Cambridgeshire History On The Net

STOW-WITH-QUY is a parish, with a station 1 mile north from the centre of the village on the Cambridge and Mildenhall branch of the Great Eastern railway, 5 miles east-north-east from Cambridge, in the Eastern division of the county, hundred of Staine, Bottisham petty sessional division, union of Chesterton, county court district of Cambridge, rural deanery of Quy and archdeaconry and diocese of Ely. The stream call “Quy water” flows through the parish. The church of St. Mary, erected circa 1340, and situated close to the main road, is an ancient embattled edifice of stone in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave of four bays, aisles, north porch and an embattled western tower containing 5 bells : the nave arcades, with the exception of an Early English arch to the south-east, are Decorated; the clerestory is Perpendicular; the rood screen, of the same date, is in five compartments and has been partially restored; the north aisle, also Perpendicular, retains a piscine, and has some modern memorials to the Martin family, of Quy Hall : both aisles have slight projections at their eastern ends, forming quasi-transepts : the font, an octagon, is Perpendicular, with blank shields on the sides : the church contains curious brass with effigies of a man in armour, his wife (figure now lost), 12 sons and four daughters, and a mutilated inscription, which when perfect commemorated John Ansty esq. Formerly lord of this “ville”, and founder of Ansty’s Charity, and Johanna his wife; he died circa 1465 : thee is also a brass with arms and inscription to Edward Stern, 1641, and some 17th century slabs inscribed to the Lawrence family : the chancel was rebuilt about 1740 by Thomas Martyn esq. and the church thoroughly restored in 1879-82, at a cost of £3,822 : in 1883 the churchyard wall was rebuilt by Thomas Musgrave Francis esq. M.A., D.L. at a cost of £650, and in 1891 a warming apparatus was provided at an expense of £232 by the late Mrs. Francis, of Quy Hall : thee are 180 sittings. The register dates from the year 1650. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £190 , with residence and 4 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Bishop of Ely, and held since 1894 by the Rev. Arthur Colborne M.A. of Trinity College, Dublin. There is a small Wesleyan chapel here. The charities amount to £14 yearly. Thomas Musgrave Francis esq. M.A., D.L. of Quy Hall, is lord of the manor and the principal landowner. The soil is various. The chief crops are wheat, barley and roots. The area is 1,879 acres ; rateable value, £1,832; the population in 1891 was 387. National School (mixed), for children; average attendance, 50; Miss Turrell, mistress.