England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Southwick St Michael

The Parish

The parish of Southwick sits in the extreme south of Sussex forming a stretch of the county's English Channel coastline. Southwick is located rough;y 4 miles west of the resort of Brighton and sits between the A27 road (Brighton to Portsmouth) and the sea. Southwick is a much changed place, early maps show a compact village headed northwards from the coastal channel of the Adur and west of the impressive green which forms its heart, to both east and west was open countryside including a trotting track between Southwick and Portslade. Today Southwick is merely a small inseparable part of an extended urban sea-frontage running from the Adur to the eastern fringes of Brighton. At the time of this transcript Southwick would have been a simple farming community, arable farming would have been supplemented by the resources of the sea. As a coastal parish water drains readily into the Adur which is enclosed by a spit of land between the village and the sea, part of an extended Lancing parish, before reaching the English Channel. Southwick is sited at around sea level and below 10 metres still at the church, the northernmost properties rise to 50 metres whilst beyond the A27 rise the South Downs reaching 216 metres on Truleigh Hill and crested by the South Downs Way National Trail. Southwick parish was relatively small at just under 1,200 acres, that acreage is alleged to have supported around 1,000 parishioners, an estimate out of kilter with the volume of marriages which is more appropriate to a village of around 400. Southwick is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Michael's church sits around 400 metres from the sea and west of Southwick Green on the junction of Albert Road and Church Lane. Whilst the church has a lengthy history as evidenced by documentary records recording its transfer to the Knights' Templar in 1225 and carries fabric from 12th & 13th centuries most of this fabric is reused as a result of both design and misfortune. The western tower is the case in point, originally a mixture of 12th and 13th century styles the tower received such damage from enemy action in World War II it had to be dismantled and lovingly rebuilt piece by piece. The main body, particularly nave and aisles, receives much disparaging criticism from Pevsner who described it as merely "cover for pew-space". This main body dates from 1835 and thus would be unfamiliar to the participants of these marriages. Church Lane widens appreciably east of the site allowing ready parking close to the lychgate which grants entry. The church sits within an extensive churchyard with no obstacles to deter the photographer.