England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Melling by Tunstall St Wilfrid

The Parish

The parish of Melling, the suffix "by Tunstall" being required to distinguish it from the chapelry of Melling in Halsall parish southern Lancashire, lies in the north of the main portion of Lancashire south of Morecambe Bay. Melling is located roughly 11 miles northeast of the town of Lancaster and sits on the A683 road which links Lancaster with the Westmorland market town of Kirkby Lonsdale. Whilst Melling village grants its name to the parish that is a wide and extensive portion of the area incorporating the chapelries of Arkholme and Hornby and the townships of Farleton, Roeburndale, Wennington, and Wray with Botton whilst also forming a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Yorkshire. A tiny stretch of the border with Westmorland can be found at the opposite, northwestern end, of the parish. Hornby was also licensed for marriages and will have its own page within this project. Such is the diversity of the parish that Melling village only held around 10% of the parish's populations in early gazetteer's estimates. This is an upland area dominated by the valley of the River Lune, the valley and its rich grazing pastures watered by the Lune supported cattle whilst the more upland areas into the edges of the Pennine range, Bowland Forest, supported upland farms of mainly sheep. A few minor extractive industries are small scale and mainly involve quarrying of the local stone for building. Modern developments have come to Melling, the railway line connecting Skipton with Carnforth passes through the parish, mainly in a tunnel beneath Cockshott Wood to Melling's east. Melling is drained southwestwards by the Lune, it heads to the Irish Sea arriving through Lancaster into the southern extremes of Morecambe Bay. Melling villgae, in its valley-side setting next to the Lune, is sited at around 40 metres above the sea, its low lying position is rather exceptional in a parish bordering the Pennines, and whilst close by 150 metres is not exceptional to the southeast land rises into Bowland reaching over 560 metres on the fells of Ward's Stone As already mentioned Melling parish covered an extensive area of northern Lancashire south of the Bay, gazetteers place its acreage at almost 15,000 acres and together with all of its chapelries and townships it supported a population of just over 2,000 parishioners. Whilst Melling is mentioned in Domesday Book as held directly by King William it is described as "waste", a term often used to refer to undeveloped land at the fringes of Norman influence.

The Church

St Wilfrid's church sits within Melling village on the eastern side of the A683, Main Street. The church underwent a major rebuild in the late medieval period, the 15th century, which removed or masked earlier detail some of which is revealed by Pevsner forensic examination. Traces of Early English Gothic and 13th century origins are found as represented by the trefoiled lancet window that graces the western window of the southern aisle whilst the slightly later Decorated style of the early 14th century has a reused window to represent it sitting in a new position in the vestry.  Also 14th century is the southeastern chapel, built as a chantry chapel for the souls of the local Morley family. These traces are overlain by the major build of the 15th century which established the main core of the church as well as the late 15th century western tower all built utilising the Perpendicular style of that era. Restoration work began as early as the 17th century when the chancel eastern wall was rebuilt and a clerestory added but the main work was typically Victorian with phases in 1856 and 1866. The church's position adjacent to the main and busy "A" road means parking should be sought in side streets before a walk to the church. By the village bus stop a flight of steps leads into the churchyard which, sadly for the photographer, is dominated by twin blocks of trees at southwestern and southeastern corners markedly jeopardising the favoured aspects and requiring some cunning by the photographer to adequately record the church.