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

The Parish

The parish of Nettleton lies in the extreme northwest of Wiltshire forming a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Gloucestershire. Nettleton is located roughly 8 miles northwest of the market town of Chippenham and sits a mile south of the B4039 road, which together with the B4040 link Chippenham with Gloucestershire's Chipping Sodbury. Rather strangely Nettleton, which grants it name to the parish, is actually the smaller of two villages comprising the main settlements and, indeed, does not hold the parish church. Nettleton is a small crossroads village built around a cluster of lanes whilst 3/4s od a mile north lies the village of Burton wherein sits the church and which is the larger settlement with most properties lining the B4039. The eastern boundary of the parish is marked by the ancient Roman route of Fosse Way which here merely follows tiny lanes rather than the major roads that it follows further northeast, it runs from Bath to Lincoln. Early gazetteers indicate a farming system dominated 2:1 by arable over pastoral methods, unusual in a western parish. Modern developments dominate the north of the parish with the modern M4 motorway carving through to the north of Burton en route from London to Bristol. The parish is drained southwards by the headwaters of the By Brook which curves back southwestwards to meet the Avon at Batheaston before passing through Bath & Bristol to the outer Bristol Channel. Both Nettleton and Burton stands at around 120 metres above the sea on a plateau-like surface more or less at the same level for some distance, land gradually rises southwestwards to a local spot height of 172 metres north of nearby Marshfield. Nettleton parish covers a little over 1,900 acres which would have supported a population of around 550 parishioners. Of the twin settlements it was Nettleton which was solely recorded in Domesday Book as a holding of Glastonbury Abbey, its assets of 10 ploughs were backed by typical meadows and woodland but there were also 3 mills making for a substantial rural holding.

The Church

As already mentioned Nettleton parish church actually resides in Burton accessed from the B4039 by the short dead-end lane of Church Hill. Whilst the majority of the medieval fabric of the church is late 14th century or 15th century the origins do go back earlier with a limited range of 13th century Early English Gothic features preserved when the church was enhanced and substantially rebuilt during the great church-building era of the Perpendicular. The 5-bay northern arcade is something of a mystery to Pevsner showing circular piers with Norman detail but probably 13th century rather than genuinely 12th, perhaps a fashion throw-back. Similarly 13th century is the southern doorway. Pretty much everything else is 14th century Perpendicular, a neat and rather typical western tower complete with pinnacles in panelled battlements, attached to nave and chancel with a short southern transept. For once Pevsner fails to mention a Victorian restoration so if one occurred it was clearly light and sensitive. The church is best visited by parking on The Street and approaching down the narrow Church Hill on foot, at its end a narrow entrance squeezes through a wooden gate alongside a neat cottage. Once within the churchyard the photographer will find an open and uncluttered space with no obstacles whatsoever.