England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Cheadle St Giles

The Parish

The parish of Cheadle lies in the northeastern portion of central Staffordshire roughly 9 miles east of the pottery town of Stoke upon Trent. Cheadle sits at the intersection of the A521 linking it to Blythe Bridge and the A522 linking it with Uttoxeter, it sits on the fore-slopes of the Peak District which rises to its northeast. Cheadle is a large market town almost 2 miles in extent from north to south whilst only a mile from west to east with most properties lying along the A roads with modern infill between. Besides its role as a regional centre for trade & specialist skills some manufacture was carried out, early gazetteers mention brass and copper works as well as the production of tape as industries for the town. Some copper ore was present but not exploited whereas the extensive coal deposits were also extensively mined. Sitting quite high above the sea most agriculture in the wider parish was pastoral with sheep mainly on the higher ground to the east and cattle on lower western pastures. Modern developments in the form of railways have come and gone from the parish, that coming from the main line to the south once granted Cheadle a station whilst the line north from Blythe Bridge is nowadays the Foxfield Steam heritage line. Cheadle is drained southwards by small tributaries of the River Tean which meets the Dove at Uttoxeter before running onwards to join the Trent on its long journey to the North Sea arriving through the Humber Estuary. Cheadle is sited on undulating ground between 150 and 190 metres above the sea, land continues to rise north & northwestwards reaching a spot height of 278 metres en route to nearby Werrington. At around 6,700 acres Cheadle parish was extensive, reminiscent of a norther upland parish in extent, that acreage would have supported a population of around 4,400 parishioners. In Domesday times Cheadle was a tiny place of just 11 households, its assets of just 3 ploughs, meadows & woodland and a mill were typical of a small rural farming settlement much smaller than today's substantial town.

The Church

When looking for St Giles' church one must be careful as Cheadle has two such churches dedicated to that saint, the Pugin designed Catholic church complete with its mighty steeple draws the eye but the Anglican St Giles remains the parish church. St Giles is found west of the town centre on the northwestern corner of right-angled Church Street. Sadly it too is not a medieval church, the original St Giles, described by early gazetteers as "principally in the Decorated English style, with a square embattled tower crowned by pinnacles, and, though much mutilated and disfigured by alterations, retained some features of its original character". Today's St Giles was completed in 1839, so is not the venue for these marriages, and is a large town church with a 6-bay nave sized appropriately for its large town congregation. Its more traditional western tower doesn't seek to over-shadow Pugin's over-blown equivalent being a more conservative statement. Church Street is well-used for on-street parking allowing an extended visit, a tarred pathway leads from the corner up to the church which stands within a spacious churchyard with no obstacles for the photographer.