Were children before marriage common in 1700's

[Seelife]

Hi Folks. Was it common for couples to have children before getting married in the 1700's or even later? I realise that this William Wind family I am struggling with has two children before there is a recorded marriage. So, now I am wondering, is there a mixup AGAIN of children or was it not sooo uncommon for folk to have kids then the social or parish pressure led them to marry. In the William case, I dont find any recorded mother to the children so I cannot crosscheck.

Let's face it, even nowadays, couples living together and having a family is no longer seen as a problem, so was there a similar approach in those times? I see many children born to single mothers in records, so I guess it was common enough.
I ask as I am now suspicious of any children not easily attributed to parents.

[ggrocott]

I cannot comment about how common it was in the 1700s but I certainly have a number of examples in my tree, both then and later of couples having children and then going on to marry.  I even have one where the couple claimed to their children, one of whom was my grandmother, that they had never married.  However, I found their marriage certificate, and then managed to find the birth certificate of their first daughter, born some considerable time earlier.

[GrahamSimons]

Some background is to be found:
Armstrong, D., 1994, Birth, marriage and death in Elizabethan Cumbria, Local Population Studies 53 29-41

[KGarrad]

The Manx Museum Library has all the Ecclesiastical Presentments preserved.
Some of these are "Presentments For Fornication" where a single woman is accused of bearing a child.
The woman in question was supposed to admit who the father was.

Judging by the frequency of the Presentments, it was not an uncommon event

[Seelife]

Thanks for the feedback. Then I think its "safe" to say that, yes it happened.