how rigid were 18thC clerics?

[zannette]

Has anyone some insight into this: I'm talking about 1760's Lancashire - 2 people residing in the same parish, do not marry at the local church but go to one some miles away (from Skerton to St Mary's, Lancaster).

If one of the couple had not been baptised/christened, would the local cleric be difficult about marrying them, hence going to a larger more anonymous church. What about if one of them was RC, but intended marriage in an Anglican church?

I know it was customary for marriage to be in the bride's parish, but this bride came from Garstang and seemed to be staying with relatives in Skerton, or perhaps working there on a farm.

Any comments please.

[Gibel]

If she was working or staying with relatives she would have been within that parish so would marry at the parish church. Post 1753 everyone unless they were a Jew or  a Quaker had to be married in a Cof E church for it to be legal.

You could be married in a different parish - the banns would probably need to be called in the home parish as well or people would just have gone to the place taken lodgings and be of that parish. I have a number of instances of people living in Halsall who for some reason trek down to Liverpool to get married approximately 20 miles away.

[Redroger]

Slightly earlier, I have a probable ancestor who married in Maperton Somerset in 1685; the entry in the register is endorsed "of Oborne Dorset" It seems likely that he had been born in Maperton, and the family later moved to Oborne, they were there until at least 1756 when they moved to Henstridge Somerset. What seems to have happened is that he returned to Maperton to marry a woman from there. I wonder how many of these marriages were arranged?

[mosiefish]

Hi,

Skerton was a township in the Parish of Lancaster and as such they would have married in the Parish Church which is St. Mary`s, Lancaster.  The church of St. Luke`s, Skerton wasn`t founded until 1828.

Were the couple in question married by banns or Licence? 

Mo 

[zannette]

Hi Mo, I never thought of that! They were married by banns.