Parishes: Linton

LINTON

The parish of Linton, (fn. 1) which includes the former market town and Barham hamlet, lies 9 miles southeast of Cambridge. In 1961 it covered 3, 817 a. (fn. 2) and comprised a rectangular area, 2¼ by 1½ miles, between the line of the ancient Wool Street on the north and the river Granta, with a tongue of land, 1¼ by 1 mile, stretching south-west to the watershed. The southern boundary was also the county boundary with Essex. In 1965 the area between the river and the disused Cambridge-Haverhill railway (54 ha.) was transferred to Linton from Hadstock (Essex), and 3 ha. elsewhere were transferred from Linton to Hadstock, leaving Linton with an area of 3, 946 a. (1, 597 ha.). (fn. 3)

The greater part of Linton has long been devoted to arable farming, the common fields which survived until inclosure in 1838 being interspersed with pasture closes. From the 13th century to the 19th Linton had a market and fairs, and was still in the 20th a local centre for retail trade. Until the 19th century there was activity in trades using locally grown timber, both in building and in processing and using leather, and by the mid 20th there was some light industry. From the 13th century Linton contained two religious houses. Linton priory, a cell of a Benedictine abbey in Brittany, was suppressed after 1400. A convent of the Crutched Friars at Barham survived until the Reformation. (fn. 4)

Linton lies mainly on the chalk, overlaid by narrow beds of alluvium and valley gravels along the river and on much of the higher ground by boulder clay or, as at Rivey Hill, by glacial gravels. South of the river the ground rises gradually from 125 ft. near the river to 340 ft. North of the village Rivey Hill, called until after 1840 Ballydon or Ballingdon Hill, (fn. 5) rises relatively sharply to over 350 ft.; the ground then sinks to a plateau, mostly over 225 ft., and to the east is a ridge of over 300 ft. crowned by Borley wood.

The Granta follows a winding course, occasionally dividing into two branches, notably downstream near Hildersham mill. Until the 19th century it was crossed in Linton only by footbridges, one, called c. 1570 the great bridge, on the village high street, others upstream near the church and Linton mill. (fn. 6) An iron road-bridge was built in 1868. (fn. 7) The land along the river was liable to flooding, one neighbouring field being called in 1779 Noah's Flood field; (fn. 8) after 1968 the embankment of the new by-pass, acting as a dam, aggravated the danger (fn. 9) and necessitated a flood control scheme. (fn. 10)

The parish represents the territories of three adjacent settlements. The two Lintons, later distinguished as Great and Little Linton, were recorded in 1008, (fn. 11) and Barham in 1066. (fn. 12) After their combination into a single ecclesiastical parish their earlier distinction was still marked by boundaries between their respective manors and common fields. Little Linton occupied most of the southwestern tongue of land, extending in 1279 from Catley northwards to Pinnings ditch, south of the modern Little Linton Farm. Great Linton lay mostly north of the river and west of Barham cross, which stood where the Horseheath and Bartlow roads divide, but in 1279 it also included a narrow strip between Little Linton and Hadstock, containing the former Linton wood and touching Burton wood in Great Chesterford (Essex). (fn. 13) When the inhabitants of Linton fee beat their bounds in 1680, they included both Great and Little Linton but left out Barham to the east. (fn. 14) Barham fee, which in 1786 covered c. 1,940 a., half the parish, was then reckoned by its lords to include all the field-land east of the old Linton-Balsham road, over the top of Rivey Hill, and a narrow belt of land west of that road. (fn. 15)

In the 18th century there were disputes about jurisdiction between the lords of Linton and Barham because freehold, copyhold, and demesne lands belonging to both manors were intermingled throughout the centre of the northern part of the parish. Much land of Michaelotts manor, an offshoot of Barham manor but belonging since 1400 to the lords of Linton, lay in the debated zone. The main issue was the right to shoot and fish, which the owners of Linton had enjoyed or usurped over the whole parish since the early 18th century. (fn. 16) Both manors included rights of free warren, under charters of 1246 for Great Linton (fn. 17) and 1280 for Barham. (fn. 18) About 1460 the lord of Barham built a lodge near Borley wood for his rabbit-keeper. The rabbits were exterminated c. 1520 at the request of the tenants. (fn. 19) Rabbits were still being preserved in a warren in Linton wood c. 1580. (fn. 20)

