Church Micro 3629…Kinwarton Multi-Cache

In the 1945 edition of the Victoria County History for Warwickshire, Kinwarton parish takes up less room than most. The 1931 census showed only a population of 39. But it is an ancient place In /A.D.708 Evesham Abbey possessed land there and continued to do so until 1540, when the Skinner family became lord of the Manor: they sold it to the Grevilles in 1624 (who about this time had left Beauchamp Court, Alcester, for Warwick Castle). The manor house, in which the absentee lords placed tenants as their representatives, was the site now marked by a partial moat near the dovecote. Evesham Abbey held the presentation to the church of St. Mary the Virgin from the 12th century. The church was particularly well-known in the early 18th century as a sort of Warwickshire Gretna Green.  In this period there were many weddings here - people came from a wide area, apparently with no questions asked. The rectors would have found this a useful increment to their salaries. When the church authorities finally tightened up the roles, Kinwarton church went back to only one or two marriages a year.

By the 19th century the village of Kinwarton, in the field adjoining the church and the moat, gradually disappeared, leaving only the church, the Rectory, Glebe Farm and the dove-cote to mark the settlement. The rise of new houses nearer to Alcester has kept the parish as a going concern.

A Local Gretna Green.

Kinwarton parish was once one of the smallest parishes in Warwickshire, both in area and population. The rector there, however, could ease his conscience because he also had charge of Great Alne.

In a recent issue we pointed to the varied archaeological sites near Kinwarton church. Another feature is of some interest, namely a period in the early part of the 18th century, when young couples found this church an attractive place in which to be married.

Having such a small population, Kinwarton could not be expected to provide more than one or two weddings each year -and so the church marriage register records. However, between the 1720s and 1745 there was a great increase in marriages - up to 30 of them annually. During this period there were three rectors at Kinwarton and it must be assumed that all of them employed a conscious policy of marrying couples from parishes far from Kinwarton, e.g. in 1721 fourteen couples came from the same parish: the register notes couples from Loxley, Feckenham, Bidford, Henley and other places in a twenty mile radius of Kinwarton. There were couples, also, from neighbouring places, such as Coughton and Spernall, Great Alne and Alcester, Tredington and Pillerton.

Kinwarton thus became a 'Gretna Green' not for the country, or even for Warwickshire, but for south Warwickshire and east Worcestershire. The result of these marriages meant an increase in the benefice income and, no doubt, the rector from 1705 to 1724 (William Edes) encouraged these run-away weddings. John Benson (1724 - 1739) evidently carried on the 'trade' quite happily; during his incumbency Kinwarton must have become a by-word for young couples who wanted to escape the censure of their parents.

John Flayer (Rector 1740 - 1764) probably decided to overturn what had by then become an established practice and in his incumbency the numbers of marriages returned to their original norm. Another reason for this was the Hardwicke Act of 1753, which was forced on the government by the scandal of many churches in England acting as Kinwarton had done. From thenceforth, banns of intentions of marriage must be published in the parishes of both bride and bridegroom, so the veil of secrecy no longer applied and Kinwarton and its like lost their appeal.


 

“If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication.

There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page found via the Bookmark list”