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CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 



CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 



270 



from the present town of Cambridge to Grantchester. The village 

 contains a National school Haddenham, in the Isle of Ely, 13 miles 

 N. by W. from Cambridge : population 2118. The church, a hand- 

 some building of the perpendicular style with a very lofty spire, stands 

 on an eminence and is visible for a considerable distance. The Wes- 

 leyan Methodists and Baptists have places of worship. The Free 

 school, founded in 1642, had an income from endowment of 76?. a 

 year, and had 57 scholars in 1851. Siiton, 4 miles N.N.W. from 

 Cambridge : population 1011. The church, which is small, ia of the 

 early English style, with later insertions. There is a Wesleyan 

 Methodist chapel. There is an endowed Free school, for which a 

 new school-house has been erected within the last few years. Isleham, 

 on the border of Suffolk, 20 miles N.E. from Cambridge, population 

 2230, has a neat gothic church, a Wesleyau Methodist, an Indepen- 

 dent, and two Baptist chapels ; also two Free schools. Kingston, 8 

 miles S.S.W. from Cambridge, population 315, had formerly a market 

 and two annual fairs ; it is now a poor village. Lei'eringlon, 44 miles 

 N. from Cambridge, population 2143, is an agricultural village of no 

 particular interest. In the church is an excellent latten lectern. 

 LMleport, in the Isle of Ely, 14 miles N.N.E. from Cambridge : 

 population, with the hamlets of Old Bank and Apshall, 3832. Little- 

 port has a very handsome church with a lofty tower ; a Wesleyan and 

 a Primitive Methodist and two Baptist chapels ; also a National 

 school. The inhabitants are chiefly dependent on agriculture. Long 

 Stanton, 7 miles N.W. from Cambridge, population 634, contains two 

 churches : St. Michael's, a rude structure of early English date with 

 a thatched roof, and All Saints, a rather handsome gothic building 

 with a lofty tower and spire. In the village is a National school. 

 Long Stanton was the seat of the Hattou family from a very early 

 period until recently. The noble Elizabethan manor-house has been 

 most part pulled down to make way for a new and smaller mansion. 

 The Bishop of Ely had a palace here in which Queen Elizabeth was 

 entertained. Melbourne, 1 miles N. by W. from Cambridge : popu- 

 lation 1931. The church is a handsome edifice of the decorated style, 

 and contains some good monuments. The Independents and Baptists 

 have places of worship ; there is a National school. Oakington, 5 

 miles N.W. from Cambridge, population 694, has a very excellent 

 gothic church ; a Baptist chapel ; and a National school. Sawtton, 

 6 miles S. by W. from Cambridge and 1 mile from the Whittlesford 

 station of the Eastern Counties railway, population 1124, was formerly 

 a market-town, and the vestiges of the market-cross are still standing 

 in the centre of the village. The church, which is very spacious, is 

 partly of the Norman date, with windows of the decorated period, 

 which with various details, and the monuments in the interior, are 

 of much interest to the archaeologist. There are places of worship 

 for Roman Catholics and Independents ; also nlinshouses and other 

 parochial charities. Sawstou manor-house, a picturesque old mansion, 

 was erected in 1557 by Sir John Huddleston, with the materiala of 

 Cambridge castle, given to him by Queen Mary. Shdford, Great, 44 

 miles S. from Cambridge : population 1038, including numerous 

 labourers employed on railway works in progress. The church is of 

 the perpendicular period, and contains gome good brasses. There are 

 a place of worship for Baptists, and National and British schools. 