The heavy clay at the south-western end of the parish was well wooded in early medieval times. The name Catley implies a clearing, (fn. 21) and in 1086 Great and Little Linton had enough woodland to feed 50 pigs. (fn. 22) Linton wood, which in 1272 covered c. 60 a., (fn. 23) lay beside the Hadstock boundary. In 1674 it covered 106 a. (fn. 24) In the 18th century 10 a. were usually felled each year. (fn. 25) At inclosure in 1838 Linton wood amounted to 89 a. (fn. 26) Soon afterwards it was cleared and the land converted to tillage. (fn. 27) Catley grove, 13 a. in 1950, was established only after inclosure. (fn. 28) Rivey wood, north of the village, covering 21 a. c. 1840, (fn. 29) lay in an ancient pasture close, first planted c. 1780 as a game preserve. (fn. 30) The woodland on the high ground north-east of the village is represented by the modern Borley wood; the former Oaks pasture (fn. 31) east of the wood was perhaps named from trees once growing there. In 1279 Barham manor had 130 a. of woodland, (fn. 32) later divided into Borley wood to the west, covering c. 95 a. in 1786, and Shortwood to the south-east, then containing 37 a. (fn. 33)

Linton was probably settled before Roman times. Early Iron Age remains were found near the Hadstock road in 1948, (fn. 34) and a Roman villa lay just across the river from Barham Hall. (fn. 35) At a large pagan Saxon cemetery on Barham heath near the Horseheath road 104 burials were inserted into a RomanoBritish barrow. (fn. 36) In 1086 Great Linton contained 21 peasants and 6 servi, Little Linton 10 and 4, and Barham 18 and 2. (fn. 37) By 1279 there were about 80 tenants, including 35 burgage-holders, resident on Great Linton fee, and 72 on Barham fee, but only 20 on Little Linton fee. (fn. 38) In 1327 the whole village contained c. 45 resident taxpayers. (fn. 39) In 1377 155 adults paid the poll tax; (fn. 40) in 1524 88 people paid the subsidy; (fn. 41) and there were 92 households in 1563. (fn. 42) The birth-rate increased from c. 19 a year in the 1560s to c. 28 a year in the 1640s; (fn. 43) there were only 457 adults in 1676, (fn. 44) living in c. 180 houses. (fn. 45) The number of households remained stable during the 18th century, standing in 1728 at 252, with 976 inhabitants, (fn. 46) and in 1783 at 240. (fn. 47) In 1801 246 families included 1, 157 people. Thereafter the population increased steadily until 1851 when it numbered 1,858. A subsequent decline, ascribed partly to emigration in 1861, when there were 33 empty houses, had by 1901 reduced numbers to 1,455 and by 1931 to 1,316. Post-war expansion raised it again to 1,813 by 1961 and 2, 627 by 1971. (fn. 48)

The village stands where two low chalk ridges come close together at a crossing of the Granta, from which one part of the village high street runs east and another south (fn. 49) to meet the Hildersham road and to turn east along a stretch called Stony Street before bending south again into the Hadstock road. North of the river a minor road from Hildersham divided into Union Lane, which runs into the high street, and a back lane formerly called Cambridge or London Cross way leading to the site of Barham cross, from which Haverhill or Horseheath and Bartlow ways ran east. The road to Balsham ran straight up Rivey Hill until inclosure, when it was diverted along a curving field-way further east. (fn. 50)

No evidence has been found suggesting that around the sites of Little Linton and Barham manorhouses there were settlements detached from the surviving village. Perhaps the name Little Linton once applied to the area along the high street south of the river. Certainly from the later Middle Ages messuages held of Linton and Barham manors lay intermingled north of the river, the largest block of Barham tenements lying south of the street. (fn. 51)

