Cambridgeshire History On The Net

Information about St. Neots circa 1900

ST NEOTS is a market town, parish, head of a union and county court district, with a station one mile from the town on the main line of the Great Northern railway, 51 1/2 miles by rail and 56 by road from London, 24 from Peterborough, 12 from Bedford, 9 south-west from Huntingdon, 14 from St. Ives and 18 from Cambridge, in the Southern division of the county, hundred and petty sessional division of Toseland, rural deanery of St Neots, archdeaconry of Huntingdon and diocese of Ely. The town is situated on the east bank of the navigable river Ouse, here crossed by a stone bridge of three arches, built in 1589 from the ruins of The Priory and connecting this county with Bedfordshire: the town consists chiefly of three wide streets, several smaller ones, and a spacious market place; it is lighted with gas by a company, from works in Bedford street, established in 1846, and supplied with water from various pumps and wells. In July, 1897, the St. Neots Water Act received the Royal Assent, a company being incorporated and empowered to construct water works and supply water within the town of St. Neots and parishes of St. Neots Rural and Eynesbury Hardwicke. In April, 1898, a limited liability company was formed, with a capital of £9,000, and a site secured near the town for constructing the works. A Local Board of twelve members was established here in 1876, the district including part of the parish of Eynesbury, but under the provisions of the " Local Government Act, 1894" (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), the town is now governed by an Urban District Council. By section 36 of the same Act the old parish has been divided into two, viz.:- St. Neots Urban and St. Neots Rural.

The church of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a spacious edifice in the Perpendicalar style; consisting of chancel, with vestry, cIerestoried nave of five bays, aisles prolonged one bay into the chancel, north and south porches and a western tower containing a clock and a peal of 8 bells; the bells cannot be rung as they are out of repair and in a dangerous condition; the body of the church was completed about 1486; the porches were added and the tower of Weldon stone begun about 1489; the work had advanced as far as the belfry in 1493 and the pinnacIes were built between 1526 and 1535: the roof, of the sam e age as the church, is bordered by a cornice of oak, upon which, between mouldings of vine leaves, are various grotesque figures carved in fine relief; the whole fabric is embattled, and at the north-east angle of the nave is an octagonal stair turret; the north aisle of the chancel, where the organ now stands, is the Jesus chapel; the monogram IHC appears on the cornice of the roof internally, and on the buttresses externally; this chapel seems to have been built by "The Guild or Fraternity of Jesus ," consisting of President, Wardens and Brethren; the south aisle of the chancel forms the lady chapel, in which is a recess for a reredos; the tower is of four stages, surrounded at intervals by belts of quatrefoils; at the angles are square panelled tur rets, buttressed up to the belfry story, which is lighted by two tall windows on each face, and the space over is enriched with quatrefoiled work, and finished with a counter-embattled parapet, 100 feet from the ground; the turrets, rising above this, are crowned with crocketed spires, surrounded by pinnacles which reach a height of 128 feet; the pinnacles and battlements of the tower were thoroughly repaired in 1880, at a cost of about £ 180, raised by subscription: the roof of the chancel was entirely r ebuilt in 1901, at the expense of C. P. Rowley esq. at the same time battlements were added externally, corresponding with those on the nave; the vestry was rebuilt in 1883 at the expense of Mr. John Jewel Evans; the church was restored in 1847, when th e pews were replaced by open benches of oak with carved panels and poppy-heads on the ends: the organ was built in 1855: in the chancel is a magnificent canopied altar tomb, erected in 1893 at a cost of over £ 3,000, from the designs of F. A. Walters F. S. A. to the memory of G. W. Rowley esq. (d. 1878), and Mrs. Rowley, of Priory Hill, by their son; on the tomb is a recumbent effigy of the deceased lady in white alabaster, and at the head and feet are figures of angels; the whole rests on a slab of blac k Derbyshire marble, and is enclosed by exquisitely wrought iron gates, richly gilt: all the 29 windows were originally filled with stained glass, but of these 22 now contain modern glass: the stained east window was erected by subscription in 1864, and t here are memorial windows in the chancel and Jesus chapel to David Rowley esq. d. 1855, and George Dawson Rowley esq. d. 1878: the stained west window in the tower, one in the lady chapel, and the five windows of the south clerestory are memorials to the Re v. Charles Hale Collier, vicar 1865-6; another was placed in 1891 to the Rev. George Bowes Watson, vicar 1866-75; other windows are memorials to Mr. William Day and his wife, Dr. S. AlIvey and his wife, Dr. J. Rix and his wife: there are others present ed by C. P. Rowley esq. J.P. of Wintringham Hall: there are 800 sittings. The registers, of the church commence in 1691, and vestry records in 1656. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £ 92, with residence, in the gift of George Fydell Rowley esq. (who is also the lay impropriator), and held since 1902 by the Rev. Samuel St. Aidan Baylee M.A. of Durham University. The Wesleyan chapel in Huntingdon street, erected in 1794 and rebuilt in 1868, has 600 sittings. The Baptist chapel in East street, bu ilt in 1872, seats 400 persons, and that in New street 700. The Congregational chapel in High street, built in 1889, will seat 600. The Salvation Army hall, in High street, erected in 1891, holds 250. The Gospel hall, in New street, built in 1867, hold s 200.

