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

The Parish

The parish of Wykeham lies in eastern Yorkshire, in the southeastern extremity of the North Riding and forming part of the boundary with the East Riding, roughly 6 miles southwest of the coastal resort of Scarborough. Wykeham village sits on the A170 road which links Scarborough with Pickering but Wykeham parish is a thin strip of land extending northwards for many miles into the southern reaches of the North York Moors. Wykeham village and its near neighbour Ruston are largely set back a little from the busy main road by looping access roads, these twin small villages hold most of the parish population whilst the northern section of the parish holds upland farms and cottages the southern portion is dominated by The Park and the grounds of the 12th century Cistercian nunnery of Wykeham Abbey. The farming economy of the parish was thus diverse, managed parkland where the estate dictated the farming methods through the whole gamut of arable and pastoral area to the rough grazing of the moors. Wykeham is drained by the Ruston Beck which heads south to meet the River Derwent, the latter heads westwards away from the sea joining with all of the Dales rivers to flow back eastwards and to the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Both Wykeham and Ruston sits at around 40 metres above the sea on the edge of the plain formed by the Derwen, land rises steeply northwards onto the North York Moors where local heights top out at 208 metres within the vast tree plantations of Wykeham Forest. Despite being only a thin strip from west to east the parish of Wykeham is so long from north to south it encompasses 7,000 acres within which it would have supported a population of around 600 parishioners. In Domesday times Wykeham stood toward the northern limits of Norman influence, held by King William Wykeham offered 9 ploughs and 6 leagues of woodland but much was undeveloped.

The Church

All Saints' church sits beside the A170 but set into the lane that runs north through the thin parish, it is opposite the lavish hotel and inn of The Downe Arms. The original parish church once stood within the estate of The Park and adjacent to the nunnery, it was dedicated to St Helen, but it was viewed as "a very inconvenient distance from the village". The 7th Viscount Downe, after which family the Inn takes its name, decided to replace it with today's All Saints. Built in 1854 it is thus not the venue for these marriages which would have taken place at St Helen. Only a few stones remain of St Helen. Whilst All Saints is an exclusively modern building it is interesting in having a detached tower forming a gatehouse. The main body of the church is builot in a style recalling that of the 13th century, Early English Gothic. A short area of broader verge lies just north of the gatehouse allowing a relaxed visit. The main body, however, lies surrounded by trees leaving only a few angles available to the photographer.