Cambridge is one of the eastern counties, and is inland, though its borders reach within a few miles of the sea and the great inlet called the Wash, and include the ports of Wisbech and Ely: it shelves gradually down from the upper sources of the Ouse, in the chalk country, to the lowlands of the rivers, and includes within its bounds the Isle of Ely and much other marsh ground. The upper part of the shire lies between the Ouse and Cam, the two heads of the Ouse: the lower part lies between the Ouse and the Nene, and is watered by their channels: these streams run into the Wash.

Cambridgeshire runs very nearly north and south, between 52 deg. 1 min. and 52 deg. 45 min. north latitude, and 0 deg. 31 min. east and 0 deg. 16 min. west longitude from Greenwich, Cambridge being in very nearly the same longitude as London. The shape is oblong, the southern part being wider than the northern: the greatest length is about 51 miles from north to south, and the greatest breadth 32 miles, but at Ely the breadth is not more than about 15 miles. On the north it is bounded by Lincolnshire; on the east by the Wisbech canal and by the Welney, Croft, Ouse and Lark, and the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk; on the south by Essex, Herts and Bedfordshire; on the west by Huntingdonshire; and on the north-west by Northamptonshire and the Catwater stream.

The parish of Redmore was by an order of the County Council transferred from Norfolk to this county and its name altered to Redmere, and by an order of September, 1895, the portion of the parish of Welney formerly in this county was transferred to Norfolk. By the Local Government Board’s Provisional Orders Confirmation (No. 14) Act, 1895, the parishes of Great Chishall, Little Chishall and Heydon were transferred from Essex to Cambridge. In the same year part of Papworth St. Agnes was annexed from Hunts, part of Royston added to Herts, and part of Wood Ditton to Cambridgeshire.

By these alterations the administrative county now comprises 553,219 acres, and may be arranged under two great divisions-the Isle of Ely in the marsh lands, with 238,048 acres, and Cambridgeshire proper, with 315,171 acres. The population of the entire county in 1871 was 186,906; in 1881, 185,594; in 1891, 185,822, and in 1901, 184,759, viz.: males, 89,658 and females, 95,101; the number of houses in 1901 was, inhabited, 43,172; uninhabited, 3,262; building, 305.

Cambridgeshire first belonged to the Iberians, and afterwards to a British tribe called the lceni, and being overrun by the Romans was by them included in the province Flavia Csesariensis. The Romans had a town or settlement at Cambridge. On the retreat of the Romans it was held by the Welsh, but they being driven out it was settled by the same English Waring and Frisian clans as Norfolk and Suffolk, being most likely known as the Westfolk. When the present kingdom of England was formed the land took the name of Grantbridgeshire, and in 870 was wasted by the Danes, who destroyed Cambridge and the minsters of Ely, Soham and Thorney. In 875 the invaders again occupied the country, and obtained afterwards a permanent settlement amongst the East English; but in 921 an army of these settlers surrendered at Cambridge to King Edward I. surnamed the Elder. In 1010 a fresh swarm of Danes, under King Swain, again burned Cambridge. On the accession of William the Norman to the English kingdom, almost the only part of the land which resisted him was the Isle of Ely, where the gallant Hereward held out for nearly seven years, until 1074, when he was overpowered.

The northern part of the county including the Isle of Ely, is for the most part fen land, and comprises nearly half of the Great Level of the Fens, called the Bedford Level, covering 680,000 acres of rich land, the remainder of which is in Norfolk, Lincoln and Hunts, and was drained in the first instance by Sir Cornelius Vermuyden, a Dutchman, about, the year 1629, since reclaimed and drained by successive engineers, and up to the present time is only preserved by great care and watchfulness; in place of hedges the fields are separated by ditches which communicate with wider cuttings, and these again How into the natural watercourses of rivers, which carry off the drainage: steam engines are now taking the place of windmills for pumping the water from the ditches into the larger drains, and these are provided with sluices to regulate the supply of water for navigation, as the great drains are used as canals; in parts provision is made for excess of water in rainy weather by what is known as washlands, notably those some 20 miles in length from Earith (Hunts), across Cambridgeshire to Denver sluice (Norfolk), situated between the Hundred-feet (or New Bedford river), constructed after 1649, on the south and the Old Bedford river (dating from 1630) on the north: these washlands are flooded when the upland waters come down too fast to be discharged by the rivers and cover about 5,000 acres, affording rich pasture land. The black poplar, ash and alder are about the only trees of any size that flourish in this district, and at one time the fens were the resort of many species of wild fowl, but these latter have considerably diminished through the operation of draining. Sedge-cutting is one of the remaining fen industries, and at certain seasons the gathering of the couch-grass (Triticum Repens), which grows abundantly; of late years a large acreage has been devoted to potato growing and this affords considerable employment.

The Great Fen offers subjects of interest to the naturalist, geologist and the engineer and this Great Level has been from an early period divided into the North Level, the Middle Level and the South Level, Cambridgeshire being comprised in the last two; the corporation of the Bedford Level superintends the drainage of the large district called the South Level, and has offices at Ely; of the meres or inland lakes Whittlesey was the largest, but this has been drained by the Middle Level Commissioners and brought under cultivation; and at Thorney, near here, great improvements in this direction have been made under the supervision of the Duke of Bedford, whose ancestor, Francis, Earl of Bedford, in 1634, undertook the charge of the great drainage operations.

On the southern border of the shire the Gog-Magog and other hills rise to a height of about 300 feet. The upland is watered by the Ouse and its branches; the Ouse enters the shire on the west from Huntingdonshire, and passes through to the city of Ely on the east, proceeding to Downham and the sea at Lynn, in Norfolk: above Ely it receives the Cam, running down from Cambridge, where it is navigable, and just above which it is joined by the Rhea, from Hertfordshire and the south-west; below Ely the Ouse receives the Lark or Mildenhall river from Suffolk, navigable from Bury, and the Croft or Welney, from the borders of Norfolk: the Ouse is navigable for shipping up to Ely; the name of this river is Iberian, and is one of the very common names given to rivers by the Celts, ike Theme, Dour and Dee: there is an Ouse in Cambridgeshire, Buckinghamshire, Sussex and Yorkshire; an Oise (anciently Axona) in France, an Auser and AEsar in Italy and AEaus in Greece. The Nene is another of these names; the lower part only of this river passes through Cambridgeshire, where it splits into three channels, which have been much changed by drainage works: one channel is called the Catwater or Shire Drain, and runs between Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire; a second, called Morton Leam, passes south to Wisbech, whence it is navigable to the sea; and the third, under the name of the Old Nene, or Whittlesea Dyke, flows by Whittlesea and March to the Ouse or Welney, at Salter’s Lode Sluice.

