England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Bricklehampton St Michael

The Parish

The chapelry of Bricklehampton, its mother parish being St Andrew, Pershore from which it is detached, lies in southeastern Worcestershire roughly 3 miles southeast of the town of Pershore, it stands about 1 1/2 miles south of the B4084 road which links Pershore with Evesham. Bricklehampton is a small and compact village dominated by the estate of Bricklehampton Hall, a mid-19th century Italianate country house. The village stands upon a plain north of the isolated knoll of Bredon Hill and would have been largely a pastoral farming parish. Bricklehampton is drained northwards by small brooks which lead to the Avon from where water turns westwards to Tewkesbury and the Severn returning south through Gloucester to reach the sea through the Bristol Channel. Bricklehampton is sited at around 50 metres above the sea but southward Bredon Hill rises to 290 metres forming a dramatic southern landmark. Bricklehampton chapelry had just 859 acres assigned to it which would have supported a population of close to 150 parishioners, In Domesday times Bricklehampton was equally small, held by Westminster Abbey it held just 6 ploughs and a small meadow as its assets.

The Church

St Michael's church stands roughly midway through the short run of properties forming the village,. it is tucked away between fronting properties and accessed along a shady pathway between them. This is a church that was virtually rebuilt in Victorian times with only small pieces of the original medieval church remaining reused or built around. The earliest remaining fabric is the 12th century Norman Romanesque southern doorway, to its east sits a retained 13th century Early English Gothic window. Pevsner states that the nave and its roof are medieval declining to identify specifically the period. The Victorian work was phased in two conjoined phases, 1875 saw the rebuilding of the chancel and addition of a northern vestry, the remainder of the church was restored in 1876 &1877 with the timber southern porch and the distinctive short western tower complete with saddleback roof also added to complete the church. The verge has been totally worn to earth where the lychgate sits marking the entry, a safe parking spot on a narrow lane. From the lychgate a shady path leads to the churchyard, the churchyard is narrow from north to south making for tricky landscape shots, best viewed along the church, angles from both west and east are not impeded.