 Extensive flour-mills are in the parish. At Great Shelford is a station 

 of the Eastern Counties railway which is largely used for the convey- 

 ance of agricultural produce. Shelford, LUlle, adjoining Great Shel- 

 ford : population 580. The inhabitants of both parishes are dependent 

 on agriculture. Stretham, Isle of Ely, 11 miles N. from Cambridge : 

 population, with Thetford hamlet, 1597. The church is ancient ; 

 near it stands a stone pillar. The houses in Stretham are mostly 

 new, a fire having destroyed the greater part of the village in May 

 1844. Sittton, Isle of Ely, 18 miles N. from Cambridge : population 

 1814. The village consists of one long street ; the inhabitants are 

 wholly agricultural. The church, a spacious edifice partly Norman, 

 has two towers with pinnacles, and a spire. The Wesleyan Methodists, 

 Baptists, and Quakers have places of worship. The village stands on 

 an eminence, and commands extensive views. Swavetey, 9 miles N.W. 

 from Cambridge, population 1385, formerly possessed a market and 

 a fair. The church originally belonged to a monastery founded here 

 before the conquest ; it is chiefly of the decorated style, of which it is 

 a good example. There are chapels for Baptists and Unitarians; 

 National and British schools ; and some parochial charities. Triplow, 

 or Tknplow, 10 miles S. from Cambridge, population 521, has an 

 ancient church ; a Dissenting meeting-house ; and a British school. 

 Triplow heath was for awhile the head-quarters of the parliamentary 

 army commanded by Fairfax and Cromwell. Trampington, 2 miles 

 S. from Cambridge, population 771, in a sort of suburb to Cambridge. 

 The church is an excellent specimen of the decorated style. Many 

 portions of it are very beautiful ; and there are several monuments of 

 lunch interest among others a brass of Sir Roger Trumpington, a 

 crusader, who died iu 1288, the oldest incised slab known with the 

 exception of one at Stoke D'Abernon in Surrey. In the village is a 

 large mansion belonging to the Pemberton family. WcUerbeack, an 

 extensive village and parish, 5 miles N. by E. from Cambridge : popu- 

 lation 1440. The church is partly of early English date. There are 

 chapels belonging to the Wesleyan Methodists and Baptists ; an 

 Endowed Free school; almshouses, and other parochial charities. 

 Since the opening of the Eastern Counties railway, which has a 



station here, Waterbeach has considerably increased. Willingham, a 

 large agricultural village and parish, about 10 miles N.W. from Cam- 

 bridge : population 1604. The church is a very fine and spacious 

 edifice partly of early English date, with a lofty tower, and a remark- 

 ably good wooden roof. A mortuary chapel has a stone roof of high 

 pitch and of rather uncommon design. There are chapels for Wes- 

 leyan Methodists and Baptists ; an Endowed Free school for 30 boys ; 

 almshouses and other parochial charities. Wimpole, 9 miles S.W. 

 from Cambridge, population 452, is chiefly noteworthy as containing 

 the seat of the Earl of Hardwicke. The mansion is a spacious brick 

 building, the centre of which was erected in 1632 by Sir Thomas 

 Chicheley ; the wings were added by Lord Oxford ; the chief apart- 

 ments were fitted up by Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. In the picture 

 gallery and principal rooms is contained a very valuable collection of 

 paintings. The library is large and valuable ; and there is an exten- 

 sive and important collection of state papers, now well known by the 

 publication of a portion of them a few years back. Wimpole church 

 was built by Lord Chancellor Hardwicke in 1749 ; it contains several 

 costly monuments to the Hardwicke family. 



Division* for ccletiastical and Legal Purposes. The county is, for 

 the most part, in the diocese of Ely. The parishes are mostly in the 

 archdeaconry of Ely ; a few are in the archdeaconry of Sudbury. 

 There are 165 parishes. By the Poor-Law Commissioners the county 

 is divided into 9 Unions : Cambridge, Caxtou and Arlington, Ches- 

 terton, Ely, Linton, Newmarket, North Witchford, Whittlesey, and 

 Wisbeach. These Unions include 173 parishes and townships, with 

 an area of 538.303 acres, and a population in 1851 of 191,514; but 

 the boundaries of the Unions are not strictly co-equal with those 

 of the county. Cambridgeshire is in the Norfolk circuit. The 

 assizes and quarter-sessions are held at Cambridge. County courts 

 are held at Bourne, Cambridge, Ely, March, Newmarket, Royston, 

 Soham, and Wisbeach. The county returns three members to the Impe- 

 rial Parliament ; the borough of Cambridge two ; and the University 

 of Cambridge two. Cambridge is the chief place of county election. 

