England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
West Rounton St Oswald

The Parish

The parish of West Rounton lies in the extreme north of Yorkshire, within the North Riding and not too far from the border with neighbouring County Durham. West Rounton is located roughly 7 miles north of the market town of Northallerton and sits, in lanes, a little more than 2 miles west of the A19 road which links Teeside with the Great North Road (A1). West Rounton is a relatively small village largely built along a north to south running lane. Like many in this Vale between the North Yorkshire Moors and the Pennines, West Rounton was a small farming community. At the time of this transcript a mixed farming regime of both arable & pastoral which has switched more to arable in recent times. Modern developments have come to West Rounton, albeit without stopping, the East Coast main railway line from London to Edinburgh sending trains whistling back to the west of the village. The parish is drained by the infant River Wiske which heads west and then south to meet the Swale to the south of Northallerton, the latter than heads towards the Humber Estuary and the North Sea merging with the spread of Yorkshire's rivers. West Rounton is sited at around 60 metres above the sea in gentle terrain dominated by the nearby escarpment of the North Yorkshire Moors which rises to 299 metres above Arncliffe Wood. By northern Yorkshire standards West Rounton was a small parish, covering just over 1,400 acres it would have supported a population of just a little more than 150 parishioners. In Domesday times West Rounton was almost at the northern limit of the area covered, as such it was a holding of King William but its assets were barely documented as being merely woodland & pasture.

The Church

St Oswald's church sits towards the south of the village close to where the lane crosses the Wiske and on the eastern side of that lane. The church has ancient origins but these were largely removed by the Victorians. Pevsner note that both the southern doorway and chancel arch are retained from the 12th century Norman Romanesque style but they are the sole documenters for that period. The remainder of the church is the result of a Victorian rebuild from the 1860s, albeit retaining the motifs of the original Norman style. As such it was of little interest to Pevsner who's account is limited to just a few lines of descriptive text. A broad verge runs below the site enabling parking, the church is way above road level with a flight of steeply climbing stairs leading up to the churchyard. Once within there are no major obstacles to the photographer.