5
Alan March’s Family History
This site is a work-in-progress. There is a massive amount to cover. I have included both male and female lines, and some go back many generations. Keep coming back for more.
I have numbered the generations working backwards from Alan’s as (1)
CHRISTOPHER DENMAN and MARY (9)
CHRISTOPHER DENMAN was born in Worth, north Sussex, in 1717, in the early years of the reign of George I. He was the third of the five children of John Denman and Sarah Murrell.
Baptism. St Nicholas, Worth.
1717/8 Feb 28 Christopher son of John Denman and Sarah.
Christopher was the second son.
We have no information about Christopher’s occupation, but in the 1841 census for Worth, all the Denmans are agricultural labourers. It is reasonable to assume that Christopher was too, and that he came from a labouring family.
The village of Worth, east of Crawley, lies in the Low Weald. This is a low-lying vale around the High Weald, running through Kent, Sussex and Surrey.
The heavy clay soil of the Weald made it better suited to raising livestock than to arable farming.
Christopher married in 1751, when he was 33.
Marriage. St Nicholas, Worth.
1751 Nov 20 Christopher Denman &
There are four records of this marriage, but none of them names his bride. In the original register we have “Christopher Denman &”, but the rest is blank. It may be that the rector was growing forgetful and wrote “&”, but could not remember what should come after it. In the following entry, the bride’s forename is missing.
We know from the baptisms of Christopher’s children that her first name was Mary.
MARY. Because she does not appear in the marriage record, we do not know her maiden name. She was married in Worth, so the likelihood is that this is where she was living at the time, and it may be her birthplace.
Eight children were born from this marriage, two girls and six boys.
Baptisms. St Nicholas, Worth.
1752 Sep 17 Mary
1755 Feb 21 Christopher
1757 Oct 2 John
1760 Nov 28 Sarah
1763 Jun 5 Philip.
1767 Feb 15 Peter
1770 Jun 10 Thomas
1772 May 10 William.
We have no record of any of these dying in childhood.
The Denmans’ parish church was St Nicholas in Worth. This is one of the oldest churches in the country and has been a place of Christian worship for well over 1000 years. It is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and parts of it have been dated to between AD 950 and 1050, in particular the chancel arch and apse. It was built in what, at the time, was a forest, and is unusually large for such a remote church. It may have been intended for the use of royal or noble hunting parties.
The Weald around Worth was still heavily wooded in Christopher and Mary’s time.
The first turnpike road through Worth was opened in 1770, running from London to Brighton. This brought this rather out-of-the-way parish into closer contact with the outside world.
For centuries, livestock farming had predominated on these clay soils, but the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1792-1815 led to disruption of overseas trade and created a greater demand for corn. Pastures were ploughed up and cattle slaughtered in order to grow more wheat. Herds of the traditional Sussex cattle dwindled.
There are two possible burials for Mary.
Burials. St Nicholas, Worth.
1781 Mar 6 Mary Denman
1797 Apr 23 Mary Denman
Most parish registers at this time would tell us whether she was someone’s wife or daughter, or possibly a widow. Sadly, the Worth registers are lacking this family information.
There are three burials for Christopher Denman around the turn of the century, but two of these are for infants. This leaves us with one adult burial.
Burial. St Nicholas, Worth.
1800 Jan 19 Christopher Denman
He would have been nearly 82.
NEXT GENERATION: 8. DENMAN-TILLY
PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: 10. DENMAN-MURREL