A Cemetery of three acres at the south side of the town was formed in 1879, at a cost of £2,500, but has no mortuary chapel. It is under the control of a joint committee appointed by the St. Neots Urban District Council.

The Corn Exchange, erected by a company, at a cost of £4,000, from designs by Messrs. Bellamy and Hardy, architects, of Lincoln, and opened in Aug. 1863, is a building in the Jacobean Renaissance style.

The Police Station, in New street, contains a magistrates' room, in which petty sessions are held every Thursday at one o'clock.

The Public Rooms, on the east side of the river Ouse, form an oblong building of spacious character, well adapted for public meetings and seating about 500 persons.

The Victoria Museum, in High street, opened June 26, 1887, contains a fine collection of minerals, shells, birds, animals, and geological specimens, presented by the late Dr. J. J. Evans, and is under the management of trustees.

The Library and Literary Institute, also in High street, and esta blished in 1863, is well supplied with the London and provincial newspapers and the leading periodicals; the library contains upwards of 1,500 volumes, and there is a separate room for chess and draughts; the institute is managed by a committee appointe d annually : concerts and other entertainments are given during the winter.

The Constitutional Club, New street, was opened in 1895; the premises are spacious, and contain billiard, smoking, reading and card rooms, and a concert room seating about 100, in which entertainments are held; there is also a good quoit ground.

The Liberal and Radical Club; in South street, is similarly arranged and supplied.

The market day is Thursday. There are weekly sales of fat and store cattle, and fairs are held on Ascension day, on that day three weeks, and the first Thursday after the 11th of October and on the Thursday previous to the 17th of December. A statute fa ir, the date of which is fixed annually, is held on a Thursday in the latter part of September.

A Horticultural Show is held here annually on the August bank holiday.

On the river Ouse, about a mile from the town and partly in the parish of Little Paxton, are the paper mills of the St. Neots Paper Mill Co. Limited, in which a large, number of females are employed. There are also large breweries, steam flour mills, two engineering works and some maltings.

The local charities are as follows:- In 1707, John Dryden bequeathed £100, to which £10 was added, and the whole is now represented by four cottages in Eaton Socon parish, producing £26 10s. yearly; a close of land, let to Mr. James Brown for £5 7s. per annum, and £195 7s. 6d Consols, producing £5 7s. 4d.- total, £36 17s. 4d. yearly for distribution to the poor; Hugh Wye, in 1648, left £40 to purchase land, the rent thereof to buy bread; this land (2a. 1r. 11p.) now produces £9 yearly, which is given away weekly during the winter months to poor widows not receiving parochial relief; in 1772, Joseph Eyre made a bequest of £100, which now produces £4 a y ear; this is laid out in bread for the poor on St. Thomas' Day, together with the proceeds of Dryden's charity; in 1620, John Cromwell gave a rent charge of 40s. for the benefit of poor widows; Elizabeth Smith gave by will in 1829 £ 100, the interest of which is distributed in money and in payment to the vicar for performing divine service on New Year's Day; in 1850, Mary Musgrave gave £ 100, the interest to be expended in fuel for the poor; the late William Medland, who died in 1873, left £1,000, the in terest of which is given away yearly on his birthday (March 15th) in bread and coals; William Anderson, formerly a pupil in the boys' school, who died in 1874, left £ 100, the interest to be distributed in coals to six poor widows; John Holland, in 1891, left £500 invested in Consols, the interest to be given to the poor in bread and coals at Christmas; a sum of £ 8 a year is provided for the organist from the Newton and Chatteris gifts.

The Benedictine priory of St. Neot, of which there are now no remain s, was originally founded by Leofric, as a cell of Ely, and refounded 1113, as a cell of the abbey of Beck, in Normandy, by Roisia FitzGilbert; at its dissolution there were twelve monks, and the revenues were estimated at £241.

A mile from the town is Priory Hill, the seat of, George Fydell Rowley esq. J.P; the mansion stands on a gentle eminence in a park of 100 acres well studded with trees, and is approached through a fine avenue of elms. The Earl of Sandwich is lord of the manor. The principal landowners are the Earl of Sandwich, George Fydell Rowley esq. J.P and Charles Perceval Rowley esq. M.A, J.P

There is a common of 170 acres, over which some of the inhabitants have rights of common.

