Rhetorical Q?? But there must be a reason.... [Archive] - Genealogists' Forum

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Merry

13-10-09, 10:07

Nothing to add to BK6 from this thread

What is it about St George Bloomsbury?

Is there some special reason people used that church on a regular basis for marriages when they lived 50 plus miles away in Cambridgeshire? I'm getting so confused by the names turning up as witnesses as well as brides and grooms, I may have to go to B & Q for another roll of wallpaper! lol

Phoenix

13-10-09, 11:06

It's a horrible lump of stone, which looks as if it would collapse on you at any minute. Hawksmoor, I think. Perhaps it was one of those no questions asked places, or just very fashionable? Though best mates' Cambridgeshire lot seem to dart all round the country. We only pick people up in snapshots of time - they might be at home for every census, birth etc, but travel round the world in the meantime.

kiterunner

13-10-09, 11:08

Is it possible the vicar was a friend of your family's, like that Octavius Freire Owen who keeps turning up baptising, marrying and burying my rellies?

Merry

13-10-09, 14:09

I hadn't thought of that, Kite - other than that he had lovely writing, I hadn't taken in his name because it was ordinary. I will have a look later. Must have been more than one minister during the period in question though.......

Phoenix, I did wonder about it being a fashionable place, but there don't seem to be enough weddings etc for that to be the case.

Uncle John

13-10-09, 20:39

I knew it rang a bell. It's next door to the British Museum.
http://www.stgeorgesbloomsbury.org.uk/

Merry

13-10-09, 20:45

Oh, how irritating! lol I went there last year (the British Museum), but didn't look to right or left enough!

peppie

14-10-09, 07:30

Merry

14-10-09, 08:03

lol!!

I take it there's no gravestones any more?

maggie_4_7

14-10-09, 08:10

Have you found any reason why the family from Cambridgeshire came back to St George Bloomsbury for their rituals?

maggie_4_7

14-10-09, 08:12

I go past it on the way to work each morning, it has a beautiful steeple! in the shape of a pyramid. They are doing a lot of building work around here at the moment and last year you could look from Charing Cross road down Denmark St and see the Steeple of St Georges, the side of St Giles and the Bloomsbury Baptist Church all at the same time, a view that was available in the 1800's and again during WW2 when the area was bombed and unlikely to be seen again now we have the stupid Renzo Piano building going up :mad: http://www.buildingcentralsaintgiles.com/

Peppie

They always say they want to retain the architecture across the skyline...and if they can do that in renovations/demolition around old/historic buildings they will but when they had the chance to do that with St Pauls Cathedral a few years ago what did they do they sold the land and built another monstrosity in front of it.

Merry

14-10-09, 13:04

Have you found any reason why the family from Cambridgeshire came back to St George Bloomsbury for their rituals?

Not yet, Maggie. The first marriage there for a Cambridgeshire couple is my ggg-grandfather and his second wife. They have a good reason though as she was the niece of his first wife, so the marriage was a bit dodgy! Also, they had already produced a child together whilst his first wife was on her death bed :eek:, so yet another reason for a discrete wedding!! I can see they used this church because it was the usual place of worship for the groom's nephew's family (they lived in Bloomsbury) but I have not yet worked out why some of the others made the same journey from Cambridge.

peppie

14-10-09, 21:29

lol!!

I take it there's no gravestones any more?

No, no gravestones Polution in central London reeks havoc with inscriptions:(

Merry

14-10-09, 21:30

That's a shame ;(

Nell

15-10-09, 20:59

Maybe it was something to do with the routes into London, or nearby cheap hostelries?