Cambridgeshire in respect to the annual amount of rainfall is one of the driest counties in England. The average is about 22 inches yearly. Observations of the rainfall are daily made at about thirty stations in the county. Most rain falls with south-west winds, while those from the south east are the driest; in the months of the year, December and January have the dampest atmosphere; May and July the driest. In the fen district, the atmospheric conditions often present marked peculiarities: here the mirage is not of unfrequent occurrence, when places which under ordinary circumstances are below the horizon become visible, being tilted up into the air, as it were, by refraction. Moist air, a warm day and the sun low in the heavens, are stated by Mr. Skertchly to be necessary for the production of this phenomenon.

The soil generally is fertile, corn being raised in the uplands as well as in the lowlands, and there is grazing in the latter. The produce consists of wheat (the Burwell wheat having a high reputation as seed), and other corn crops, cattle, sheep, Cottenham cheese (the production of which has much diminished), butter, fruit, hay, coleseed, osiers, cabbages, beans, potatoes, asparagus from Ely, reeds for thatching, chalk, lime and turf for fuel (much used); mangold wurtzel and carrots are grown in large quantities on the fen lands; the produce is chiefly sent to London from the ports of Lynn, Ely and Wisbech, and from Cambridge and other towns by railway. In the Cottenham and Willingham districts and around Wisbech much fruit is grown, especially gooseberries, and sent to the London and Manchester markets.

Oolitic clays form the western part of Cambridgeshire: the river Cam runs along the centre in a valley, formed by the greensand and gault clay, while to the south and east of that river all is chalk, which rises in the Gog-Magog Hills and Royston Downs to heights of from 300 to 500 feet. These chalk hills are a continuation of the Chiltern Hills of Buckinghamshire. In the north of the county we have a portion of the fen land which encircles the Wash, a level tract intersected by great dykes or drains.

Brewing and malting are large trades. Brick-making is carried on to some extent, the chief material used in building being brick. Lime-burning for manure employs many persons, chiefly in the southern parts, and coprolite works give employment to many. The number of millers is considerable, and much corn is ground up and oilseed crushed. Basket-making, for which osiers are worked up, and mat-making occupy many persons. As there are so many navigable cuts and drains in the county, the employment of bargemen and boatmen is large, and many persons are engaged in ship, boat and barge building. Printing and bookselling employ 300 persons, chiefly at Cambridge, where books are printed at the University and other presses. There are paper and parchment works.

Race horses are trained on the downs near Newmarket.

The county is well provided with railway communication to all parts of England. The lines mostly belong to the Great Eastern and Great Northern systems, including two trunk lines to London. Cambridge is a great railway centre, and communicates with London vid Hitchin, Hertfordshire, by the Great Northern railway and through Essex and Herts by the Great Eastern railway, and northward to Ely and March, which are also centres. The Great Eastern railway has the principal lines in the county, being one from Cambridge eastward through Newmarket and Bury St. Edmunds to Haughley junction, there joining the main line to Norwich and Ipswich; while a second line leaving Cambridge runs north-east to Ely and Thetford, with branch through Fordham to Mildenhall; and a line from Newmarket to Ely, and thence to St. Ives and to March; also a line from Cambridge to St. Ives, whence it returns into the county to March and Wisbech; and from March a short line runs to Peterborough, connecting with the Midland and London and North Western lines. The Great Eastern has joint lines in connection with the Colne Valley from Shelford to Swaffham &c. and from March to Spalding in connection with the Great Northern railway.

There is a line from Cambridge to Hitchin on the Great Northern, and a line of the London and North Western Railway Company, crossing the Great Northern at Sandy, through Bedford to Bletchley and Oxford.

The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway have a branch from Peterborough through Thorney to Wisbech, thence to Lynn and Yarmouth, in Norfolk. From Melton Constable are also branches to Cromer and Norwich.

The old high roads are the Great North Road, from London to York and Edinburgh, by Royston, with a branch to Cambridge; the London, Norwich and Newmarket Road, with a branch to Cambridge; and the Cambridge and Huntingdon Road, which joins the Great North Road. A branch of the Great North Road runs through the Isle of Ely by March and Wisbech.

The southern part of the county is crossed by the old Roman road of Icknield Street (which was also a British road of the Iccni) from Newmarket to Royston, and by Ermine Street from Royston to the north-west. The Via Devana, another of these ways, passed through Cambridge towards Godmanchester, where it met the Ermine Street, and another through Ely to Cambridge; most of these have now been obliterated or diverted.

Cambridgeshire, under the name of Grantbrldgeshire, was divided previously to Domesday Survey in the same manner as now. The Isle of Ely, in the north part of the shire, of old forming two hundreds, now forms four-Ely, with 25,923 acres (exclusive of the city of Ely); Wisbech, with 61,157 acres; North Witchford, with 80,275 acres; and South Witchford, with 37,463 acres.

In the rest of the shire are the hundreds of Northstow, in the north midland, with 19,651 acres; Staplow (anciently Staplehow) in the north midland, with 40,775 acres; Cheveley (Newmarket), in the east, with 12,905 acres; Radfield, in the south-east, with 23,869 acres; Staine, in the south-east midland, with 18,917 acres; Whittlesford, in the south, with 11,078 acres; Fiendish (anciently Flaming-dike), exclusive of Cambridge, in the south midland, with 11,906 acres; Thriplow, in the south-west, with 16,160 acres; Chilford (Linton), in the south-west, with 22,364 acres; Armingford or Royston (named from the ford of Ermine Street), in the south-west, with 29,287 acres; Wetherley, in the south-west midland, with 16,160 acres; Lowstow, in the west, with 25,500 acres; Chesterton, near Cambridge, in the south midland, with 15,847 acres; and Papworth, in the west midland, with 26,923 acres.

