England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Rowde St Matthew

The Parish

The parish of Rowde lies in western central Wiltshire roughly 2 miles northwest of the town of Devizes. Rowde sits on the A342 road which links Devizes with Chippenham. Rowde is a large village built around the junction of the A342 with the B3101, a short linking road, most properties lie alongside either of these roads. Rowde sits on the lower ground below the hill on which Devizes sits, an area of once marshy ground that lead to the parish being dominated by pastoral farming, early gazetteers estimated that pastures covered 70% of the parish acreage with only a relatively small portion set to crops, the ratio has moved towards the latter in more recent times but it remains a pastoral area. Modern developments have come to the parish, to the south lies the "everest" of canals, the infamous Caen Hill Locks on the Kennet & Avon Canal which has 29 locks rising 237 feet  over a distance of 2 miles as the canal climbs up to Devizes, nowadays a tourist site as gongoozlers watch the narrow-boats climbing the lock staircase. The branch railway line from Devizes to Trowbridge followed a similar line but has closed leaving only its infrastructure to mark it former existence. Rowde is drained westwards by the Semington Brook which merges with others to meet the River Avon which passes through Bradford on Avon, Bath & Bristol to reach the Bristol Channel. Rowde is sited at around 70 metres above the sea with eastern views dominated by the escarpment rising to Roundway Hill at 242 metres. Rowde parish was quite a large parish for this area covering almost 2,700 acres which would have supported a population of around 1,100 parishioners. Domesday Rowde was a more modest manor of just 28 households held by one Alfred of Marlborough it offered 8 ploughs, meadows & woodland and had 2 mills.

The Church

At the western end of Rowde the A342 performs a sharp right-angled bend to leave the village in a northerly direction, from that bend a footpath leads between properties to the churchyard of St Matthew's church, the church being hidden from the road. Whilst the church was once a medieval church it was substantially rebuilt during Georgian times between 1831 & 1833 leaving only the tall and slender western tower remaining untouched. The tower dates from the Perpendicular period of the late 14th or early 15th century. The medieval chancel was also left but was highly modified as to become almost a Georgian version. Between the two stands an 18th century nave complete with aisles and a lofty clerestory. A few parking bays sit outside the George & Dragon Inn to the east of the path and more in Cock Road to its west, the path leads between properties to a substantial churchyard which together with the playground creates a remarkable hidden green space unseen from the main road, the churchyard has no obstacles whatsoever to concern the photographer.