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

The Parish

The parish of Inglesham forms the northeastern corner of Wiltshire and borders in a three-counties meeting with Gloucestershire & Berkshire. Inglesham is located 2 miles south of the Gloucestershire market town of Lechlade and stands on the A361 road which connects Lechlade with Swindon. Inglesham consists of a deserted medieval site and the still populated village of Upper Inglesham just under 2 miles to its south. The parish occupies a neck of land between the courses of the River Cole and Thames, as such it almost totally consisted of pastoral land on the riverside meadows of these two channels. Today most visitors to the medieval site and church come from the Thames Path National Trail which passes through hugging the banks of that river towards a traditional night's stop at Lechlade. Both Thames and Cole drain the parish and they meet to the southeast of Lechlade, the Thames continuing eastwards through Oxford, Reading and the capital to the North Sea. Inglesham is sited at around 70 metres above the sea with Upper Inglesham some 10 metres higher, the landscape is rather flat for some distance with Crouch Hill at a little over 100 metres as something of an anomaly. Inglesham parish was a small one covering barely 900 acres and supporting close to 100 parishioners. Inglesham is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St John's church sits almost on the banks of the Thames to the west of the deserted medieval site and with the Thames Path passing its doors. The church has been deconsecrated and is now managed by the Churches Conservation Trust due to its tiny and declining congregation. For this church to survive relatively untouched is a tribute to one William Morris who's staunch support is well documented by Pevsner. The gem which has been saved dates back to Anglo-Saxon times possibly pre-Conquest and evidenced by the long and short work of the quoins in the southeastern corner of the nave. Of more certain date but still early is the 12th century Norman Romanesque styled southern doorway. The northern equivalent doorway together with the chancel are both representative of the 13th century Early English Gothic period with lancet windows aplenty in the chancel to prove that age. The later medieval period saw the aisles raised in the 15th century whilst in Tudor times the southern aisle was extended. William Morris foiled Victorian attempts to demolish the church and persuaded instead a thorough preserving restoration lasting 6 years between 1886 & 1892 to save the building for us, today. Several prominent signs on the A361 point the way to the church down an unnamed dead-end lane which ends in a concrete parking area. The churchyard is open and uncluttered with no significant obstacles for the photographer,