England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Droitwich St Peter

The Parish

The town of Droitwich lies in central Worcestershire roughly 7 miles north of the county town of Worcester. As a substantial town Droitwich was separated into 3 distinct parishes, of which St Peter's parish constituted the southeastern portion of the town. Droitwich sits on the A38 road, fortunately it nowadays follows a bypass to the west of the town, which connects Worcester onward to Birmingham and which follows an ancient Roman Road for much of the path through Worcestershire, it was at that road's crossing of the River Salwarp that the town grew. Droitwich has a long history, much of it derived from the exploitation of the town's saline springs. Even in Saxon times it was a major centre for the extraction of salt from brine springs and as will be seen below its salt production made it one of the largest settlements recorded in Domesday Book. By the early 18th century salt production had risen to 50,000 tons per annum, it was later, however, that the medicinal value of brine immersion was discovered, said to have developed during a cholera outbreak of 1832 and which lead to spa baths in the town and the town acquired its suffix as Droitwich Spa. In parallel with the exploitation of salt the town became a local market, said market being granted by the mid-12th century. Modern developments have come to Droitwich in abundance, the Droitwich canal connecting the town with the nearby Severn opened in 1771 and a railway arrived in 1847, even in more recent times the modern M5 motorway passes nearby to the east. The salt production has now ceased within the town, the last works closing in 1922 to leave a less industrial and more pleasant town which nowadays resembles more closely a mid-sized market town. The River Salwarp drains the town westwards into the nearby Severn where water turns south to reach the sea through the Bristol Channel. Droitwich is sited at between 30 metres, by the river, and 50 metres above the sea whilst land rises gently to almost 70 metres eastwards within a couple of miles. St Peter's parish covered the southeastern quadrant of the town and covered an area of roughly 600 acres, it was the middle sized parish population-wise holding roughly 700 parishioners. In Domesday times Droitwich was shared by no less than 10 landholders with 6 of those landholdings in the hands of abbeys, King William retained the greater share. Collectively all of those holdings could offer an impressive 36 ploughs but it was the salthouses that made Droitwich so attractive, 20 salthouse are recorded along with 3 mills, a wealthy place indeed.

The Church

St Peter'c church (St Peter de Whitton to give it its full name) sits roughly a half mile southeast of the old town centre, not too far from the M5 motorway and separated from the main body of the town by St Peter's Fields, it is accessed by St Peter's Church Lane or by footpaths crossing the open space from the town. The church has ancient origins having been founded by the Augustinian priory that sat here. Whilst the church was founded in or around the middle of the 12th century it has been renewed and extended repeatedly over the centuries. From the basal build of Norman Romanesque work one finds the chancel together with the chancel arch. The early 13th century sees styles change to early English Gothic which is represented by both the southern aisle and the southern transept. From the Decorated period of the late 13th century one finds the northern transept and most of the nave windows were replace at this time. The Perpendicular period saw the construction of the western tower and later still the insertion of a clerestory to improve internal lighting. Further work followed in Georgian and Victorian times, in 1825 the southern porch was added, in 1853 as part of a general restoration the vestry appeared and as recently as the early 1970s a parish room was added to complete today's church. A veritable hotch-potch of styles and periods. At the western end of St Peter's Church Lane and to the right of the lychgate there sits a large car park for use of users of the open space of St Peter's Fields and also for visiting the church. The churchyard has many trees but they are grouped largely to the west and whilst restricting some of the angles the favoured southeastern aspect remains for the photographer.