Hi Marion and all I have all of those places featuring in my Ssx trees........can you please clarify which St Peter Chichester. St Peter the less or the greater? For those interested, there is a great website for Hampshire complete with transcriptions. www.knightroots.co.uk and no Marion I have already checked for a BLAXTON marriage.....grin !!!! Out of curiousity!!!!! BUT there is a load of STOREY information on there...... Cheers Pam from Adelaide Australia > There certainly are particular churches which seem to have a reputation > for > slightly "iffy" marriages, if not clandestine wedding ceremonies. > Brighton, > St. Peter is probably the best known one in Sussex and I think that the > then > enormous size of its parish meant that its clergy were just too small in > number to make proper enquiries of the couples who presented themselves > for > matrimony. There was also a large transient population moving into > Brighton > searching for work and that also made it very difficult for the clergy to > know their flock. > > However, it isn't always the huge parishes who attract this kind of > "trade". > The parish of New Fishbourne, just outside Chichester, has a reputation > for > clandestine marriages in the late 18th Century. Certainly when I looked > at > the registers myself, they did seem to show a very large number of people > from outside the parish. > > St. Mary's Portsea probably had a large population of transient workers. > Men, in particular, would be attracted to the town to work in the Naval > Dockyard in the huge factories set up by Brunel in 1802. What puzzles me > about the marriage of Henry BLAXTON and Elizabeth STOREY is that the > marriage at Portsea apparently took place in 1735, which is so very early > for suspect marriages of this type. Portsea, St. Mary is apparently on > the > IGI for the period 1666-1773, but the BLAXTON to STOREY marriage does not > appear and I have not been able to check the registers myself. So, > perhaps > after all the Vicar of Poling was right to assume that the marriage never > took place and to supply his own special remedy to suit the occasion! > > What I find equally interesting is that the marriage at Poling on 26 Feb > 1737/38 doesn't appear on the Sussex Marriage Index, although it does > appear > on the IGI. > > Best wishes > > Marion Woolgar > Bognor Regis, West Sussex > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SUSSEX-PLUS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.7/1283 - Release Date: > 16/02/2008 2:16 PM > >

I didn't mention any churches in Chichester at all. I did refer to the parish of St. Peter's, Brighton. Yes, I quite often visit the excellent Knightroots web site when I need information about Southern Hampshire, but unfortunately they don't yet seem to cover the 1735 period for Portsea St Mary marriages. Best wishes Marion Woolgar Bognor Regis, West Sussex