England
& Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index |
The ParishThe parish of Orcheston St George lies in south central Wiltshire about 8 miles west of the small market town of Amesbury. Orcheston is, today, a single, if somewhat linear, village which sits a half mile east of the A360 which connects Amesbury with Devizes. Orcheston was previously two discrete villages of Orcheston St George & Orcheston St Mary but whilst both churches survive there is only a single village with a ling strip joining the two, relatively small hamlets. Of the two settlements St George was the southernmost. Orcheston St George sits in the chalky hills northwest of one of Britain's most famous archaeological monuments as the wonder that is Stonehenge and its surrounding ritual landscape is merely a few miles away. At the time of this transcript Orcheston St George would have been a farming community dominated by grazing of sheep on the rounded downs of the area. Nowadays a more threatening presence lies just above the twin village, commandeered by the military in World War II and still retained is the vast Salisbury Plain Army Ranges with much of the parish subject to restricted access. The headwaters of the River Till rise in the village and flow southwards soon joining the Wylye and then the Wiltshire Avon to reach the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour. Orcheston St George sits at around 90 metres above the sea but land rises all around to the "Plain" which sits at or close to 150 metres. Orcheston St George parish had a rather unusual shape being reminiscent of a backward "L", a north to south strip being augmented westwards by a narrow east to west patch, the parish was a fairly typical small Wiltshire parish covering just under 2,400 acres and supporting a population of just under 250 parishioners. The lumping of the two Orchestons is not just a modern phenomenon as they were recorded as one in Domesday Book, two landholders (perhaps they reflect the two villages), Osbern Giffard & Edward of Salisbury, collectively the twin parishes totalled just 7 ploughs and some meagre pastures. |
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Register No | Covering Dates | Deposited With | Register Style | Quality Standard | Comments |
1 | 2nd January 1756 - 9th April 1810 | Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre - Reference - PR/232/1/5 | Standard preprinted and self-numbered combined Banns & Marriage register with 4 entries per page | Grade 1 Register - Few issues noted and a low likelihood of misreads | None |
2 | 15th December 1813 - 21st July 1836 | Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre - Reference - PR/232/1/6 | Standard Rose style preprinted and prenumbered Marriage register | Grade 1 Register - Few issues noted and a low likelihood of misreads | None |
Orcheston
St Mary
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Orcheston
St Mary
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Shrewton
St Mary
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Maddington
St Mary
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Maddington
St Mary
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Shrewton
St Mary
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1760 1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830
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