Cambridgeshire virtually includes two shires or separate jurisdictions, the shire proper and Ely. The shire proper has its county town at Cambridge, where the assizes and quarter sessions are held, and is divided into six petty sessional divisions. The Isle of Ely is under the jurisdiction of the bishop, and has separate coroners.

The spring assizes and April and October sessions are held at Ely; the summer assizes and January and July sessions at Wisbech: the Isle of Ely has four petty sessional divisions. Cambridgeshire is joined with Huntingdonshire in the shrievalty.

The University of Cambridge, has separate jurisdiction over its own members.

The county is in the South Eastern circuit and has 168 civil parishes and part of one other; being 131 parishes in Cambridge proper, and 37 parishes and part of one in the Isle of Ely and 180 Ecclesiastical parishes and parts of 13. The greater part is in the diocese of Ely, forming the archdeaconry of Ely, which is subdivided into the deaneries of Barton, Bourn, Cambridge, Camps, North Stowe, Quy and Shingay; four parishes are in the diocese of Norwich and three in that of St. Albans.

The Isle of Ely, forming the northern portion of the county, is, for ecclesiastical purposes, divided into the rural deaneries of Ely, March and Wisbech and forms a division, over which the bishop of the diocese of Ely also exercises archidiaconal functions. The municipal boroughs are Cambridge and Wisbech, the former of which has a separate court of Quarter Sessions.

The chief towns are:-Cambridge, with its celebrated university, population in 1901, 38,379; Ely, with the episcopal establishment and a shipping port and railway station, 7,713; Newmarket, famed for its races and sporting, 6,213; Wisbech, with considerable export trade by water, and supplying great part of the district with coals and timber, 6,476; March, an ancient town and a great railway station, 19,777; Thorney, formerly famous for its abbey, which is still a fine structure, 1,781; Linton, a small town in the south, 1,530; Chatteris, in the Isle of Ely, 4,711; Soham, which had anciently an abbey, 4,230; and Whittle-sea, also formerly possessing an abbey, 3,909; Whittlesea, or Whittlesey, has flax scutching and oil mills. Newmarket' is principally in Suffolk. The ecclesiastical edifices of the Isle of Ely are remarkably handsome.

The Registration districts are:

Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in Trumpington street, Cambridge, founded by a bequest of John Addenbrooke M.D. of St. Catharine’s College, and first opened at Michaelmas, 1766, consists of a long pedimented central block with advanced wings, united in front by an open colonnade with balustrading: the hospital was further endowed in 1813 by John Bowtell, a bookbinder in this town; and has an income of £1,476 from invested funds, but it derives its chief support from the voluntary contributions of the public. During the years 1864 and 1865 the hospital was almost rebuilt and greatly enlarged from the designs of Sir M. Digby Wyatt, at a cost of about £15,000: in 1878 additional wards were built at a cost of £3,590: and in 1883 a dormitory was provided at a cost of about £1,200, and four wards are now available for the open-air treatment: there are 174 beds and the hospital also affords relief to a large number of out-patients, The present income is £7,457. Edmund John Mortlock esq. treasurer; Peter Wallwork Latham M.A. M.D. & Donald MacAlister M.A., M.D., B.SC. consulting physicians; John Buckley Bradbury B.A., M.D. Laurence Humphry M.D. & Thomas Clifford Allbutt M.D., F.B.C.P.Lond. physicians; E. Lloyd Jones B.A., M.D., B.SC. & J. Aldren Wright M.D. assistant physicians; George Wallis M.R.C.S.Eng. & Edmund Carver M.A., M.D., F.R.C.S.Eng. consulting Burgeons; G. E. Wherry M.A., M.B., M.C., F.B.C.S.Eng. Frederick Deighton M.A., M.B., M.K.C.S. Eng. Joseph Griffiths M.A., M.D., D.P.H., F.R.C.S.Kng. & Frederick Howard Marsh M.A., F.R.C.S.Eng. surgeons; Arthur Cooke M.B., B.CH.Oxon., F.R.C.S.Eng. assistant surgeon; Harold Pritchard L.R.C.P.Lond., M.R.C.S.Eng, house physician; Percival Wilson Leathart L.R.C.P.Lond., M.R.C.S.Eng, house surgeon; Philip Noel Panton L.R.C.P. Lond., M.R.C.S.Eng, assistant house surgeon; William Atkinson Rhodes L.D.S.R.C.S.Irel. consulting dentist; Alfred Jones L.D.S.R.C.S.Irel. dentist; John Bonnett, sec.; Miss M. Morgan, matron.

The North Cambridgeshire Hospital, adjoining and overlooking the park, Cambridge, is a structure of brick, with lodge and detached residence for the surgeon, built and furnished by the munificence of Miss M. E. Trafford Southwell, of Honington Hall, Grantham, at a cost of about £8,000, and opened Nov. 22, 1873: the foundress endowed the hospital with a sum of £6,000, augmented by donations to the amount of £10,000: there are beds for 26 patients; Edward Charles Bury M.D. William Henry Copley L.R.C.P. Lond. & Henry Charles Meacock L.R.C.P.Edin. hon. medical officers; Stephen Arthur T. Coxon L.D.S.Irel. hon. surgeon-dentist; Andrew Bernard Morris M.B., CH.B.Aberd. housesurgeon; Miss Stendell, matron.

The County Lunatic Asylum, at Fulbourn, was opened on November 2, 1858, and is a structure of brick in the Elizabethan style, from plans by Mr. Fowler Jones, architect, of York, and was erected at a cost of about £40,000; it has since been considerably enlarged and had, in 1004, 600 patients; attached are 87 acres of land, a consecrated cemetery, gas works and farm buildings; Edward Coulton Rogers M.R.C.S.Eng, medical superintendent; William Arthur McCutcheon L.R.C.P. & s. Edin. & Miss A. Gertrude Grogan B.A., M.B., B.CH.B.U.I. assistant medical officers; Rev. Charles William Alfred Brooke M.A. chaplain; T. M. Francis, clerk to the visitors; Henry Archer, clerk and steward.