Within the village the larger houses and the workshops, stalls, and shops lay along the high street of which the southern section widened near the middle into the market place. Many poorer dwellings lay along lanes running off the high street. Linton retains many timber-framed, plastered houses, some still thatched, dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, and one or two, such as Chandlers, from the 15th. There are also along the high street larger houses, built of brick or given brick fronts in the 18th century, including the Old Manor House, Cambridge House, Bull House, Clare House, Queen's House of 1731, and Ram House. (fn. 52)

The village grew little until after 1801, when there were still only 183 houses in the parish. It was then grossly overcrowded. In 1831 315 households were crammed into 214 houses. (fn. 53) Early-19th-century building within the old village limits raised the number of dwellings to 387 by 1851, when c. 220 lay along the high street, and c. 170 on the lanes, yards, and courts leading off it. (fn. 54) Except at Little Linton and Barham manor-houses and the later Catley Park, there was virtually no building away from the village until after inclosure when farmsteads were erected in the fields c. 1839 for Heath and Greenditch farms. (fn. 55) Chilford Hall Farm, built apparently by 1841 (fn. 56) north-west of Rivey Hill, has no connection with the supposed manor of Chilford, nor with the original 'Cildeford', presumably on the river, where the hundred court is said to have met. (fn. 57) The 20th century saw much new building. Between 1921 and 1951 c. 120 new houses were built, another 140 by 1961 and almost 300 more by 1971. (fn. 58) Apart from scattered buildings along the Bartlow road the main developments were immediately north and west of the village. By 1950 new streets had been laid out south of the river westwards towards the village college, and north of the river along Union Lane and the back lane as far as the workhouse. (fn. 59) New housing estates, including many council houses, were laid out later at the south end of the Balsham road and on the slopes north and east of the village. (fn. 60)

The main road from Cambridge to Haverhill (Suff.) and beyond formerly ran along Linton high street. It was turnpiked under an Act of 1765, (fn. 61) and coaches ran along it from the late 18th century. (fn. 62) The road was disturnpiked in 1876. (fn. 63) In 1865 the Cambridge-Haverhill railway line, crossing the parish south of the river, was opened, (fn. 64) with a station near the Hildersham road. The line was completely closed in 1967. (fn. 65)

By the 17th century Linton had several inns and alehouses. In 1682 8 alehouses were licensed there, (fn. 66) and in 1686 there were beds for 29 and stabling for 56 horses. (fn. 67) The older inns included the Griffin, recorded from 1575, to which the manor-courts were adjourning in the 1670s; (fn. 68) renamed the Crown by 1777 and probably later moved to a new site, (fn. 69) it was styled a hotel by 1888 and survived in 1974. (fn. 70) The Unicorn, named from the Parys coat of arms, probably existed by 1599. (fn. 71) As the Red Lion, so called by 1725, it remained open as a posting-house and inn until the 1850s. (fn. 72) The Black Bull, recorded by 1694, (fn. 73) was still open in the 1760s, but was soon after converted to a school-house. (fn. 74) Other 18thcentury inns included the Swan, recorded from 1725 and still open in 1974, in a six-bay whitewashed brick Georgian building on the high street, the White Hart, closed c. 1908, the Dolphin, recorded by 1776 and closed after 1937, and the Bell, a fivebay timber-framed 16th-century house, converted by 1974 to a restaurant. (fn. 75) By 1700 Linton had a coffee-house near the market-place, probably still open c. 1767. (fn. 76)

By 1800 there was a friendly society meeting at the White Hart, (fn. 77) probably that which had 39 members in 1803 and 70 c. 1813. (fn. 78) The same or a similar society, instituted under new rules at the Swan in 1825, was confined to tradesmen and artisans earning over 12s. a week. Its membership rose from 45 in 1831 to 67 by 1840, then fell by 1869 to 22. (fn. 79) By that year a lodge of the Oddfellows, Manchester Unity, was meeting at the market-house, lent by the lord of the manor. It had c. 120 members c. 1905. (fn. 80) After 1870 a branch of the Ancient Order of Shepherds was also established. (fn. 81) A new Shepherds' Hall, built for it on Market Lane and opened in 1922, was also used for public meetings and those of the parish council, and was enlarged in 1934 to provide rooms for a social club. (fn. 82) In 1968 work began on an elaborate new social centre for the village. (fn. 83)

