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Information about Milton circa 1900

Milton is a parish and village on the road from Cambridge to Ely and on the river Cam, 2 1/2 miles east from Histon station on the St. Ives and Cambridge line of the Great Eastern railway and 3 1/2 north-north-east from Cambridge, in the Western division of the county, hundred of North Stow, union of Chesterton, petty sessional division and county court district of Cambridge, rural deanery of quy and archdeaconry and diocese of Ely. The church of All Saints is a building of rubble and stone in mixed styles, with some remains of Norman work, and exhibits various peculiarities of construction: it consists of chancel, nave, north aisle, which had been demolished, was rebuilt in 1864: the chancel retains its Norman arch and a double piscina, which, however, has been mutilated by the insertion in the perpendicular period of three graduated sedilia: there are some good miserere benches and altar-rails, brought from King's College chapel, Cambridge, and on the north side an altar tomb with a brass, dated 1553: the nave dates from about the year 1300 and is of late Geometric character: on the south side of the chancel arch is a singular recess, possibly a hagioscope: in the church is a fine monument by Falxman to Mrs. Knight, d.1800; and one by Chantrey to Mr. Samuel Knight, d. 1829: a stained window was placed in the north aisle in 1892 by the Rev. John Chapman, rector, to the memory of his wife, who died in 1889: there are 312 sittings, 179 being free. The register of baptisms dates from the year 1707; marriages, 1754; burials, 1709. The living which had formerly a rector and vicar, is now a consolidated rectory, net income £290, with residence and 274 acres of glebe, in the gift of King's college, Cambridge and held since 1895 by the Rev. James Pounder Whitney MA of that college. Here is a baptist chapel and a village reading room. The charities, producing about £50 yearly are now administered under a scheme framed by the Charity Commissioners, including the appointment of fresh trustees; tow parts of the total sum are applied for the use of the poor, one to the surveyors of highways and one to the church. John Percy Baumgarner esq. is lord of the manor. The principal landowners are King's and Pembroke Colleges, Cambridge; Mrs. Amos of Cambridge; Alfred Marshall Robinson esq.; JV Pryor esq. of Milton Hall; the Misses Gunnell and the trustees of the late Thomas Gunnell esq. The soil is loam; subsoil clay and gravel: a considerable portion has been laid down to grass and part is strong fen land. The crops are wheat, barley, peas, beans, potatoes and turnips. The area is 1,416 acres; rateable value, £4,148; the population in 1891 was 518.

Parish Clerk, James Carlton.

Post Office.- John Wilson, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from Cambridge by mail cart at 6.45 am; dispatched at 7.45 pm. Postal orders are issued here, but not paid. The nearest money order and telegraph office is at Waterbeach, 3 miles distant.

A school board was formed October 24 1881; JF Symonds, 9 Bene't st. Cambridge, clerk to the board.

School (mixed) erected in 1836 for 98 children; average attendance, 74; Albert E. Ballard, master.

Carriers.- Camps from Waterbeach to Cambridge, sat.

* Kelly's Directory of Cambridgeshire 1900 (London: Kelly's Directories Limited, 1900), pp.167-168.