Berkshire marriage licences

[Galium]

I have a couple of marriages at Stanford in the Vale - in each case both parties are local - which the register says are by licence. There is no sign of either in the Sarum licence bonds index on FindMyPast. Both are in the 1760s. 

Does anyone know where else they might have got a licence from?

[GrahamSimons]

It's in the diocese of Oxford.

[Galium]

Hi, Graham. Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately they aren't in the Oxfordfordshire marriage bonds index either.

[Watson]

Berkshire was in the Diocese of Salisbury until 1836.  The Archdeaconry of Berkshire was also used, but I believe its marriage bonds were destroyed during World War II.  (There are some surviving indexes to the bonds - more information on request.)

[Galium]

Thank you Watson. That probably explains it then. Do you happen to know where the surviving indexes are, and whether they would inlude marriages at Stanford in the Vale during the 1760s?

[stevemiller]

The Archdeaconry of Berkshire was in Salisbury Diocese until 1836, when it transferred to Oxford.

Sarum Diocese records at Wilts Record Office and indexed on FindMyPast.

According to the present Diocese of Oxford website regarding bonds and associated papers
 "Regrettably the Archdeaconry series for Berkshire was largely destroyed in 1943"

I think there are surviving calendars which would involve a visit to a Family History Library or Berks Record Office
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/756060?availability=Family%20History%20Library

I have no experience of using what survives of the Archdeaconry records, so perhaps someone who has can help out. 

[stevemiller]

Watson beat me to it as I was typing!

Stanford would be in these records.

[Galium]

Thanks, stevemiller. Well, there's no chance of me visiting either of those places any time soon, so it will have to wait.

[Watson]

Galium,

Stanford in the Vale did lie in the Archdeaconry of Berkshire, so, in theory, either the Archdeaconry of Berkshire or the Diocese of Salisbury could have been the issuing authority.  In practice, one or the other may have been more commonly used at the time in question.

For indexes to the destroyed marriage bonds of the Archdeaconry, I think the most important repository would be the Berkshire Record Office.  You could ask them if they would do a short search for you.