England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Sneaton St Hilda

The Parish

The parish of Sneaton lies in northeastern Yorkshire not too far from its North Sea coastline. Sneaton is located roughly 2 miles south of the port & town of Whitby and sits just over a mile east of the A169 road that links Whitby with Pickering. Sneaton is a small crossroads village sitting on the fore-slopes that rise onto the North York Moors, it sits within the National Park area that protects those moorland habitats. At the time of this transcript there would have been an economy underpinned by quarrying of the local stone which was valued for its strength and used for building stone, in addition the land would have been largely farmed in pastoral methods with cattle on lower and richer pastures but sheep on the higher and poorer grazing. Today the area is much visited for its scenery and for the industrial heritage of its steam railway line, that line runs from Whitby to Pickering and is one of the area's main tourist attractions, nearby Ruswarp having a station on the line. Several steep sided valleys holding becks race down to join the Esk which then passes through Whitby to the North Sea. Sneaton is sited at around 100 metres above the sea land quickly rises to the south onto moorland reaching 206 metres on nearby Fylingdales Moor whilst to the west Black Brow reaches 289 metres as the highest ground nearby. Sneaton parish was typical of many upland parish in being extensive, it covered around 4,600 acres of which over 2,000 were described as "waste", a term for unimproved upland grazing, that acreage would have supported a population of close to 200 parishioners. Whilst Sneaton does have an entry in Domesday Book it is a regional entry and not specific to the manor which had only 3 households.

The Church

St Hilda's church sits tucked away behind fronting properties in the northeastern quadrant of the village. As can readily be seen this is not some medieval edifice rather it was built between 1823 & 1825 to replace a medieval predecessor which had fallen into "a dilapidated state", according to early gazetteers, thus it is not the venue for the majority of these marriages. The main body has a nave and a shorter chancel augmented with a southern porch but it is the western tower that is the church's centrepiece. Topped with an octagonal belfry and a further pinnacle it is a landmark for the area. Beacon way is the best street for parking as the church is accessed by tracks through the properties to its churchyard, trees crowd the eastern end but otherwise there are uninterrupted views for the photographer.