His Majesty’s Prison and House of Correction, on Castle hill, in the parish of Chesterton, was erected in 1804 on the site of the old castle; it has since been taken over from the county by H.M. Government, improved and enlarged. Prisoners are received here from the counties of Huntingdon, Herts, Suffolk and Essex; John Noon, governor; Rev. Arthur James Micklethwaite M.A. chaplain; John Buckenham L.R.C.P.Edin. surgeon.

Parliamentary Represantation of Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire has hitherto returned three members for the undivided county, but under the provisions of the “Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885,” it now returns the same number in three divisions:

No. 1.-The Northern or Wisbech division comprises the sessional divisions of North Witchford, Whittlesea & Wisbech, the municipal borough of Wisbech, & the parishes of Coveney, Downham & Littleport.

No. 2.-The Western or Chesterton division comprises the sessional divisions of Arrington & Melbourn, Cambridge & Caxton, the municipal borough of Cambridge, & the parishes of Grunty Fen, Haddenham, Mepal, Stretham, Sutton, Thetford, Wentworth, Wilburton, Witcham & Witchford.

No. 3.-The Eastern or Newmarket division comprises the sessional divisions of Bottisham, Linton & Newmarket, & the parishes of Ely College, Ely Holy Trinity & Ely St. Mary.

By the above-mentioned Act the borough of Cambridge lost one member; the University still returns two members.

Volunteers

2nd Volunteer Battalion Suffolk Regiment, head quarters, Bury St. Edmunds. H Company:-Capt. A. R. C. Forrest; Surg.-Capt. C. E. Stephens M.B. medical officer; armoury, head quarters & drill hall, High street, Newmarket.

3rd (Cambridgeshire) Volunteer Battalion Suffolk Regiment, Lt,-Col. & Hon. Col. A. J. Lyon V.D. commanding; G. F. Whitmore & L. Tebbutt, majors; instructor of musketry; Capt. F. G. Davies (Suffolk Regt.), adjutant; Hon. Capt. C. E. Gray, quartermaster; head quarters, Orderly room, 14 Corn Exchange street, Cambridge.

Chamber of Agriculture.

Cambridgeshire & Isle of Ely, Professor McKenney Hughes F.R.S. president; Robert Peters F.S.A. sec. 7 Downing street Cambridge.

Cambridge, fairs, June 24 & three following days for horses, cattle & earthenware, & September 25 for one week; cattle fairs three times a year; market day, Saturday.

Chatteris, fairs, last Friday in April & Friday before Michaelmas; market day, Friday.

Ely, fairs, last thursday in May (except when that day falls on Holy thursday & than on the thursday before) & October for three days each; market day, thursday.

Foxton, fair at Easter.

Fulbourn, fair, Monday & Tuesday following first Sunday after Trinity.

March, fairs, Monday before Whit Sunday & third Tuesday in October; market day, Wednesday.

Newmarket, fair, Whit tueaday & November 8 for stock; market day, Tuesday.

Soham, cattle fair, May 9 & three days’ pleasure fair from the Monday next before the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.

Thorney, fairs for horses, July 1 & September 21.

Whittlesey, fair for horses & cattle, June 13; market day, Friday.

Wisbech, fairs on the Saturday, after the end of Lynn, February 14th, fair (which lasts seven days), second thursday in May & July 25 for horses; first thursday in August for beasts; & third Wednesday in September for hiring; market days, thursday & Saturday for cattle & Saturday for corn.

The following table shows the acreage under each kind of crop, and the number of horses, cattle, sheep and pigs in the County of Cambridge, as taken from the Agricultural Returns, 1903:—

County Council of Cambridge

Local Government Act, 1888, 51 & 52 Vic. c. 41.

Under the above Act, Cambridgeshire, excluding the Isle of Ely, after the 1st April, 1889, for the purposes of the Act, became a separate & distinct administrative county (sec. 46 (1) c), governed by a County Council, consisting of chairman, aldermen & councillors, elected in manner prescribed by the Act (sec. 2.)

The chairman, by virtue of his office, is justice of the peace for the county, without qualification (sec. 46) The police for the county is under the control of a standing joint committee of the Quarter Sessions & the County Councils, appointed as therein mentioned (secs. 9 & 46), & the clerk of the peace is appointed by such joint committee, & may be removed by them (see. 83—2.)

The coroners for the county are elected by the County Council.

The clerk of the peace for the county is also the clerk of the County Council (sec. 83—1.)

The administrative business of the county (which would, if this Act had not been passed, be transacted by the justices) is transacted by the County Councils.

County Council of The Isle of Ely

Local Government Act, 1888, 51 & 52 Vic. c. 41.

Under the above Act, the Isle of Ely, after the 1st April, 1889, for the purposes of the Act, became a separate & distinct administrative county (sec. 46-1-c.), governed by a County Council, consisting of chairman, aldermen & councillors, elected in manner prescribed by the Act (sec. 2.)

The chairman, by virtue of his office, is a justice of the peace for the county (sec. 2—5-b.)

The police for the Isle of Ely is under the control of a standing joint committee of the Quarter Sessions & the County Council, appointed as mentioned in the Act, & Meet at the clerk of the peace is appointed by such joint committee, & may be removed by them (sec. 83—2.)

The coroners for the county are elected by the County Council.

The clerk of the peace for the county is also the clerk of the County Council (sec. 83—1.)

The administrative business of the county (which would, if this Act had not been passed, have been transacted by the justices) is now transacted by the County Council.

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BOUNDARIES, SITUATION, AND EXTENT

CAMBRIDGESHIRE is an inland county, bounded on the north-west by the counties of Northampton, Huntingdon, and Bedford; on the south by Hertfordshire and Essex; on the east by Suffolk; on the north-east by Norfolk; and on the north by Lincolnshire.

