Churches

Churches This page has pictures and information of churches where members of the family were Christened or Married
St Peter's Church, Boxted, Essex
	The church known as ST. PETER since 1848, formerly St. Mary, has a chancel, nave with north and south aisles, south porch, and west tower. Built primarily of rubble with puddingstone and Roman brick, the nave, chancel arch, and tower are early 12th-century. The out lines of the original high windows remain above the north arcade. The aisles were probably added in the mid 14th century when the clerestory and the surviving crown-post nave roof were made. About the same time the small west window in the tower was replaced, and two windows were inserted in the east wall of the nave above the chancel arch. John Warren and Harriett Lilley were married here on 31st January 1871.

Parish Church of St Luke, Stoke Hammond
The church of ST. LUKE consists of a chancel, central tower, north and south transepts, nave, south porch and small modern north vestry. There was apparently an early church here consisting of a chancel and nave, the eastern angle of the south wall of the latter being still visible in the east wall of the south transept. In the middle of the 14th century the church assumed its present cruciform plan, the chancel being rebuilt and enlarged, and the central tower and transepts added. Standing on high ground at the north end of the village, it is approached through an avenue of lime trees. In the churchyard there are two yew trees planted in 1687. Charles Foster and Hannah Stevens were married here on 10th December 1855.

St Marks Church, Clerkenwell
	Saint Mark's has stood in Myddelton Square, witnessing to the glory of God, for 178 years. In 1781, the Prince Regent (later George IV) urged Parliament to provide new churches for the rapidly expanding population of London. In 1822 the Rev'd Thomas Handley of the parish of Saint James, Clerkenwell, reported that "the parish contains about 36,000 inhabitants and there is not accommodation in the two parochial churches and chapel for more than one tenth that number". William Chadwell Mylne, Surveyor to the New River Company, prepared plans for a "neat gothic church", following his development of the surrounding New River Estate in Finsbury in the 1820s. The first stone was laid in April 1825; Saint Mark's cost about £16,000 to build; and it was consecrated by the Bishop of London, Dr William Howley (later Archbishop of Canterbury) on Tuesday 1st January, 1828. The west tower is a handsome and important feature in the townscape with commanding views across London, and is floodlit at night. Frederick Wormald and Sarah Rebecca Woodman were married here 19th November 1874.

St Michaels Church, Wood Green
St Michael's stands majestically at the top of Jolly Butcher's Hill on the junction of High Road and Bounds Green Road N22. Its undoubtedly one of the most significant and architecturally important buildings of Wood Green. Before 1843 the people of Wood Green would walk all the way over to All Hallows, Tottenham to worship. In 1843 however, they made a request for a church of their own. St Michael’s Chapel of Ease was built to designs by Messrs Scott (later Sir Gilbert) and Moffatt, and was consecrated on October 3rd 1844. The land the church had been built on was not very stable though and the building began to crack. Around the same time the population of the area was increasing rapidly, and the church was considered far too small. In 1859 it was decided to demolish the old church and build a much larger Nave – the Nave we see today. In 1871 a new Chancel was added, and a Tower in 1874 followed by a Spire in 1887 designed by Sir Gilbert Scott. Henry Porter and Louisa Wood were married here on 19 June 1886.

St Mary's Church, Reading
	The church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN consists of a chancel with a modern north organ chamber and quire vestry, out of which opens an octagonal clergy vestry, a modern south chancel aisle, a nave, a modern north aisle, the eastern end of which was originally a north transept, a south aisle, a west tower, and a south porch. Little can be said of the early history of the existing building, the original church having been altered on several occasions and having suffered badly from the 19th-century restoration, when in 1863 the church underwent a thorough restoration, the chancel was entirely rebuilt, and the chancel aisle and priest's vestry were added, and the quire vestry built. In 1872 the building was again enlarged by the addition of the north aisle. George Baker and Maria Knight were married here on 24th June 1855. George Hopkins and Sarah Harris were married here on 11th May 1856.

Wincanton Baptist Church
A Baptist church was formed in 1829 by members of a breakaway Congregational meeting. The first chapel, licensed in 1830 and called the Union chapel, was a galleried building in Oborn's Yard, off the north side of High Street. In 1832 a new chapel was built in Mill Street which was opened in 1833 and is still in use today. George Day, minister 1829-57, had been a plasterer and is said to have worked at Fonthill Abbey and to have been responsible for the ceiling of the Mill Street chapel. Attendance in 1851 was 120 adults and 100 children in the morning and 180 in the evening. The chapel is a rendered building with a slate roof and a Doric porch. It stands in a small burial ground. The Sunday school was built in 1887. William Edwin Jerrett and Elizabeth Warren were married here on 12th January 1901.