The village maypole was recorded in 1534. (fn. 84) Various cultural activities were recorded from the late 18th century. A book club met monthly at the Crown in 1793. (fn. 85) A book society, subscribing to Mudie's, flourished from before 1859 to 1867, (fn. 86) and was followed by a Literary Institute established c. 1873 which usually met at the old market-cross. (fn. 87) The Linton society of singers was mentioned in 1790. (fn. 88) In the 1960s the village music society ran a miniature festival every summer. (fn. 89) The Linton cricket club was formed in 1852, (fn. 90) a football club in 1901. (fn. 91) In 1969 a small zoo, covering 10 a., was established at Linton. (fn. 92)

The parish had a resident barber-surgeon in 1739, (fn. 93) besides the apothecary John Disbrowe. (fn. 94) In the late 18th century there were usually two apothecaries practising at Linton, (fn. 95) and from the mid 19th a pair of surgeons worked there, often in partnership. (fn. 96)

In 1381 John Hanchach, who held 1/5 of the Busteler estates at Linton and elsewhere, was a leader of the Peasants' Revolt in Cambridgeshire, and was beheaded and attainted. His band contained five men from Linton. They did no damage at their native village. (fn. 97) During the Great Rebellion both the families owning manors at Linton were royalists. John Millicent of Barham (d. 1686) fled from Linton in 1643 rather than take the Covenant, and was fined in 1647, (fn. 98) as was John Appleyard, the Paryses' chief tenant. (fn. 99) In 1648 the Cambridgeshire Cavaliers, seeking to relieve the besieged Royalist garrison of Colchester, chose Linton as their rallying point, but were defeated and dispersed by Fairfax's cavalry on 16 June. (fn. 100)

The Hebrew scholar and translator of the Authorized Version, Dr. John Richardson, was born at Linton c. 1564 of a prosperous yeoman family. He was master of Peterhouse 1609–15, and of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1615–25. (fn. 101) Dr. William Mortlock Palmer, the Cambridgeshire antiquary, practised as a physician at Linton from 1900 to 1925 and died there in 1939. (fn. 102)

Manors and Other Estates.

In the early 970s one Wulfhun granted land at Linton to Ramsey abbey upon becoming a monk there. Between 985 and 992 the abbey exchanged that estate with its patron ealdorman Ethelwine, for property at Toft. (fn. 103) In 1008 King Ethelred sold 7 hides, probably comprising both Great and Little Linton, to Ely abbey. (fn. 104) The abbey probably lost the estate well before c. 1040, (fn. 105) and by 1066 Great and Little Linton and Barham, almost 11 hides, all belonged to Eddeva the fair. (fn. 106) Then, and in 1086, Ely retained lordship only over one sokeman, holding ¼ yardland in Barhad, (fn. 107) from whose holding were probably derived the 60 a. which Alfred Mautein held in 1279 of the heirs of William FitzMartin of Bottisham under the bishop of Ely. (fn. 108)

By 1086 the Linton and Barham manors had passed with Eddeva's other lands to Count Alan of Brittany, (fn. 109) with whose honor of Richmond the tenancy-in-chief descended after subinfeudation. (fn. 110) The Richmond overlordship of Great and Little Linton was recorded until the 17th century, (fn. 111) and the owner of Barham was still paying a quit-rent of £3 10s. a year, doubled since the 14th century, to the feodary of the honor in 1805. (fn. 112) Barham had already been subinfeudated by 1086, but both the Lintons, 6½ hides, were then in Count Alan's hands, apart from 1 yardland still occupied by a sokeman, formerly Alsi Squitrebel's man. (fn. 113) When Constance, heir of Count Conan (d. 1171), was taken into Henry II's wardship, her lands included an estate at Linton, yielding rent and corn for sale, (fn. 114) and as countess of Brittany she still had demesne land there c. 1200. (fn. 115)

