England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Marton cum Moxby St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Marton cum Moxby (also known as Marton in the Forest) lies in the southern part of the North Riding of Yorkshire. Marton cum Moxby lies about 6 miles southeast of the market town of Easingwold. Marton cum Moxby, as its name suggests comprises two separate settlements Marton in the Forest and the deserted mediaeval site of Moxby. The former sits on the broad lane which heads eastwards from the B1363 road, this road connects Helmsley with York, from Stillington towards Sheriff Hutton, Moxby lies about a mile south on the banks of the River Foss. There is not much of a settlement to either place, Marton is the larger but still consists merely of farms and scattered cottages there being no defined village as such. The area is gently undulating and quite low lying, it would have been devoted largely to pastoral farming at the time of this transcript. Nowadays the area is increasingly arable as heavy machinery makes working the land easier. The River Foss who's course runs through the parish is heading southwards to join the Ouse at York and ultimately to reach the North Sea through the Humber estuary. Marton is located at about 60 metres above sea level, Moxby is much lower at 30 metres. The joint parish is still quite a small one for northern Britain and it would have supported a mere 170 parishioners. In Domesday times the parish was held by one Count Robert of Mortain and supported just 6 ploughs together with meadow and woodland.

The Church

St Mary's church sits alongside the main lane running through Marton on its northern side opposite a prominent farm. Regrettably the building was rather over-restored by the Victorians, Pevsner describes it as "violently restored". This rather extreme treatment rather masks what is largely a church of the Perpendicular period and quite late in that period too. The rather squat tower Pevsner places as 16th century. He also alludes, however to a much earlier building which has been adapted as the chancel arch he believes to be Norman and hence 12th century. The church sits behind hedges and a neat wooden gate gives access to a graveyard that has fairly open and unrestricted photographic angles.