England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Seend Holy Cross

The Parish

The parish of Seend, until 1873 Seend was merely a chapelry of the mother parish of Melksham, lies in western Wiltshire roughly 4 miles west of the town of Devizes. Seend sits on the A361 road which links Devizes with Trowbridge and is a rather complex settlement, whilst the village of Seend, itself, forms the main cluster, a half mile run of properties lining the A361, subsidiary settlements of Seend Cleeve and Seend Head both lying to the west also occupy the parish. The whole sits on top of a distinct isolated hilltop rising some 50 metres above the surrounding land. Seend's economy would have diversified from the typical farming domination, here it would largely have been pastoral, with cloth and clothing making being important to the village too. Modern developments have come in abundance to the parish, to the north of Seend's ridge-top runs firstly the Kennet & Avon Canal which was challenged by and eventually survived the railway line linking Devizes into the Great Western Railway between Trowbridge & Melksham. Seend is drained westwards by the River Semington, which quickly joins the Avon for the journey through Bath & Bristol to the outer Bristol Channel. At its highest point the ridge-top on which the village sits falls just a metre or two short of 100 metres, standing as an distinct landscape feature above the surrounding land at a general level below 50 metres. Seend parish was created with around 2,700 acres of Melksham parish and would have supported close to 1,000 parishioners. Seend is not specifically mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

Holy Cross church occupies a position south of the A361 accessed by a tightly enclosed lane between fronting properties, the lane dissolves into a footpath beyond the church. Holy Cross is a church built upon the backs of sheep and the wealth their fleeces created for the clothiers and weavers of the village. Whilst the may well have been an early church here today's version is almost entirely a creation of the late medieval period. The church is an essay in the Perpendicular style of the 15th century from its early days shown in the basal stages of the western tower right through to the full flourish of its ashlar bell stages. The northern aisle is the face that greets when emerging from the confines of the approaches, a showy piece as Pevsner notes and funded by the wealthy John Stokys. It has a battlemented porch, many gargoyles and pinnacles and is a splendid example of the Perpendicular style. Later restorations in Victorian times have created a rather more plain southern equivalent, half medieval and half 19th century. Of similar vintage is the chancel which was rebuilt in 1876 as part of a general restoration. The lane leading to the church is just about suitable for parking if confident in confined spaces. The church, itself, sits within an extensive churchyard which has few obstacles for the photographer.