England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Potton St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Potton lies in the extreme east of Bedfordshire forming an extensive part of the border with neighbouring Cambridgeshire. Potton is a small market town situated about 4 miles northeast of the larger market town of Biggleswade. Potton sits at the crossroads of the B1042 road (which connects Sandy through to Cambridge) with the B1040 road (which connects Biggleswade with St Ives in Huntingdonshire). Potton has become a planned settlement through mischance as a severe fire in 1783 destroyed much of the original property within the town and enabled a reconstruction on a grid of three parallel north to south roads. Since that reconstruction Potton has expanded and now covers a roughly square shaped area of a half mile across. Whilst its market ran only quarterly it was an important market for the local straw plaiting industry which supplemented the usual arable agriculture, as a small town Potton would have also provided specialist agricultural services which could not survive in smaller settlements. In more recent times Biggleswade has become the dominant local market but Potton remains an important centre for its hinterland.A small tributary of the River Ivel drains the short distance to that river, where matters turn northwards to reach the Great Ouse thence to the North Sea through The Wash. Potton is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in fairly gentle terrain, land rises steadily westwards to the Greensand where local heights reach close to 70 metres near the RSPB's premises on Bunker's Hill. Potton parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering close to 2,600 acres it would have supported a population of almost 1,800 parishioners. In Domesday times Potton was held by Countess Judith, a niece of King William, and was a prosperous place even then being sufficiently large to be amongst the largest 20% of places recorded in that tome, the parish could offer an impressive 23 ploughs, meadows and a mill.

The Church

St Mary's church sits outside the town across the Ivel's tributary on the northern side of Hatley Road which heads eastwards to Cockayne Hatley. The church is large as befits a market town where the basic layout of nave, chancel & western tower is augmented by aisles, a northern transept, a southern porch and a two-storey northern porch. The brown cobbles used throughout come from the nearby Greensand quarries. Whilst the majority of the church dates from the 14th century and is Perpendicular in style, Pevsner finds traces of earlier fabric. A single lancet window within the chancel reveals a 13th century Early English Gothic origin whilst the southern arcade shows the a late 13th century style. As is usual the Victorians made their restoration with work on the tower, the parapet and turret being added in 1850 and many windows replaced between the 1850s and the early 20th century. When coming to the church from the town parking may be found outside the church hall on the opposite side and reached before the church. The church stands in an elevated position with a sloping pathway rising to the building. The steeply sloping churchyard does not permit easy photography as the church is sited close to the road and the better aspects are best seen from the roadside.