site, is enclosed by neatly clipped waist height hedges with gap at both the southeastern & southwestern corners giving access. The site is almost totally open and there are no restrictions to photography.