England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Marden All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Marden lies almost centrally within Wiltshire and sits roughly 5 miles southwest of the small market town of Pewsey. Marden is one of a series of spring-line settlements running along the base of the escarpment formed by chalk with most sitting slightly north of the A342 road which links Devizes with the A345 (Pewsey to Amesbury) road. Marden is a linear village stretching for over a half mile either side of the infant River Avon with most properties lining the street to the south of the river. Marden has an ancient history as archaeologists have located a late Neolithic henge site, an oval structure enclosing roughly35 acres, just to the northeast of the village and associated with the Avon. Like most of the parishes along the A342 the parish consists of a narrow strip of land from east to west yet elongated from north to south to take in each of the available land-forms from high chalk downland, home of sheep, to the vale of the Avon with a mixture of both arable and cattle-dominated pastoral methods. The Avon initially drains the parish eastwards where it is met by its twin head-water arriving from the Pewsey area, thus enlarged it carves through the chalk ridge southwards passing through Amesbury and Salisbury to eventually reach the English Channel at Christchurch Harbour. Marden is sited at around 110 metres above the sea but views southwards are dominated by the escarpment topped by the local White Horse Trail at around 213 metres on Redthorn Hill. Despite its skinny dimension east to west Marden parish still covered around 1,300 acres and would have supported a population of close to 200 parishioners. Marden in Domesday times was held by one Hugh, a son of Baldric, and was a typical rural manor offering 7 ploughs backed by pastures and woodland and the Avon supplied the water for a mill.

The Church

All Saints' church sits towards the northern end of the village, west of The Street and tucked away behind fronting properties. Despite the familiar attention of Victorian restorers enough remains of All Saints to demonstrate its early connections. Enough fabric remains from the 12th century Norman Romanesque period to place its origins into that century. The southern doorway is a fine example of the workmanship of this century, Pevsner describing its carving as "lavish". The chancel arch too is a splendid piece of original 12th century work with Pevsner elaborating the details of its chevron work and scalloped capitals to the shafts. Adjoining the main body of the church westwards is the early 14th century tower complete with a stair-turret, the tower is in the Decorated style of the 1st half of the 14th century. Whilst the nave is originally of the 12th century it was rebuilt onto the original walls during the 15th century which is also the date for the main body of the chancel except here the rebuild came in 1885 as part of the Victorian restoration which also re-ordered the topmost stage of the tower along with a general refresh. Parking may be found at intervals along The Street with the churchyard accessed between cottages through a pair of metal gates, a tree-lined pathway leads to the church. Sadly for the photographer the trees continue up to the southern face of the church removing the favoured aspects, all other angles are clear, however.