England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Wharram le Street St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Wharram le Street lies in southern Yorkshire towards the northwestern corner of the East Riding. Wharram le Street is located roughly 7 miles southeast of the town of Malton and sits on the B1248 road which links Malton with Beverley. Wharram le Street is a tiny place sat at a crossroads high on the Yorkshire Wolds, a small cluster of properties sit to the north of the junction and either side of the B1248 with the parish church tucked away behind them. The wider parish is dotted with isolated farmsteads and cottages. The Wolds, at the time of this transcript, were traditionally the home of sheep grazing the sweet turf sitting above the underlying chalk, today there is much more arable on the hilltops but sheep remain the mainstay of the steeper slopes in the mainly dry valleys. Modern developments have come and gone from the parish, a branch railway line linking Malton with Great Driffield once passed along the valley to Wharram le Street's west but has closed and been largely dismantled. Whilst most of the valleys are dry that to the west has a stream draining the parish northwards, once out of the hills it becomes the Settrington Beck before meeting the Derwent to the northeast of Malton, the Derwent reverses the direction of flow headed southwest to join with the Dales' rivers in passing into the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Wharram le Street is sited 140 metres above the sea, several spots close by exceed the 170 metre contour whilst a spot height of 213 metres sits astride the B1248 further southeast as the highest ground around. Covering 1,600 acres Wharram le Street parish was typically sized for the area, that acreage would have supported around 150 parishioners. In Domesday Book Wharram le Street is recorded as "waste" impacted by the "harrowing of the north" it only had a small meadow as an asset for ts landholder Count Robert of Mortain.

The Church

St Mary's church sits behind the properties which line the western side of the B1248 and is accessed by a rough track. The church dates back to the earliest times of stone-built churches with its western tower potentially as early as the 11th century, Pevsner describes it as coming from the Saxo-Norman overlap period of either late 11th or early 12th century with the basal portion undoubtedly earlier. Whilst the main body is also 12th century, together with the tower arch and western doorway, it was added to in the 14th century by the creation of the 2-bay northern aisle. It must be stated, however, that all of these early features have been subject to extensive Victorian restoration. The work of 1862 - 1864 was substantial, besides restoring the tower and nave it also completely rebuilt the chancel and the southern wall of the nave as well as adding the southern porch. A western bay to the northern aisle was also added in the 19th century but not part of this work. The track to the church starts a few metres north of the crossroads, passes between cottages and widens outside the churchyard where turning and parking may be found, the churchyard has no obstacles whatsoever for the photographer.