England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Bolton Abbey St Mary & St Cuthbert

The Parish

The chapelry of Bolton Abbey, its mother parish being Skipton, lies in western central Yorkshire within the northern half of the West Riding. Bolton Abbey is located roughly 6 miles east of the town of Skipton and sits about 1 mile north of the A59 road which links Skipton with Harrogate. Bolton Abbey takes its name from the Augustinian foundation and is, in fact, a misnomer that institution being merely a priory and not an abbey. Alice de Romille founded the priory in c1154 and the canons managed the land surrounding for almost 400 years. The priory was almost destroyed in the early 14th century by raiding Scots but recovered until finally ended by King Henry VIII's dissolution. The priory canon's church was converted to a chapelry and the remainder became a picturesque ruin and a major tourist attraction for the area. Bolton Abbey sits on a terrace of land on the western banks of the River Wharfe formed by deposition of sediment from the Hambleton Beck, the site is beautiful and park-like and comes with attractions besides the ruin priory, the stepping stone crossing of the Wharfe is always popular whilst the treacherous constriction upstream of The Strid hopefully deters all but the most foolhardy as the entire river is effectively stood on end to flow through the narrow but very deep gap. The area of the chapelry is upland and pastoral farming together with some mineral extraction would have dominated the economy, cattle in the better pastures whilst the moorland grazing supported only hardy sheep. Today the area makes the most of its attractions as day-trippers flock to the ruins, day hikers climb the local hills and others traverse the Dales Way National Trail whilst canoeing and fishing dominate the water. Adding to the local attractions is the one modern development, the branch railway line which once linked Skipton with Ilkley is nowadays run a s a heritage steam line, the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway and is a very pleasant way to arrive from its scenic course. Bolton Abbey is drained southeastwards by the Wharfe which passes through Ilkley, Otley & Wetherby before meeting up with the other Dales rivers to pass into the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Bolton Abbey is sited at about 100 metres above the sea at the priory site, across the Wharfe to the east, however, fells rise to over 400 metres at the Rocking Stone on Brown Bank Head and 449 metres at the Earl's Seat on Carncliff Top. Roughly 3,000 acres of Skipton parish were assigned to Bolton Abbey which only supported a population of close to 150 parishioners, the volume of marriages recorded is a tribute to the popularity of the site as a marriage venue being almost 10 times the expected volume. Whilst Bolton Abbey is recorded in Domesday Book as a holding of King William it had no population and was described as waste as a consequence of the "harrowing of the north".

The Church

The priory and today's parish church, it was made a full parish in 1864, is served by a substantial car park which is readily met when approaching from the south from the A59 as most visitors will arrive. From there it is a picturesque walk once the gift shops and cafes have been negotiated. Much of the fabric of the church was created as part of the building of the priory and a range of dates is represented, the earliest area surviving from the last 30 years of the 12th century is the can's church's presbytery in the position one would expect for a chancel. Quite why building on the church ceased from c1190 to the mid 13th century is a mystery but Pevsner speculates that the need was to complete the domestic facilities of the priory once a place of worship was in place. The nave, which had been begun in the 12th century, was completed in 13th together with the northern aisle both in the Early English Gothic style. The church's western front is the most ornate that can be imagined and is a work of great style from the mid-13th century. The western tower was the final piece to be completed and was only begun some 20 years before the dissolution and in the Perpendicular style. This summary by necessity is just that, Pevsner's text runs over 3 entire pages and for those interested has all of the intricate details of the supposed order of construction and architectural interest, the church repays a visit with the great man's book in hand to fully appreciate its complexity. The main obstacle for photography is the sheer volume of visitors making it difficult to record the building without including members of the public otherwise there are no physical obstacles marring the favoured aspects.