Cambridgeshire History On The Net

Information about Willingham circa 1900

WILLINGHAM (or Wyvelingham) is a parish and large village, a mile and a quarter north from Long Stanton station on the St. Ives and Cambridge section of the Great Eastern railway, 10 miles north-west from Cambridge and 6¼ east from St. Ives, in the Western division of the county, hundred of Papworth, union of Chesterton, petty sessional division and county court district of Cambridge, rural deanery of North Stowe and archdeaconry and dioce se of Ely. The church of St. Mary and All Saints is an edifice of stone and rubble, chiefly in the Decorated style, with some remains of Saxon and Norman work, and consists of chancel, clerestoried nave of six bays, aisles, south porch and a lofty western tower with pinnacles and spire and containing a clock, provided in 1887 at a cost of £125, a nd 5 bells: in the north wall of the chancel is an arched recess and on the south side is a remarkably fine piscina and sedilia; some ancient though mutilated stalls remain, and there is an excellent Perpendicular roof with carved foliage: on the north side of the chancel, and now used as a vestry, is a small but very remarkable chapel, in the Decorated style, with a high pitched stone roof, carried on stone arches springing from corbels and pierced above b y tracery with foliated cusping; it has also a piscina mounted on a shaft: the piers and arches of the nave are Decorated and the clerestory Perpendicular; the very fine hammer-beam roof, also of this date, is said to have been brought from Barnwell priory: the spandrils are filled with carved foliage and shields: in the north aisle are two fine canopied tombs, and an altar step remains at the east end, which formed a chantry chapel belonging to the manor of Willingham, and is still inclosed by a beautiful though much mutilated Decorated screen: the roof is Perpendicula r, with carved bosses, and retains much of the ancient colouring; the south aisle has a roof of different pattern, and i s partly inclosed by a Perpendicular screen, forming a chapel attached to the manor of Brunes; it retains a piscina and a canopied tomb: the font is Perpendicular and has an octagonal basin: the pulpit of the same period, is pentagona l, on a single octagonal shaft, and has panelled sides, beautifully carved: within the lower stage of the tower are thre e large arched recesses: the chancel was restored by the rector in 1890-91, at a cost of £1,200, under the direction of Messrs. Carpenter and Ingelow, architects: there are 320 sittings. The register dates from the year 1559. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £390, including 160 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Ely, and h eld since 1890 by the Rev. John Watkins MA of St. John’s College, Cambridge, and rural dean of North Stowe: the rectory house has been almost entirely restored by the present rector. The Baptist chapel in High Street seats 800 persons, and there is another called the “Tabernacle;” the Wesleyan chapel affords 200 sittings. The Public Hall and Reading Rooms was built in 1896, at a cost of about £600, defrayed by Fred Crisp esq. (of London), the site being given by H G Few esq. A cemetery of 2 acres was formed in 1865, at a cost of £500, and is under the control of the Parish Council. At Belsar’s Hill are the remains of an encampment. A scheme was issued in 1876 by the Charity Commissioners for the management of the Willingham Charities, whereby the gross income, amounting to £70 yearl y, is distributed in the following manner:- Two almswomen to receive from 5s. to 8s. per week, and the residue to be given to the deserving poor. There is also an ecclesiastical charity of £10 yearly, derived from lands in the parish le ft by Dr. Saywell for the religious instruction of children. The Rev. William Robert Finch-Hatton B A rector of Grea t Weldon, is lord of the manor of Willingham, and J W Prior esq. of Cambridge, is lord of Blureneys. The principal la ndowners are John Smith esq. of 1 Brookside, Cambridge; William Frederick Wells esq.; the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy; Queens’, Corpus Christi and Jesus Colleges, Cambridge; William Abraham Ellis Staffurth esq. of Wh ittlesey; Charles Edwards Ivatt esq. of Rampton Manor; Thomas Frohock esq. William Tibbit esq. Edwards Few es q. Mrs Esther Thoday, John Francis Gleaves esq. the trustees of Benjamin Howe, Mrs Daintree, R C Taylor esq. an d the rector. The soil varies, but is very fertile; subsoil, mostly blue clay and gravel. The chief crops are wheat, be ans, barley, potatoes, garden produce and fruit, especially gooseberries. The area is 4,648 acres of land and 11 of w ater; rateable value £7,562; the population in 1891 was 1,629.

By Local Government Board Order No. 15,898 (March 24, 1884), a part of Willingham parish known as Hollowmass was added to Rampton.

Sexton, Jonah Lucas.

Board School, formerly the British school, built in 1856, for about 320 children; average attendance, boys 85, girls 82 and infants 134; William Visick Thomas, master; Miss Lily Mustill, mistress; Miss A Stead, infants’ mistress

Carriers:-
George Ambrose, van, Sat. only, ‘Three Tuns,’ Cambridge, for conveyance of passengers, returning same day; Mon. to ‘Cross Keys,’ St. Ives, returning 3.30 p.m.; William Hucknell to ‘True Blue,’ Cambridge, Wed. & Sat
Charles Barton, to the ‘Carrier’s Arms,’ St. Andrew’s hill, Cambridge, Thurs. & Sat. 8 am; returning to his own house 7 p.m.

* Kelly's Directory of Cambridgeshire 1900 (London: Kelly's Directories Limited, 1900), pp.212-213.