 According to the 'Census of Religious Worship' taken in 1851 it 

 appears that there were then 404 places of worship in the county, of 

 which 176 belonged to the Church of England, 72 to Baptists, 57 to 

 Wesleyan Methodists, 39 to Primitive Methodists, 5 to Wesleyan 

 Reformers, 38 to Independents, and 17 to various smaller bodies. 

 The total number of sittings provided was 104,546. 



ffittory and Antiquities. In the most remote period of British 

 history Cambridgeshire appears to have been inhabited by the 

 Iceni, a powerful nation. In the Roman divison of the island 

 this county was included in Flavia Csesarieusis. Several British 

 and Roman roads crossed the county : the Ikeneld and Ermine 

 Streets are supposed to be British. Ikeneld or Ickuield Street 

 crosses the county from the neighbourhood of Newmarket to the 

 neighbourhood of Royston. For a considerable part of this dis- 

 tance it runs parallel to the road from Newmarket to London and 

 a little to the left of it. Near the border of Essex it bends to the 

 right and runs westward, just within the boundary of the county, to 

 Royston ; whence it gradually turns to the south-west, and runs 

 towards Baldock, Hertfordshire. This ancient road has been in some 

 parts so far obliterated by the plough as not to be easily traceable, in 

 other parts the marks of its course are evident. Ermine Street entered 

 the county at Royston, and ran to the left of the present turnpike- 

 road to Caxton and Godrnanchester near Huntingdon. A Roman road 

 in the same direction kept nearly in the line of the present turnpike- 

 road. The great Roman road ( Via Devana ) which connected the 

 colonies of Camulodunum (Colchester or Maldon) and Deva (Chester) 

 passed through Cambridgeshire, entering the county from Withersfield, 

 near Haverhill in Suffolk, and proceeding with little deviation from a 

 straight line to Cambridge, where it is supposed the Romans had a 

 bridge, and from thence nearly in the line of the present turnpike-road 

 to Godrnanchester near Huntingdon. Other roads are still traceable 

 or have been mentioned by antiquarian writers. Roman antiquities 

 of various kinds have been dug up at Cambridge, Soham, Elme, near 

 Wisbeach, and other places. The circular camp of Vandlebury on 

 the Gogmagog hills ; Arbury in the parish of Chesterton near Cam- 

 bridge ; Willingham on the edge of the fen ; and the earth-works round 

 the Bite- of Bourne and Camps Castles, lire probably of British origin. 

 Vandlebury, from Roman remains found there, appears to have been 

 afterwards occupied by the Romans; and Willingham was occupied 

 and strengthened with new works by William the Conqueror when he 

 besieged the Isle of Ely. At Great Shelford near Cambridge are the 

 remains of a Roman camp ; and a Roman embankment, connected with 

 the works for draining the fens, extends some miles from Elme to Tyd 

 St. Giles near Wisbeach. There are some remarkable ancient ditches in 

 this county, as the Devil's Ditch near Newmarket, running north-west 

 and south-east for about 4 or 5 miles, and crossing the London road ; 

 Fleamdyke, running parallel to it, at a distance of 6 miles ; a third 

 near Bourne Bridge, not far from Linton ; and a fourth, a slighter 

 work, near Foulmire, nearly in the same direction as the first two. 

 The Devil's Ditch, the largest probably, and the most perfect, consists 

 of a deep ditch and an elevated vallum, having a slope of 52 feet on 

 the south-west side, where the ditch is, and 26 feet on the north-east 

 side ; the whole of the works are about 100 feet in breadth. 



In the wars between the Saxons and Danes this county suffered 