It is about fifty miles in its greatest length, twenty-five in its mean breadth from east to west, and in circumference about 130 miles. It contains nearly 443,300 acres, 163 parishes, one city, and seven market towns; and, according to the returns under the population act in 1801, about 16450 houses and 89,400 inhabitants.

William of Malmsbury says, that in his time this county was a terrestial Paradise. He describes it as a plain level and smooth as water, covered with perpetual verdure, and adorned with a variety of tall, smooth, taper, and fruitful trees: “Here,” says he, “is an orchard bending with apples, and there is a field covered with vines, either creeping on the ground or supported by poles; in this place also art seems to vie with nature, each being impatient to bestow what the other witholds. The buildings are beautiful beyond description: and there is not an inch of ground which is not cultivated to the highest degree.“

Whatever was the condition of the county before the inundation, it suffered a great change afterwards; the waters stagnating became putrid, and filled the air with noxious exhalations; the inhabitants could have no communications with the neighbouring towns by land, and by water it was difficult in some places and impracticable in others.

In the Isle of Ely the air is damp and unhealthy, but in the south part of the county, it is pure and wholesome.

Before the arrival of Julius Cæsar, the counties of Cambridge, Suffolk, and Norfolk were inhabited by the Cenamani or Cenemagni, one of the nations of the Iceni, whose name was derived from the wedgelike form of their country; a wedge in the British language being termed Iken. Sir Henry Spelman however deduces the name from the river Ise or Ouse, which the Britons are said to have called Ichen. Baxter imagines it to have been derived from Uic or Union, i. e. Brave men; but Whitaker observes that, “the genuine and proper name was Ceni, Y-ce-ni, or Cen-om-cs, the Headones; and the appellations of Cenimagni, Cenimanni, Curoinanni, signify only the head men; man being equally a British and Saxon word, and retained to this day in the Erse.” There are many traces of the Iceni in the tract which they inhabited, as Ikensworth, Ikenthorpe, Ikbprrow, Iken, Iksnig, (now Exning) the Icening Way and various others, evidently derived from the same origin.

The Iceni are represented by Tacitus as a brave nation, and after they had cast themselves on the protection of the Romans, they remained undisturbed by war to the time of Claudius. At this time the Propraetor Osteriws fortifying the rivers, and disarming the Britons, the Iceni assembled their forces to oppose him. The Romans however forced their entrenchments, and defeated them with great loss, which terminated the war. Thirteen years afterwards a fresh storm arose on the following account. Prasutagus, King of the Iceni, to avert the ruin of his nation, appointed the Emperor Nero his heir, thinking by such submission that he should secure his kingdom and family from injury; but it happened otherwise; his kingdom was pillaged by centurions, and his house by slaves, as if it had been taken in war. His wife Boadicea, also called Bunducia, was scourged and his daughters violated: the principal men of the kingdom, as if the whole had been given away, were stript of their estates, and the royal family treated as slaves. Provoked at this treatment, and the fear of worse, if the nation should be reduced to a province, they took up arms, in conjunction with the Trinobanti, and other nations, not yet accustomed to slavery. In this war Boadicea, the widow of Prasutagus, cut off 80,000 of the Romans and their allies, and destroyed the colony of Camalodunum, and the Municium of Verulam, routed the IXth Legion, and defeated Caius Decianus, the procurator, but being at length defeated in a pitched battle by Suetonius Paulinus, with unbroken spirit she put an end to her life by poison, according to Tacitus, but according to Dio she died of illness.

From this period we meet with no further account of the Iceni in any author. The counties they inhabited were included by the Romans in the division Flavia Cæsariensis, but were formed by the Saxons into a distinct kingdom, and named East Anglia: Uffa, a great Saxon commander, being their first king. Egryck, the sixth king, became tributary to Penda, king of Mercia, and after to the kings of Kent and the West Saxons. The last of their kings was Edmund, who having for some time opposed the Danes, who, under their generals Hunga and Hubba, had invaded his dominions, and beseiged Thetford, was at last forced by them to his castle at Framingham, where he was, after a short siege, taken by them, and murdered at Heghsdune, now called St. Edmundsbury. The Danes occupied the kingdom of East Anglia fifty years, ravaging the country and plundering the people, till King Edward the Elder, a warlike and victorious monarch, wrested it from them by force, and added it to his own kingdom of the West Saxons. He and his successors committed it as a province to the government of certain deputies, of whom one Ralph, a Briton, was possessed of it at the time of the Norman Conquest.

The Saxon name of the county of Cambridge was Granta brygseyr.

RIVERS

The principal rivers of this county are the Ouse, and the Granta, or Cum.

The Ouse or Ise enters the county between Fenny Drayton and Erith; thence it runs eastward through the Fens, till, at some distance above Denny Abbey, it takes a northerly direction, and passing Streatham, Ely, and Littleport, pursues its course into Norfolk.

The Cam has three branches, the chief of which rises near Aslnvell, in Hertfordshire, and enters this county to the west of Gilden Morden; thence flowing to the north-east, it is encreased by the waters of several rivulets, and near Granchester, has its current still further enlarged by the junction of its sister streams, which flow into this county from Essex. Hence taking a northerly course, the Cam glides through the walks of the principal colleges at Cambridge, and after passing several villages falls into the Ouse at Harrimere in the parish of Stretham.

The Cam is supposed to be so called from its winding course, the British word Cam signifying crocked; so a river in Cornwall, that is remarkable for its irregularity, is called the Camel.

Besides these rivers there are many channels and drains; for almost all the water from the middle of England, except what is discharged by the Thames and the Trent, falls into this part of the county. They have been called the Gleane, the Welland, the Neane, the Grant, the Middenhall, the Brandon, and the Stoake, besides the water called Moreton’s Learn, which is now navigable from Peterborough to Wisbeach. The Old and New Bedford Rivers are navigable for upwards of 20 miles, in a straight line, across the county, from Erith to Denver.

CANALS

The Wisbeach Canal joins the Wisbeach River at the old sluice, in the town of Wisbeach, passes Elm, and at Outwell, communicating with Well-creek, and the river Nene, in the parish of Outwell, in the Isle of Ely, and in the county of Norfolk. The length of this canal is about six miles.