By 1174, however, GREAT LINTON manor, c. 4 hides in 1086, was held under the honor of Richmond by William de Mandeville, earl of Essex. (fn. 116) When William died in 1189 it was apparently assigned as dower to his widow Hawise, countess of Aumale (d. 1214), (fn. 117) whose third husband Baldwin de Béthune granted 45 a. at Linton to 'Suntingfield' hospital c. 1203. (fn. 118) Great Linton did not pass with the bulk of the Mandeville inheritance, but was probably assigned, on Hawise's death, to Geoffrey de Say (d. 1230), heir male of Earl William's aunt Beatrice (d. 1197). (fn. 119) Geoffrey's son William held Great Linton by c. 1236, (fn. 120) and died in 1272, when he was said to hold it of the earl of Hereford, Beatrice's heir general. William's son and heir William (fn. 121) (d. 1295) released his claim to the Mandeville lands to Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford, in 1284 in return for an assurance of Great Linton, to be held of the earl and his heirs. (fn. 122) That tenure was occasionally recorded until 1572. (fn. 123)

In 1290 William de Say granted Great Linton to John Northwood, a Kent landowner, for life with remainder to Northwood's son John (d. by 1318) and the latter's issue by his wife Mary, possibly Say's daughter. John Northwood, presumably the elder, held Great Linton in 1316, (fn. 124) but not apparently when he died in 1319. (fn. 125) The manor had been divided, possibly between two daughters and coheirs of Mary. (fn. 126) One moiety passed to Elizabeth, wife of Sir John Joce. (fn. 127) In 1320 the Joces granted it to William le Busteler of Hildersham, (fn. 128) who died c. 1334. (fn. 129) In 1346 his son Robert was said to hold a quarter and a fortieth of the Great Linton fee, Henry Reresby and his wife Maud an eighth, Hugh Huntingfield a twentieth, and John Martin and William Clopton a fortieth each, presumably the constituent fractions of that moiety. (fn. 130) The other had probably passed by 1327 to Bevis de Knoville, (fn. 131) who died holding property at Linton of the earl of Hereford in 1338. Bevis's son and heir John (fn. 132) (d. 1349 X 1355) (fn. 133) and his wife Margaret settled their half in 1343 for life upon Thomas Sewale, (fn. 134) who held ½ fee there in 1346. (fn. 135) In 1355 Margaret and her second husband Sir Thomas Moigne released her life-interest to Sewale, (fn. 136) who may still have held ½ fee there c. 1365. (fn. 137) Robert le Busteler was said, however, to hold the whole manor when he died without surviving issue in 1366. His coheirs were the descendants of his five sisters. Four of them, Thomas Payn, John Mersey, Henry Helion, and Walter of Linton shortly transferred their interests to Robert Parys of a Cheshire family. The fifth coheir, John Hanchach, then a minor, (fn. 138) received possession of his share in 1380. (fn. 139) On his attainder it became forfeit to the Crown and was granted in 1383 to a king's yeoman, (fn. 140) but had been reunited by 1425 to the other ⁴/5 in the Paryses' hands. (fn. 141)

When Robert Parys died c. 1377 (fn. 142) his Linton land passed to his elder son Nicholas who held it in 1397 and 1412 and died without issue in 1425, (fn. 143) when his lands passed to his brother Robert's son Henry (d. 1427). Henry's son and heir Henry, aged 3 in 1427, (fn. 144) died in 1466 when his son and heir Robert was a minor. (fn. 145) Robert was succeeded in 1504 by his son John (fn. 146) (d. 1517). John's son and heir Philip, (fn. 147) treasurer to Bishop Gardiner in the 1530s (fn. 148) and receiver-general of the Court of Augmentations 1540–4, (fn. 149) was knighted in 1553 (fn. 150) and died in 1558. His grandson and heir, Robert Parys, (fn. 151) died under age in 1572, when Linton passed to Sir Philip's younger son Ferdinand (fn. 152) (d. 1601). Ferdinand's son and heir Philip Parys (fn. 153) (d. 1617) was succeeded by his eldest son Charles, a minor, (fn. 154) who died without issue in 1658. His brother and heir John, (fn. 155) like Charles heavily fined as a papist and royalist, had mortgaged Linton by 1659 to two Londoners, Robert Tempest and John Carter, who were named as lords. (fn. 156) John Parys died in 1667. His son and heir Philip, (fn. 157) the last male of the family, died without issue in 1672, leaving his lands to be sold to pay the accumulated debts. (fn. 158) In 1674 they were bought by Sir Thomas Sclater, a wealthy royalist physician. (fn. 159) John Parys's widow Anne and her second husband Sir Joseph Colston (d. 1674) retained Michaelotts manor, which was not sold to Sclater until 1677. (fn. 160)

