England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Yetminster St Andrew

The Parish

The parish of Yetminster lies in northern Dorset not too far from its border with neighbouring Somerset. Yetminster is located about 4 miles southeast of the Somerset market town of Yeovil and sits just over 2 miles east of the A37 road which connects Yeovil with Dorchester. Yetminster had a brief flourish as a market town, a market being granted by Edward 1 in 1300, that status lapsed as nearby Yeovil and Sherborne grew to take on those functions and Yetminster became just a rather large village. Whilst primarily this was a farming community with pastoral farming a mainstay, the local limestone was highly favoured as a building stone and many quarries dot the parish. Modern developments have come to Yetminster as the building of a railway line between Yeovil and Dorchester granted it a station and an access to market for its local produce. The wonderfully names Wtiggle River drains the parish morthwards the short distance to the Yeo, heading northwestwards across the Somerset levels to join the Parrett and to reach the outer Bristol Channel through the port of Bridgwater. Yetminster is sited at between 50 and 80 metres above the sea being largely built on the slopes of a low limestone outcrop, land rises to the northeast to reach a little over 140 metres on nearby Knighton Hill. Yetminster parish included the chapelries of Chetnole & Leigh and collectively they accumulated to just under 1,600 acres, the whole could support a population in the region of 1,200 parishioners. In Domesday times Yetminster was a holding of the Bishop of Salisbury and was an impressive holding offering no fewer than 18 ploughs substantial meadows, pastures and woodland and possessed 2 mills making it in the largest 20% of settlements recorded at that time.

The Church

St Andrew's church sits at the heart of the village on the western side of Church Street which runs parallel to the Wriggle River in the ower part of the village. The church consists of two distinct ages with its earliest portion dating ti the 13th century, lancet windows are shown within the chancel indicative of the Early English Gothic style and dating the construction to the latter stages of that century. A consecration is recorded as being done in 1312 when, no doubt, the rest of the church had been constructed. That 13th and early 14th century piece has now been replaced by a substantial rebuild in the later 14th or early 15th century in a Perpendicular style. The impressive western tower  with its stair projection as well as the battlement topped aisles and porch all date from this substantial rebuild. For once Pevsner does not mention a Victorian restoration so if one occurred it was obviously light and sensitive. Church Street is fairly narrow but is widened by the entrance gates to permit a car or two to park, a substantial limestone wall surrounds the churchyard, sadly quite a few trees gather around the favoured southeastern aspect which do slightly linit the angles available for photography.