England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Heytesbury St Peter & St Paul

The Parish

The parish of Heytesbury lies in southwestern Wiltshire, Heytesbury is a substantial village and former market town situated on the A36 road about 3 miles southeast of the market town of Warminster. The A36 runs from Warminster southeastwards to Salisbury and fortunately now bypasses Heytesbury to its north having formerly run through the village. Heytesbury sits on the northern banks of the River Wylye and most of the properties lie on the former A36 or between it and the present bypass. Apart from a small market Heytesbury would have its own weaving industry utilising the mills powered by the Wylye, otherwise the main income would have come from pastoral farming of sheep on the surrounding hills and cattle in the valley pastures. Further prosperity grew when a rail line was built through the Wylye valley but Heytesbury's station no longer is operational. The Wylye drains southeastwards to join the Wiltshire Avon at Salisbury and thence flows south to reach the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour. Heytesbury is sited at around 100 metres above sea level but local tops not too far away are double that height and the broad expanses of Salisbury Plain lie just north of the village. There are many archaeological features within the parish of Heytesbury typical of this ancient landscape. Heytesbury parish was large even by Wiltshire standards and included the chapelry of Tytherington lying to its southwest, the area was almost 3,400 acres and the parish supported a population of over 1,300 parishioners. In Domesday times this was a much smaller place, it was held directly by the King but could only offer a pair of ploughs.

The Church

St Peter & St Paul's church sits alongside the route of the former A36 now High Street and sits at the junction of that street with Tytherington Road. The church appears to be a large and impressive structure of the 13th to early 16th centuries, the mixture of styles being typical of those evolving in a small market town church. Pevsner, however, bemoans the restoration (he condemns it as "over-restored") of the 1860s which has lost much of the dating detail of the building. The church has an early layout with a central crossing tower which is usually indicative of an early church. There are features remaining which place the chancel in the 13th and the tower has bell-openings of the Decorated style, the latest pieces, if original, are the Perpendicular windows of the clerestory. The building sits in a broad churchyard but is curiously butted up against the boundary wall alongside Tytherington Road. The principal entrance is off that road on the south side of the building where a metal gateway breaches the low stone wall that surrounds the churchyard. There are few restrictions within the site but the eastern end is rather hemmed in by road and buildings.