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

The Parish

The parish of Powick lies in southwestern Worcestershire roughly 3 miles southwest of the city of Worcester. Powick sits on the A449 road which links Worcester with Great Malvern. Powick is a compact village with most properties sitting within the fork formed by the A449 and the the B4224 which leaves that road headed southwards, the parish occupies the area south of the River Teme and along the western banks of the River Severn from their join. In addition to the main village of Powick there are subsidiary settlements (westwards at Bowling & Collett's Greens and southwards at Callow End) which have grown from hamlets to small villages with modern developments. Powick's position on the edges of both the flood plains gave it extensive grazing grounds for cattle, on the drier lands at the heart of the parish, however, it was largely arable and in totality the acreages were roughly equal. Modern developments graze the western edges of the parish, the railway line from Worcester to Great Malvern passing through without granting Powick a station. Both Teme and Severn merge at the northeast corner of the parish and the latter drains the parish southwards raking water through Tewkesbury & Gloucester to the sea through the Bristol Channel. Powick is sited at around 20 metres above the sea, as is Callow End, rising away from the two rivers the parish climbs to just above 60 metres whilst westwards the Malvern Hills loom topped by Worth Hill's 397 metre summit. Powick was a large parish, covering almost 5,200 acres it would have supported a population of around 1,700 parishioners. Even in Domesday times Powick was a large settlement, its 82 households enough to place it amongst the top 20% of settlements by population. Held by Westminster Abbey it had substantial assets too, 27 ploughs were backed by a meadow and 2 mills.

The Church

St Peter's church sits to the east of the A449 accessed by a dead-end lane which terminates at the churchyard from where a flurry of footpaths continue in various directions. St Peter was already a large church as early as c1200 reflecting the relative importance of the settlement in early medieval times. 12th century Norman features are found within both transepts and the southern aisle having fabric dating to this period. The chancel too was constructed by that date but was extended eastwards early in the 13th century, a triplet of stepped lancets testimony to its Early English Gothic credentials. Building was ongoing through the end of the 13th into the 14th with several windows also showing the Decorated style of that period. Much of the remainder of the church is revealed, internally, to be from the later Perpendicular period suggesting a second phase of expansion/rebuild in the 15th century, the 4-bay arcades to the nave showing the style rather well. Also 15th century and Perpendicular is the western tower. The church received the typical Victorian restoration rather early for such work, here it fell between 1841 & 1845 and merely refreshed the church throughout and added the western doorway. A small white sign points the way to the church through white painted wrought-iron gates, the lane swelling at its eastern end into a combined parking and turning circle. Whilst there are quite a few trees obvious from the car park they are largely confined to the periphery of the churchyard allowing some good views even if they require some scouting out by the photographer.