Cambridgeshire History On The Net

SWAFFHAM BULBECK is a parish, 2 ½ miles north-west from Bottisham and about same distance from Swaffham Prior station, both on the Cambridge and Mildenhall branch of the Great Eastern railway, 6 ½ west from Newmarket and 8 north-east from Cambridge, in the Eastern division of the county, hundred of Staine, Bottisham petty sessional division, Newmarket union and county court district, rural deanery of Quy and archdeaconry and diocese of Ely. The church of St. Mary is an ancient edifice chiefly in the Late Decorated style, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave, aisles, two porches and a western tower, containing 6 fine-toned bells : the clerestory is Perpendicular, and the tower Early English ; the church is seated with old open benches which bear traces of handsome carving : there is a piscina in the wall of the south aisle, and a cedar chest of the 15th century with fine carvings of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection : the chancel was restored by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1876-7, at a cost of £848 ; and during the period 1884-91, the roofs of the tower and aisles and portions of the interior were restored, a new organ erected, the south aisle re-seated and a new pulpit and other fittings provided, at a total cost of over £356 : there are 458 sittings, of which 317 are free. The churchyard was renovated in 1887, at a cost of £3.10s. The register dates from the year 1558. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value about £165, and including 154 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Ely, and held since 1894 by the Rev. Edward Singleton D.D. of Trinity College, Dublin, and rural dean of Quy. The charities produce £90 yearly, which sum is distributed by the vicar and trustees. Here was anciently a Benedictine nunnery, founded in 1190 by Halewyse de Glanville or one of the Bulbecs; at the Dissolution there were eight nuns, the revenues estimated at £40. Upper Hare Park is the residence of John Ashton Fielden esq. J.P. , Colonel Robert Thomas Hamond D.L., J.P. is lord of the Mitchell Hall manor and Alfred Kent esq. of Burgh Hall manor ; Colonel R. T. Hamond, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and Downing College, Cambridge, are the principal landowners. The soil is clay ; subsoil, chalk. The chief crops are wheat, barley and turnips. The area is 4,092 acres of land and 18 of water ; rateable value, £4,074 ; the population in 1891 was 800. National School, erected in 1841, for 130 children, has an endowment of £35 yearly ; average attendance, 125 ; George Manley, master ; Mrs. Manley, mist.