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

The Parish

The parish of Cherry Burton lies in southeastern Yorkshire roughly 3 miles northwest of the town of Beverley. Cherry Burton sits about 1 1/2 miles north of the A1079 road which connects Beverley with Market Weighton. Cherry Burton is a mid-sized crossroads village with most properties clustered around it main junction of lanes, to the east of the main area lies the church and Cherry Burton Hall. The village has expanded in the 20th century with modern suburban developments adding area if not character to the village. Like most parishes within Yorkshire's East Riding Cherry Burton was an arable farming parish with soils clay-rich but suitable for the growing of cereals in particular. Modern developments have come and gone from the parish, a branch railway line linking Beverley with Market Weighton has closed and been re-purposed as a cycleway. Cherry Burton is drained eastwards mostly by man-made surface field drains with no defined streams until the River Hull is reached that river heads southwards taking water through the port of Hull to the outer Humber Estuary. Cherry Burton is sited at around 30 metres above the sea, land rises gently westwards onto the Yorkshire Wolds but reaches only 110 metres within 3-4 miles of Cherry Burton. Cherry Burton parish was quite extensive covering a little over 3,400 acres and supporting a population of close to 450 parishioners. In Domesday times Cherry Burton was largely held by the Archbishop of York and was a relatvely small place offering just 6 ploughs as assets.

The Church

St Michael's church sits at the eastern end of the village on the southern side of Main Street where it performs an abrupt right-angles bend around the former estate of Cherry Burton Hall. Sadlt the medieval church which once stood here and was described by early gazetteers as "a small ancient edifice with a square tower, has traces of Norman and early English architecture" was, despite repair in 1842, demolished and replaced by today's church built in 1853 and which was obviously not the venue for these marriages. Today's church is built in the faux-Early English Gothic style of the 13th century and consists of nave and chancel augmented with a northern aisle and porch, a southern vestry and a western tower. Despite the late origin of the church the vestry was enlarged in 1899 and in 1993 meeting rooms were added in contrasting brick and slate. At the western end, outside the lychgate for entry, there is space for a car or two to get off-street. The church is rather dominated in southern views by the modern meeting rooms rendering these views disappointing, all other angles are available, however, for the photographer.