England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Westminster St Mary le Strand

The Parish

The parish of St Mary, Westminster is located in the far south of Middlesex forming part of the county's boundary with neighbouring Surrey, here formed by the River Thames as it passes through London. Westminster is the second city within the metropolis of London sitting roughly 2 miles southwest of the ancient City of London. One could write a book about Westminster but suffice it to say that this city is the home to Britain's monarchs and to its Parliament. The city of Westminster is divided into 8 historic parishes of which St Mary is one of the more southern & least populous. Westminster grew up around Royal residences, once a discrete settlement distanced from the hubbub of the City of London, it did not take long before the growing metropolis spread beyond the walls of the original city and today Westminster is indistinguishable from wider metropolitan London. The city is a major commercial centre and a truly international tourism draw with sights such as Buckingham Palace to draw in the crowds. St Mary Westminster parish is centred upon The Strand, it occupies a short stretch of Thames frontage and forms an "L" shape upside down extending toward Covent Garden and Leicester Square. Westminster fronts the Thames with most of the city's drainage getting to the mighty river through sub-surface means. Westminster is sited at between sea level and 10 metres above the same being sat upon the Thames' flood plain.The tightly packed urban landscape would have covered only a token area of acres and yet would have held a population of close to 6,000 parishioners. In Domesday times Westminster has its own entry, a holding of the nascent Westminster Abbey and sufficiently large enough even then to be amongst the 20% most populous in the country; reflecting the still partially rural nature of the area in those times Westminster held 21 ploughs as well as meadows and, rather unbelievably today, even woodland with foraging pigs.

The Church

St Mary's church stands somewhat incongruously in the middle of the road of The Strand upon a traffic island with traffic passing either side. The church was commissioned as part of the meeting of the 1711 Parliamentary Act for the Fifty New Churches and was completed and consecrated in 1724. The site had previously been a chapelry founded in 1150 but demolished in 1548 to make room for the first iteration of Somerset House. The church is built in a style unlike many in more country settings utilising classical forms, both northern and southern sides of 7 bays utilise both Corinthian and Ionic styles. The upper stages feature Venetian styled windows with pilaster which make them appear to sit behind continuations of the pillars. The western front takes its semicircular entrance porch as a nod to St Paul's Cathedral. Surmounting the western end is the noted clock tower with 3 further stages equally decorative and culminating in a little lantern topping. Given the church's extreme urban position it is certainly a church to visit on foot using the capital's widespread travel facilities. The island site has one advantage in that the church is visible from most angles, the traffic by wheels and on foot almost constantly passing the only distraction for the photographer.