England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Landcross Holy Trinity

The Parish

The parish of Landcross lies in northwestern Devon roughly 2 miles south of the port & market town of Bideford. Landcross sits either side of the A386 road which links Bideford with Great Torrington with properties both lining that road, in a parallel lane and gathered to the east around the church. Landcross is a tiny place in one of the smallest parishes in its county most would have been engaged in either pastoral farming or in quarrying the local stone for road mending & local building. Modern developments have come to the parish, the railway line which once linked Bideford with Great Torrington has closed and been re-purposed to form part of the route of the local Tark Trail. Much of Landcross sits within a tight meander of the River Torridge which drains the parish northwards, passing Bideford before sharing in a joint estuary with the Taw and gaining the Irish Sea. Landcross is sited at between 20 & 40 metres above the sea with the church the higher and sitting on a low knoll within the Torridge's meander, the local landscape is rolling with local high points reaching 150 metres to the east on Gammaton Moor. As already mentioned Landcross was a tiny parish of just 331 acres making it one of the smallest rural parishes in the land, that tiny acreage would have barely supported 100 parishioners. Domesday Landcross was equally small and rural, held by a sheriff, Baldwin, it had a single plough plus a share in a second, that backed by typical meadows, pastures & woodland.

The Church

Holy Trinity church sits to the east of the A386 accessed by a narrow winding lane which parallels the course of the Torridge rising onto a low knoll on which sits the church. The church is simple as befits its tiny congregation consisting simple of nave and chancel without aisles or arcades or tower. Both have their origins in the later medieval period being 15th century and Perpendicular in style. Instead of a tower, there was once a tower which was destroyed by lightning in the early 19th century, the Georgian restorers added the present bell cupola complete with its pyramidal cap sitting atop a projecting wall-turret. The narrow land ends at the church with enough room for a turn to be made and with adequate verge for a single vehicle. Metal gates grant entry to the churchyard which is open, uncluttered and with no obstacles to concern the photographer.