England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
South Stainley St Wilfrid

The Parish

The parish of South Stainley lies in the northern portion of central Yorkshire roughly 5 miles north of the town of Harrogate. South Stainley sits on and mostly east of the A61 road which connects Harrogate with Ripon. South Stainley is a small estate village which has most properties lining the lane running southeast from the A61 towards the church and the former site of the hall, that lane eventually ends as a footpath used by the local Ripon Rowel Walk. Further west the parish also included the hamlet of Cayton all that remains of deserted medieval village except for its 18th century hall. Early gazetteers estimate that arable and pastoral farming methods were almost equal in acreage within the parish, today the percentage has moved decidedly in favour of arable. South Stainley is drained eastwards by the Robert Beck which turn north to meet the River Ure, the latter heads southeast through York to merge with the other Yorkshire Dales rivers in reaching the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. South Stainley is sited at around 60 metres above the sea in gently rolling countryside where local high points rise westwards to 136 metres at nearby Bishop Thornton. Covering just over 2,000 acres South Stainley parish was typically sized for its area, that acreage supporting a population of close to 250 parishioners. Domesday South Stainley was an asset of King William and was recovering from the "Harrowing of the North" wherein it was waste, by the time of the book's compilation it had recovered to offer 5 ploughs with considerable potential for more.

The Church

St Wilfrid's church sits almost at the point where Church Lane becomes a footpath on the southeastern edge of the small village. Sadly today's church is not the venue for these marriages, that small medieval church had been replaced by this church completed in 1845. The replacement church is a simple nave and chancel built in a faux Early English Gothic style and topped at its western end by its most distinctive feature, a tall octagonal bellcote which Pevsner found to be "charming". The only remains of the first church is a small piece of a capital serving as a sundial in the churchyard. Visitors should park in the wider stretches of Church Lane and approach on foot as it becomes rather too narrow by the church. A shallow flight of 10 steps rises into the churchyard which is set above road height, a few trees gather around the western end limiting views of the bellcote but otherwise all is straightforward for the photographer.