Cambridgeshire History On The Net

FOXTON is a parish and village, near the old road to Cambridge and on the river Rhea, with a station on the Hitchin, Royston and Cambridge branch of the Great Northern railway, 50 miles from London, about 7 south from Cambridge and 6 north-east from Royston, in the Western division of the county, hundred of Thriplow, petty sessional division of Arrington and Melbourn, union and county court district of Royston, rural deanery of Barton and archdeaconry and diocese of Ely. The church of St. Lawrence is an ancient edifice of flint in the Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave, aisles, north porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 5 very fine-toned bells made by Miles Graye in 1654; the eastern triplet is a very beautiful specimen of Early English work, and contains some fragments of good 14th century glass : thee is a large double piscine in the chancel and opposite it a singular recess like a sedile : the rood staircase is in perfect condition : in the north side are two Decorated brackets, and in the south aisle a piscine; the font is of very early date : in the latter part of the 14th century the church possessed the privilege of sanctuary : it was restored in 1881, at a cost of £3,000 and has 400 sittings. The register dates from the year 1640. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £160, with residence and 3 ¾ acres of glebe, in the gift of the Bishop of Peterborough, and held since 1896 by the Rev. William Greenwood M.A. of Corpus Christi college, Cambridge. Here is a Wesleyan chapel. Almshouses for four persons were erected in 1843 by public subscription. A charter granted to the De La Hayes in 1325 gave them the privilege also of holding a market here, and two fairs, one at the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, the other at the feast of St. Andrew : this charter was confirmed in 1326 : but there is now only one fair, which is held at Easter. The Rev. Richard Bendyshe .A. of Barrington Hall, who is lord of the manor, A. P. Humphry esq. J.P. and William John Ward Asplen esq. are the principal landowners. The soil is gravely and chalky : the subsoil, gravel and clay. The chief crops are wheat and barley. The area is 1,752 acres; assessable value £1,737; the population in 1891 was 436. Board School (mixed), opened in January, 1883, for 100 children; average attendance, 80; Miss Susan Corlett, mistress.