England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Luckington St Mary & St Ethelbert

The Parish

The parish of Luckington lies in the extreme northwest of Wiltshire, indeed it forms part of the border with neighbouring Gloucestershire. Luckington is located about 7 miles southwest of the market town of Malmesbury. Luckington sits on the B4040 road which links Malmesbury to the Gloucestershire market town of Chipping Sodbury, it is a compact village grouped around a crossroads of that road with three other lanes. Luckington sits in Jurassic Limestone country on the eastern side of the Cotswold Hills, the landscape is dominated by the stone walls of limestone which divide up the fields hereabouts. The parish would have had a mixed farming regime with some pastoral farming (chiefly sheep) along with some arable although the soils would have been a little thin for high productivity. Luckington sits on one of the tributaries of the River Avon which here flows northeastwards before turning almost full circle to eventually flow westwards through Bristol to the Bristol Channel. Luckington sits at around 120 metres above sea level, the land hereabouts sloping gently to the east on the dip slope of the limestone. The parish was of a typical size for the area covering just over 1,600 acres and it would have supported about 300 parishioners. In Domesday times the land was shared between one Durand of Gloucester and Ralph of Mortimer, it supported 8 ploughs as well as meadows, pastures and woodland and a mill.

The Church

St Mary & St Ethelbert's church sits to the northeast of the village centre in a parkland setting close to the Queen Anne style Luckington Court. A curious arrangement of driveways and footpaths lead to the church from Church Road. The church is a mixture of three eras, the original building probably dates from the late 12th and early 13th centuries as evidence by the south arcade and (unusually sited) north tower, the nave and south aisle are later and in the Perpendicular style of the late 14th century, finally the northern porch is 18th century and the chancel dates from Victorian times. In short a typical English church much changed and added to over the centuries. Pevsner complains of over-restoration ( a common complaint from him) but despite this the building has a harmony. The church is approached along a footpath of several hundred yards before the churchyard, enclosed by a limestone wall, is reached. A metal gateway gives access, there are many mature trees alongside the wall and although there is some interference with good photography angles this is not major.