The chief crops are wheat, beans, roots and barley. The land is chiefly arable. The soil is clay, gravel and loam. The area of St. Neots civil parish and Urban District is 971 acres of land and 25 of water; rateable value, £ 19,840; the population in 1901 was 2,798.

Under the provisions of section 36, sub-section 3, of th "Local Government Act, 1894" (56 & 57 Vict c 73), by Local Government Board Order 32,508, dated April 1,1895, the old parish of St. Neots has been divided into St. Neots Urban and St. Neots Rural parishes.

The area of St Neots Rural parish is 2,627 acres of land and 2 of water; rateable value, £1,190; the population in 1901 was 72.

Parish Clerk, Samuel Walter Hawksford, Church street.

Monks Hardwick is a manor and hamlet on the north-east side of the parish, about 2 1/2 miles from the town ; it consists of 672 acres, belonging to George Fydell Rowley esq.; the house stands within a large rectangular area, encompassed by a broad and deep moat; in 1598 it was the property and probably the abode of Henry Cromwell esq. second cousin of Olive r Cromwell, the Lord Protector: near here is a tumulus.

Wintringham is also a hamlet on the south-east side of the parish. There was formerly a chapel here founded by William Brito, of Wintringham, in the year 1288. Wintringham Hall, the seat of Charles Perceval RowIey esq. M.A. J.P., is about 2 miles from St Neots railway station, the mansion is almost entirely surrounded by a moat. About a mile from the town of St. Neots, to the west is the Great North road, and at the same distance to the east is th e Great Northern railway station.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of Services.
St. Mary' s Church, Rev. Samuel St. Aidan Baylee M.A. vicar; Rev W.W. Crump M.A. curate; 8.15 a.m. holy communion; 11 a.m. morning prayer & sermon; 3 p.m. children's service & address; 6.30 p.m. evensong & sermon; daily morning prayer 10 a.m. & Friday evensong 6.30 p.m.; & during lent & advent evensong at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays.

Baptist, East street, Rev. Henry Hurditch, 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Tuesday, 7 p.m.

Baptist, New street, 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Wed 7 p.m.

Congregational, High street, 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Tues. 7 p.m.

Wesleyan, Huntingdon street, Rev. Samuel H Phillips & Rev. Thomas Morris; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Tuesday & Friday 7.30 p.m.

Gospel Hall, New street, Rev. Frederick Newman, 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Tuesday 7 & Saturday 7.30

Salvation Army, High street

SCHOOLS
Endowed (boys), founded in 1760, & rebuilt in 1860, for 190 boys; average attendance, 97; it has an endowment, derived partly from stock in the £3 per Cent.

Consols left by Mr. Robert Hatley in the year 1782, & partly from a bequest of the late Alderman Newton, of Leicester; the total income is about £55; 20 boys, from 7 to 14 years of age, are clothed & educated with this sum; by the will of the founder the Free scholars must be children of respectable parents who are members of the Church of England & have never received parochial relief: the account book of the charities dating from about 1760, contains the receipts & expenditure for 110 years, & the autographs of most of the trustees who have governed the school during that period; Frederick William Harrison, master; Herbert Corston, assistant master.

National (girls), for 140 girls & 180 infants; total average attendance, 170; Miss Gertrude Rosalie White, mistress; Miss Louisa Fisher, infants' mistress.

Wesleyan (mixed), built in 1858, at a cost of £1,400, for 368 children; average attendance, 180; Arthur Hall, master; Mrs. Alice Hall, mistress.

Bedfordshire Imperial Yeomanry (D squadron), Capt. H. W. Montgomery, commander; squadron Sergt.-Major Fredk. Hollington, drill instructor, Cambridge house

NEWSPAPERS.
St. Neots Advertiser, Market square; published every Friday by the proprietor, P.C. Tomson
St. Neots Chronicle (incorporated with the Hunts County News); R. Winfrey, proprietor; published Friday for Saturday; branch office, High street Conveyance. Omnibus to & from the ' Cross Keys' to the station to meet every train;

omnibus from Kimbolton to the G.N.R. station arrives in time for the 2.55 p.m. up train from St. Neots & leaves on arrival of the train leaving King's Cross at 1.35 p.m. Railway Station (Great Northern), Frederick Beavis, station master; Miss Edith Helen Cranstone, parcel agent, Cross Keys hotel Carrier to Bedford. James Hinsby, Mon. Wed. & Sat. returning same days.

* Kelly's Directory of Huntingdonshire 1903 (London: Kelly's Directories Limited, 1903), pp.53-54.