Parish Church, Down St Mary, Devon
	The present restored church was erected probably in the 14th century, but before this there existed a Saxon church, remains of which can be seen in the present building. The most remarkable of these is to be found in the tympanum of the south door, said to date from Saxon times, and representing a male figure in the centre and animals on either side. The church consists of chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch, and west tower containing three bells, two dated 1677 and 1754 respectively. As we enter the church we notice the Norman arches and pillars, the latter are monoliths with tracery on the capitals, the font is of granite and of the same date as the pillars, so it would seem probable that the main part of the building is not of later date than the 12th century. The south wall has been entirely rebuilt and faced with stones of various colours. The sanctuary shows signs of the loving care which has been bestowed upon it. There is a beautiful reredos, the walls have been covered with alabaster, and the clergy stalls face eastwards in the old fashion. The glory of the church is its rood screen. Richard Jerrett and Susan Salter were married here 30th May 1867

St Olave Jewry, City of London
St Olave, Old Jewry was a church in the City of London located between the street called Old Jewry and Ironmonger Lane. It is dedicated to the 11th century patron saint of Norway, St Olaf. Old Jewry was the precinct of medieval London largely occupied and populated by Jews until their expulsion from England in1290. Destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, the church was rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. Rebuilding began in 1671, incorporating much of the medieval walls and foundations. The tower was built separately, projecting from the west of the church. The church was completed in 1679 at a cost of £5,580. Despite being restored in 1879, the body of the church was demolished in 1887 under the Union of Benefices Act. The site was sold for £22,400 and the proceeds used to build St Olave's Manor House. The dead were disinterred and their remains moved to llford and the furnishings dispersed to several other churches. The tower, west wall and part of the north wall were kept and incorporated into a new building which included a rectory for St Margaret Lothbury. This was replaced in 1986 by an office building, in a sympathetic style, designed by the firm of architects Swanke, Hayden, Connell. The churchyard survives as the courtyard to the office building. Henry William Woodford and Eliza Weeks were married here on 1st May 1838.

Christchurch, Cockfosters
	Christchurch Cockfosters was built in 1837-39 when it became a separate parish, and was paid for by Robert Bevan of nearby Trent Park, a partner in Barclays Bank; the Bevan family monument can still be found in the churchyard. In 1898 the orientation of the church was reversed and the chancel, north aisle, transepts and chapels were added by Sir Arthur Blomfield. The church is of stock brick, in Early English Style with a thin tower capped with a spire. The hamlet of Cock Fosters was effectively developed as an estate village for Trent Park and Beech Hill Park and in the 1860s consisted of little more than a collection of cottages north of the main gate to Trent Park on Cockfosters Road, with some larger houses and a pub in Chalk Lane. The 1930s saw the arrival of the Piccadilly Line and substantial housing development at Cockfosters, which by 1939 was firmly part of London's suburbia as far as the station at least. However, north of the church from the junction of Chalk Lane and Cockfosters Road, only a thin ribbon of wealthy properties has been built along the west side of Cockfosters Road, and much of the land to the east is still farmed and rural, largely as a result of the introduction of the Green Belt. The small churchyard to the north of the church has gravestones and some fine monuments among grass, with yew and other trees, roses and shrubs planted; a hedge with holly and hawthorn separates the churchyard from Chalk Lane which has a rusticated gateway at the north-east corner. There a number of interesting C19th monuments near the church, including the large Bevan family tomb. Eric Foster and Patricia Wormald were married here on 3rd September 1948

Church of the Holy Trinity, Colchester
Holy Trinity church tower was built around 1000 AD. Its arrow head doorway and window apertures are typical of the Saxon period. The remainder of the church is of different periods up to Victorian. It is the oldest building in Colchester predating the castle. During the Anglo-Saxon period many Roman buildings were demolished and later salvaged to construct buildings like the Holy Trinity tower, something which the Normans copied on their arrival. Today the church building is unconsecrated and for a time was Colchester's Social History Museum. William Lilley and Charlotte Cole were married here on 12th June 1848.