Sir Thomas Sclater died without surviving issue in 1684, having settled his lands, called the Catley Park estate, on his nephew Edward Sclater's son Thomas. (fn. 161) Thomas assumed c. 1715 the surname Bacon, that of his rich wife Elizabeth (d. 1726). (fn. 162) When he died in 1736 he left his estates for life to Sarah, wife of his coachman Edward King, with remainder to her sons. (fn. 163) Sarah died c. 1738. Of her sons Robert King (fn. 164) died without issue in 1749 and Thomas Sclater King, having run through his fortune, in 1777, both disreputably. (fn. 165) The Catley Park estate had been sold in 1764 to pay Thomas's debts. Thomas Bromley, Lord Montfort, the purchaser, (fn. 166) resold it in 1772 to Edmund Keene, bishop of Ely. (fn. 167) By 1779 the bishop had transferred it to his son Benjamin, who was succeeded in 1837 (fn. 168) by his son, the Revd. Charles Edmund Ruck-Keene (d. 1880), whose son Edmund died in 1888. The latter's son, Capt. Charles Edmund Ruck-Keene, (fn. 169) sold the Catley Park estate in 1904 to Sir Walter Henry Wilkin, (fn. 170) retaining the lordship of the manor, which passed on his death in 1919 to his daughter Olive, who married in 1936 Lt. N. Nightingale. (fn. 171) Wilkin was succeeded in 1922 by his son E. V. Wilkin, (fn. 172) whose executors sold the estate in 1950. (fn. 173)

Great Linton's manor-close of 2 a. was recorded in 1272. (fn. 174) In 1558 Sir Philip Parys had a house near Linton market, on what was marked in 1600 as the site of the manor. (fn. 175) In the 18th century courts were still held in a gabled house near the market-place, called the manor-house. It was pulled down c. 1880. (fn. 176) From the 1560s the Paryses had usually lived at Pudding Norton (Norf.), and when in Linton at Little Linton manor-house or at Catley Park, which later became the lord's usual seat. That house, recorded by 1622 if not earlier, (fn. 177) was probably built c. 1600. It stood on the brow of the hill at the southwest corner of the parish, and had a lower storey of brick possibly surmounted by timber-framing, with a two-storey porch and brick turrets at each corner. Inside were a panelled hall and great parlour, and over them several chambers and a gallery. (fn. 178) Thomas Bacon decorated the interior handsomely, installing there a 'most voluminous' library, and rebuilt or enlarged the brick turrets. In 1732 he laid out a park of 100 a. round the house. (fn. 179) After 1772 Bishop Keene removed marble fireplaces and sumptuous panelling to refit the bishop's palace at Ely, and demolished the house, leaving only a brick-built fragment for use as a farm-house. (fn. 180)

