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

The Parish

The parish of Sandbach lies in southeastern Cheshire roughly 26 miles east of the county town of Chester and, in parts, approaching close to the border with neighbouring Staffordshire. Sandbach is a market town formed around the crossroad where the A533 (Middlewich to Alsager) road crosses the A534 (Crewe to Congleton) road. Most properties in the town lie between the four limbs of this crossroads although that to the southeast, towards Alsager, has less infilling than the other three, a subsidiary village, Elworth lies a mile further west and has been greatly expanded due to its location where Sandbach has its rail station. The parish is extensive with a separate extension formed by the chapelries of Church Hulme & Goostrey which is separately considered by their own pages in this project. Sandbach has a long history, it was an important Anglo-Saxon centre and has the "Sandbach Crosses" as examples of the finest work of its period in the county, their estimated date is from the 9th century and following reinstatement adorn the market place to great effect. Despite this early origin it was not until the 17th century that its importance as a regional market was finally recognised by the granting of a licence to hold a market. The wider parish holds extensive acreage of fine pasture, source of the famous Cheshire cheese for which Sandbach became the major market, home to extensive cattle herds. Within the town weaving had become a major industry developing from simple worsted onto silk. The typical rural industry of malting was carried out as well as the more specialised Cheshire industry of producing salt from brine-springs. Modern developments have come extensively to the parish, first to arrive was the Trent & Mersey Canal, designed to link those two rivers, a more leisure orientated facility today & part of the Cheshire Ring Canal Walk too, the railway line from Crewe Junction through to Manchester came next giving Sandbach a station at nearby Elworth whilst finally the modern M6 motorway from Birmingham to the north, passes close by to Sandbach just to its east. These modern transportation links allowing Sandbach to retain its regional market status as well as attracting more modern, "clean", industries in light engineering and services. Sandbach is drained westwards by the River Wheelock which turns north to meet the Dane the latter reaching the sea ultimately through the Mersey Estuary which is reached west of Runcorn. Sandbach is sited at around 60 metres above the sea in fairly gentle terrain where local high spots rarely exceed 75 metres by very much. The wider parish of Sandbach was a typical northern parish, with several chapelries embedded within its extensive acreage, we have already mentioned Church Hulme & Goostrey which are included within its estimated acreage of almost 15,800 acres also they are included in the gazetteers stated population of almost 9,300 parishioners so a degree of double counting will have occurred. In Domesday times Sandbach had few assets of interest to that book, shared almost equally between Earl Hugh of Chester & Bigot de les Loges it recorded merely a single plough albeit with potential for 8 more, the usual meadows & woodland were, however, extensive in this case.

The Church

St Mary's church sits at the heart of Sandbach, sited just west of the main crossroads on the northern side of the A533's former route through the town, the High Street. Unlike the Saxon remains in the market place St Mary is quite a late church of the medieval period having been largely built during the period when Perpendicular was the style in vogue. Built almost entirely in a single building phase of the 15th century St Mary is a typical large "town" church built to hold a large congregation and also to impress. The clerestory of 7 bays topped by neat battlements is a notable feature and one typical of a period when the importance of lighting the church's interior was recognised. There is evidence that the church was re-roofed during the late 17th century, a timber carries a date of 1661. The church, however, was the subject of a major Victorian restoration to which we owe much of today's features, this work, conducted between 1847 & 1849, was effectively a partial rebuild indeed the notable western tower is entirely a product of that Victorian work even if supposedly a reproduction of the 15th century original. Despite being a busy thoroughfare High Street has street parking immediately outside the churchyard allowing an extended visit. There are several entry points to what is an extensive and uncluttered churchyard giving every opportunity to the photographer.