AGRICULTURE

Before we proceed with the general description of the agriculture of this county, we shall lay before our readers some of the most interesting particulars in the history of the Great Level of the Fens, which includes nearly 400,000 acres, lying in the several counties of Cambridge, Huntingdon, Northampton, Lincoln, Norfolk, and Suffolk. This extensive tract of ground is generally supposed to have been overflowed in some violent convulsion of nature: a preternatural swelling of the sea, or an earthquake, which left the country flooded with a lake of freshwater, has frequently happened in other places. It is certain that the fens of Cambridgeshire were once very different from what they are now. We have above quoted the description given of them by William of Malmsbury, who wrote in the 12th century. It must, however, be remarked that this author, who was himself a recluse in another part of the island, is here describing the country about Thorney Abbey, which was the dwelling of other solitary devotees like himself. He therefore described a place which it is probable he never saw, and which his zeal might induce him to mention in the most favourable terms. It must also be observed that he describes the country as a level, and mentions marshes and fens, though he says the marshes were covered with wood, and the fens afforded the most stable and solid foundation for the buildings that were erected upon them.

It must also be remarked, that the celebrated Abbo Floriacenses, an historian of the year 970, nearly two hundred years before William of Malmsbury, in a description of the kingdom of the East Angles, says that it is encompassed on the north by large wet fens, which begin almost in the heart of the island; and the ground being a perfect level for more than a hundred miles, the water of these fens descends in great rivers to the sea. He adds that these large fens make a prodigious number of lakes, which are two or three miles over, and by forming a variety of islands, accommodate great numbers of monks with their desired solitude and retirement. That the flat country might easily be overflowed, to a great extent, merely by an accidental obstruction of the rivers through which the water of the fens was carried off is very evident, and that such an inundation actually happened there is indispensable evidence, yet more authentic than that of any history; for timber of several kinds have been found rooted in firm earth below the slime and mud that lie immediately under the water. In other places a perfect soil has been found at the depth of eight feet, with swaiths of grass lying upon it as they were first mowed. Brick and stone, and other materials for building, have also been found at a considerable depth, by the workmen who were employed in digging drains to carry off the water; and in setting a sluice there was found, 16 feet below the surface, a complete smith’s forge, with all the tools belonging to it.

When the chancel at Wisbeach was repaired and improved in the year 1635 there was found, eight feet below the bottom, a stratum of firm ground, which had once been the bed of the river, as appeared by many largestones, and old boats, which were lying upon it and had been buried in the slime.

To remedy the evils of this terrible innundation, many applications weere made to government for cutting rivers and drains, which was many times attempted, but without success.

In the reign of Charles I. Francis Russel, who was then Earl of Bedford, agreed with the inhabitants of the several drowned counties to drain the whole level, in consideration of a grant of 95,000 acres of the land he should drain to his own use. The earl admitted several other persons to be sharers with him in this undertaking, and they proceeded in the work till 100,000l. had been expended; but the ground was still under water. It was then undertaken by the king, who engaged to complete the work for 69,000 acres more, and proceeded on the attempt till the civil war broke out, which first put an end to his projects, and then to his life. During the civil war the work stood still; but in the year 1649, William, Earl of Bedford, and the other adventurers, who had been associated with Francis, resumed their undertaking, upon their original contract for 95,000 acres; and, after having expended 300,000l. more the work was compleated. But the expence being much more than the value of the acres many of the adventurers were ruined by the project, and the sanction of the legislature was still necessary to confirm the agreement, and invest the contractor, with such rights and powers as would enable them to secure such advantages as they had obtained. King Charles II. therefore, upon application, recommended it to his parliament, and in the 15th year of his reign an act was passed entitled an act for settling the Drains of the Great Level, called (from the first private undertaker) the Beford Level. By this act the proprietors were incorporated by the name of the Governor, Bailiffs, and Commonalty of the Company of the Conservators of the Great Level of the Fens. The corporation consisted of a governor, six bailiffs, and 20 conservators. These commissioners were empowered to levy taxes on the 95,000 acres to defray whatever expences might arise in their preservation, but only 83,000 acres were vested in the corporation, in trust for the Earl of Bedford and his associates. The remaining 12,000 having been allotted to Charles I. in pursuance of the agreement made by the persons who met at Huntingdon, were now assigned to the king, with the exception of 2000 acres, which had been granted to the Earl of Portland.

In the year 1697 the Bedford Level was divided into three districts, north, middle, and south, having one surveyor for each of the former, and two for the latter; but in 1753 the North Level was seperated from the rest by act of parliament, except in such cases where their connection was necessary for the service of the country. On this occasion the Duke of Bedford, and the Earl of Lincoln, remitted the money due to them from the South and Middle Levels.

Soon after this a treaty was entered into between the Bedford Level Corporation, and the principal persons interested in the trade carried on through the river Nene, from the port of Lynn to the counties of Northampton, and Huntingdon. That part of the river which lay within the limits of the Great Level, became so filled up by the dirt and ether matter which the tides and upland waters had deposited, that the navigation was much impeded, and rendered very expensive. This caused an application to be made to the managers of the Bedford Level, for their co-operation in the necessary work of cleansing the channel of the river, and making it deeper; and a plan was at length agreed upon intended to answer the ends both of draining and navigation. An act of parliament was obtained the same year for carrying this plan into execution. The corporation of the Bedford Level hereby renounced the general power possessed over the river and its banks, and united with a stated number of landed proprietors, chosen from the south and middle districts, in raising a fund to be appropriated to the scouring out, and deepening the bed of the Nene, and its communicating branches.

In the year 1795 an act of parliament was obtained for improving the outfall of the river Ouse, and amending the drainage of the south and middle levels, by making a cut across the marshes from Eaue Brink to Lyme.

Notwithstanding the various works that have been completed, and the vast expence, the drainage of the fens is yet very imperfect, and in many places the land is still liable to be overflowed, and the produce carried away by sudden inundations. In addition to the drains there are a multitude of windmills, which raise the water to a sufficient height to admit of its being conveyed into receptacles, and from thence carried into its proper channel.

