England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Tunstall All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Tunstall lies in the extreme southeast of Yorkshire forming a stretch of the county's North Sea coastline. Tunstall is located roughly 5 miles north of the small town of Patrington and sits about 1 1/5 miles east of the B1242 road which links Hornsea with Withernsea. The Holderness coastline on which Tunstall sits is one which is rapidly eroding due to being underpinned by soft sedimentary sands and clays, the parish has lost much land to the waves over the centuries. The village consists of a single long street of properties lying parallel to the coastline and currently a quarter of a mile inland. The easily worked soils formed on the geology makes for very good quality arable land and early gazetteers estimated almost 80% of the parish acreage as set to arable. Tunstall is drained by small streams which flow to the nearby sea through Tunstall Drain. Tunstall is sited at around 15 metres above the sea in gentle terrain, a few spots approach 25 metres but most land is at or below the same height. Tunstall parish was a small farming parish of just under 1,200 acres which supported a population of close to 150 parishioners. Domesday Tunstall was a much larger settlement held by Drogo de la Beuvriere offering 16 ploughs and a small meadow, a hint as to what the relentless sea has claimed in the intervening period.

The Church

All Saints' church sits on the eastern side of the village's main street with fields beyond to the nearby clifftops. The proximity of the beach has led to much use of beach-cobbles in its construction. There is documentary evidence that a church has existed here since 1115 and that evidence is backed up by 12th century Norman Romanesque fabric in the original northern wall of the chancel which also carries a priest's door and lancet window from the 13th century Early English Gothic period. Much else is mixture of both 14th century styles, the Decorated is shown in the arch between chancel and nave together with the northern arcade whilst the southern arcade, clerestory and western tower are from the later Perpendicular period. In 1874 the church received a substantial Victorian restoration which virtually rebuilt the remaining portions of the chancel, added the brick southern porch and generally renovated the remainder. The main street has a broad grassy verge allowing safe on-street parking outside the entrance through white-painted wooden gates at the southern end of the churchyard. The churchyard is open and uncluttered with no significant obstacles for the photographer.