According to the Agricultural Survey of this county, by M. Vancouver, it appears that upwards of 150,000 acres are still in the condition of waste and unimproved fen, the average value of which is little more than 4s. per acre.

The application of the land in this part of the county is various. Where the soil is preserved from the floods, or only subject to occasional overflowings, it has all the fertility of water-meadows, The crops of oats are particularly abundant, the produce being frequently from fifty to sixty bushels per acre. On the western side of this district many thousand acres are appropriated to pasture.

Soil in general

There are a great variety of soils in this county; the chalky gravelly loam, and tender clay soils, prevail in the southern parts of the county. Adjoining Huntingdonshire, on the west, and Norfolk, on the east, the soil is chiefly a close heavy clay, upon a gault. A considerable portion of the Isle of Ely is moory and overflowed, but capable of great improvement, the residue a rich deep black soil.

The salt marshes in the north-western corner of Cambridgeshire are remarkably favourable for the growth of corn; but it frequently happens that their luxuriant produce is destroyed by the floods.

The south-eastern division extending from Gog magog Hills to Newmarket is bleak and heathy, connected with that vast tract of land, which extending southward into Essex, and northward across Suffolk and Norfolk, forms one of the largest plains in the kingdom.

The land in the south and south-western parts of the county being more elevated, are fertile and productive of fine wheat, barley, and oats.

The valley through which the river Cam pursues its winding course from Steeple Morden to Walton, is called the Dairies, and is entirely appropriated to dairy-farms.

The following are the quantities of each description of land, as given in the agricultural survey of the county:

Mode of Occupation and Management

The general rent of farms in this county is from 50 to 3001. per annum; but the rental of some in the neighbourhood of Wisbeach. are as high as 800l. and one in the parish of Wood Ditton, was at the time of the agricultural survey of the county, occupied at the rent of 600 guineas, and since at 1000 guineas per annum.

The general mode of management of the arable land is to take two crops and a fallow. In some parishes the lighter lands, after lying two years under rye-grass, trefoil, and Dutch clover, are winter fallowed for Tartarian oats, or summer tares. In others the first year fallow, dung, sheep folding, and light manures; for the second year wheat, winter fallow, wheat stubble, a light hand dressing in the spring; for the third year crop of barley; barley stubble sown the fourth year, with peas, oats, and lentils.

Hemp and flax are cultivated in some parts of the county, and in some of the parishes bordering upon Essex saffron is cultivated.

Until lately the greater part of the land was open field, but during the last seven years many inclosures have taken place, and others are proceeding upon, so that in a short time there, will be very little uninclosed land in the county, except it be. those fine downs, reaching from Gogmagog Hills to Newmarket, on the east side of the county, and those on the west towards Royston.

Live Stock

Horses

The horses generally used in this county for the purposes of husbandry are those of the large black cart breed, and a lighter sort of no great value; since the time of making the agricultural survey the feeding and working management of horses has been much improved.

Cows

The various mixtures of this cattle that are found in Cambridgeshire are not easily enumerated: the Suffolk polled, the Craven, the short-horned Yorkshire, the Derby, the Welch, the Leicester, the Fifeshire, the Gloucester brown, and the common Cambridgeshire, are the breeds of cow cattle generally preferred; nor is it conceived possible to mould this variety into any one uniform sort, until the open field lands are laid into severalty, and the coarse low lands drained and improved, so that by subsequent cultivation it shall be ascertained what are the species of cattle most proper for the then improved grasses and herbage in the several districts of the county.

From Isleham to Newmarket, Linton, Caxton, and northwardly to the fens, these breeds prevail either distinctly or casually compounded, in which latter case the animal, generally speaking, is badly formed, small, and when in full milk seldom affords more than five quarts at a time. In the neighbourhood of Ely, where the herbage is infinitely superior to that of the higher parts of the county, it is a matter of concern to observe that so little attention is paid to the improvement of the common breed of cow cattle. In the neighbourhood of Wisbeach, a very sensible alteration in this particular is to be observed.

In preparing the rennet for the purpose of making cheese, which in several parts of the county, particularly in the parishes of Cottenham, Waterbeach, and Denny Abbey, is brought to great perfection, nothing more is necessary than salting down the bags, in which state they remain for twelve months. About six of these bags will make two gallons of brine, strong enough to suspend a new laid egg, which being put into a jar is fit for use in about a month, when a gill of. it to every four gallons of new milk, or warm as from the cow, is sufficient; the milk should all be of the same age, or meal, and much depends upon breaking the curds, with the hands, for unless that is done very completely the whey cannot be expressed, any of which remaining in the cheese, communicates a harsh fiery taste, produces blue mould, and leaves the cheese full of holes or cells, like a honey-comb. In short the dairy maid’s attention should never be called off or diverted from the very essential process of breaking the curd.

The superiority of the Cottenham cheese, so famous through England, is not to be ascribed to any particular mode in the management of the dairies, but solely to the nature of the herbage on the commons.

In this parish the suckling of calves for the London market is carried on to great advantage; it commences at Michaelmas, and is continued to Lady-day. The common allowance is the milk of two cows to a calf, which is considered as the winter profit, and answers very well.

Sheep

It appears from the general average taken at the time of the agricultural survey, that 1062 sheep is the proportion per parish, in the 62 parishes in which the number kept was ascertained. This ratio multiplied by 144, the number of parishes in which sheep are kept in this county, is equal to 152,928 sheep, for an extent of highland country of about 243,300 acres, which is not quite one and half acres per sheep. The general stock may be divided into three distinct breeds, though there are many intermediate shades amongst them: the Norfolk, the west country, and the Cambridgeshire are the principal ones. The three years old wethers of the former, when fattened, will average about 16lb. per quarter, and about 2 ¾lb. per fleece. And the westcountry breed will average about 18lb per quarter, and 4lb. per fleece. These two sorts are generally found between the Cam and Mildenhall rivers, extending along the plains of Newmarket Heath, towards Linton, Foulmire, and Royston, binding upon the counties of Suffolk, Essex, and part of Hertfordshire, and to the head of the valley distinguished by the name of the Dairies. Crossing this valley, and extending thence eastwardly towards Caxton, and northwardly towards the fens, bending east on the river Cam, and south and westwardly upon Bedford and Huntingdonshire, the common Cambridgeshire breed prevails; the three years old wethers of which sort, when fattened to the bone will average about 14lb. per quarter, and 2 ¼lb. to a fleece.

Proceeding into the isle a medley of the Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Southdown, West-country, Lincoln, and Leicestershire breeds are found, but on approaching the country about Wisbeach, extending thence northwardly towards Holland in Lincolnshire, an inferior breed of the Lincolnshire sheep generally prevails; the three years old wethers of this description, averaging, when fattened, about 24lb. per quarter, and 12lb. per fleece. In this neighbourhood a cross between the Leicester and Lincoln breeds has been tried lately, and is much improved.

This part of the county is very happily exempt from the ravages of the rot, the cause of which appears, from the enquiries and observations made in the course of the survey, to arise from an extremely wet season in summer. Extremely wet winters do not produce this disease. The moors, low grounds and wastes in the common open fields, upon which the sheep are by necessity obliged to feed, as well in wet as in dry summers, frequently in wet seasons become overflowed with the highland waters, which leave prodigious quantities of filth and sullage upon the grass and herbage, in which is most probably involved the gemini, or egg, of those snails or insects, which being conveyed, with the food, into the stomach of the sheep, and then meeting with a proper nidus, becomes vivified, and invited by the gall, their proper aliment, pass through the bile, direct into the liver, where, in a certain stage of the disease, they increase to the frightful size and number which destroy the animal.

Another species of rot, which does not appear to be ascribable to the same cause, is called, by the farmers, the blood rot. The liver appears to the eye, in these cases, to be perfectly sound, and as free from disease as in the most healthy animal; it is, however, covered with an extremely thin transparent membrane, as tender as a spider’s web, but with the smallest pressure imaginable, immediately ruptures, when the whole liver resembles a mass of coagulated blood, without any cohesion whatever, the liver and intestines, at this time, are free from any appearance of insects, alive or dead; nor was it understood from the farmers, that the liver in the state before-mentioned, was offensive to the smell; though, certain it is, that in its progress to that condition, it must have been rendered gradually inert, and corrupt, as it became disorganised.

Husbandry Utensils

In the fens the common fen plough, with a running coulter, which with the share is constantly filed, and kept particularly sharp, is in constant use. By carrying only two furrows and a half to the yard, about an acre and a half is usually ploughed in a journey of seven hours. To these ploughs is frequently annexed an appendix, which in the fen country is called a boy, the business of which is to lap in the rushes, reeds, and other early produce of the fens, on which the plough share lays the earth, and thus completely buries under the soil. It is usual to work three horses abreast in these ploughs, and it is truly astonishing with what dexterity and adroitness the ploughs and horses are managed. The half and three quarter Dutch ploughs, together with the common swing, and foot ploughs, are in the highland parts of the county in general use.

The dagger, whole and half-winged shares are variously employed, but one general plough, with three occasional different shares might be introduced with great advantage. The harrows, carts, waggons, and all other implements of hasbandry are of the common sort.

The agricultural survey of the county mentions an uncommon sort of harrows, invented and used by Mr. Shepherd, steward to Mr. Tharpe, of Chippenham. The single harrow appears to consist of five beams with six teeth in each, the beams are not laid parallel with each other, but fanning and forming the tail of the harrow, about six inches wider than the head; the beams are all curved, forming a convex at the top, and when connected together, a concave space of about an inch and a half perpendicular, under the middle of the harrow, over and above what would necessarily obtain, were the beams straight and parallel to the surface; the teeth are all curved, feather, or basil edged, and are set springing with their sharp edges, and points forward, and their length in the front of the harrow is about six and a half inches, which gradually encreases till at the tail of the harrow they are eight inches long. Harrows thus constructed have a wonderful effect in drawing into the ground, rather than scratching upon the surface, and in dividing the clods by cutting through rather than by rubbing, or grinding them against each other; and by gathering the twitch grass, in the encreased space formed by the concavity of its beams, it is rendered an excellent cleansing harrow, and does much credit to the ingenuity of the inventor.

Manures

The manures chiefly used in this county are pigeons’ dung, soot, common farm-yard and stable dung, and oil cake dust. In some parishes a small fish, caught in great numbers, called stickle-backa, and purchased at about eight-pence per bushel, in the village, are made use of at the rate of 20 bushels per acre. Rabbits’ down, and the trimmings of their skins, consisting of their legs, ears, scalps, &c. purchased of the furriers at fivepence per bushel, and fetched from Norwich, are applied at the rate of 30 bushels per acre. Where lime can be procured at a moderate expence it is also used.

Wood Land

There is but an inconsiderable quantity of woodland in this county, the whole quantity of timber scarcely amounting to 1000 acres, and these principally scattered through the parishes of Stackworth, Wood Ditton, Linton, Bartlow, Boxworth, Wimpole, and Madingley. The soil, however, in many other parts of the county is friendly to the culture of oak, ash, and elm, and on the chalky lands beach might be advantageously grown.

Roads

The public roads throughout the county are tolerably good; the private roads are very indifferent; the materials for mending them are in many places extremely scarce, and lying at a considerable distance are difficult to obtain.

MINES AND MINERALS

There are no mines in this county, nor any mineral of sufficient importance to require description. In the parish of Fulmire, a stone was formerly dug up in the quarries these, which produced vitriol. In the neighbourhood of Ely are made the celebrated white bricks, and a coarse pottery of the same clay.

CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL DIVISIONS

Cambridgeshire, with the exception of a few parishes, on the east and north-east sides, which belong to the see of Norwich and Rochester, was taken from the see of Lincoln by Henry the first, in the year 1114, and made into a separate diocese for the newly-erected bishop of Ely. It lies in the province of Canterbury.

The county is divided into the seventeen hundreds following:

Which contain one city, seven market towns, 163 parishes, 16,450 houses, and 89,400 inhabitants.