LITTLE LINTON manor, held as 2½ hides by Count Alan in 1086, (fn. 181) had been subinfeudated from the honor of Richmond by the 1190s, when it was divided between Ralph Follifoot and Robert de Belhus. (fn. 182) Follifoot, a Yorkshireman, was killed c. 1198, (fn. 183) and succeeded by Alan Follifoot (fl. 1195– 1242), who held two-thirds of Ralph's estate at Linton c. 1235. (fn. 184) Probably by 1236 he had settled the two-thirds on his daughter Alice and her husband Alexander de Scalers (d. by c. 1248). (fn. 185) In 1266 Alice and her second husband, John of Edgecliffe, sold that part of the manor with c. 150 a. to Roger of Leicester. (fn. 186) The other third of Ralph Follifoot's manor had passed to Alan's other daughter Joan, married before 1269 to Henry son of Richard. (fn. 187) Henry and Joan sold 120 a. at Linton c. 1272 to Alexander son of Thomas, who resold the land in 1275 to Roger of Leicester. (fn. 188) The ½ knight's fee held by Robert de Belhus (d. by 1204) (fn. 189) probably passed later to Richard de Belhus (d. after 1257), who had land in Cambridgeshire in 1253. (fn. 190) In 1265 Richard's son Alexander sold 120 a. at Little Linton to Roger of Leicester, (fn. 191) who thus held the whole reunited manor in 1279. (fn. 192)

Roger, a justice of the common pleas from 1276 to 1289 when he was imprisoned on charges of corruption, (fn. 193) had his lands seized for the Crown, (fn. 194) but may have recovered some by 1297 and probably still held Little Linton c. 1302. (fn. 195) Soon afterwards the manor was acquired by Sir Walter Huntingfield of Kent, who in 1316 entailed it upon his younger son John. (fn. 196) Sir Walter was granted free warren there in 1318, (fn. 197) and was dead by 1340. (fn. 198) Sir John Huntingfield held Little Linton in 1346 and died c. 1362. (fn. 199) His widow Beatrice was life tenant in 1369 when John's son Thomas sold the reversion to John Sleaford, rector of Balsham (fn. 200) (d. 1401). (fn. 201) Little Linton was later acquired by the Paryses, whose feoffees held it in 1428 with Great Linton manor, (fn. 202) with which it thereafter descended. (fn. 203)

The site of Little Linton manor-house, where Roger of Leicester had a chief messuage in 1279, (fn. 204) was probably then as later at a rectangular moated site close to the river, north-west of the village. (fn. 205) The Paryses frequently lived there from the late 15th to the early 17th century. In 1517 the hall, parlour, and chapel were mentioned. (fn. 206) The house was normally used as a farm-house from the mid 17th century, (fn. 207) the probable date of the oldest parts of the existing house south-west of the moat. (fn. 208) It was enlarged and partly rebuilt in the 19th century. The concentric rectangular moats north-west of the medieval one are probably 18th-century fishponds. (fn. 209)

In 1086 BARHAM manor was divided between Anketil de Furneaux who held 2⁷/8 hides and Morin who held 1½ hide, both of Count Alan. (fn. 210) Morin's portion was probably absorbed into the manor held by Anketil's descendants, whose Barham land was reckoned c. 1236 at 4 hides, (fn. 211) held of the honor of Richmond for 3 knights' fees c. 1300. (fn. 212) Anketil (fl. to c. 1100) (fn. 213) was succeeded by Robert de Furneaux (fl. 1130–5) (fn. 214) and Robert by Geoffrey de Furneaux (fl. 1140–92), (fn. 215) who held land in Cambridgeshire in 1185. (fn. 216) By 1196 his lands had passed to Robert de Furneaux, (fn. 217) who had died by 1206 leaving as heir a son Michael under age. (fn. 218) Michael still held Barham in 1251. (fn. 219) By 1268 the manor had passed to Simon de Furneaux, (fn. 220) probably his son, who held it in 1279, and may have died in 1288. (fn. 221) Simon's son and heir Robert held Barham c. 1302 (fn. 222) and died in 1313. His son and heir John, (fn. 223) a knight by 1320, entailed the manor successively on his sons Robert and John, (fn. 224) and died after 1341. It was probably his son John who, having succeeded him, died in 1361, (fn. 225) leaving as heir a minor son, John. In 1379 Barham was settled upon that John and his wife Amy in tail, with remainder to his sister Elizabeth. John was dead by 1384, when Amy and her second husband Sir Robert Denny held his lands. (fn. 226) Denny became involved c. 1397 in a feud with William Clipston, lord of Bartlow, then lessee of Michaelotts, and each despoiled the other's manorhouse. (fn. 227) In 1396 and 1399 Denny and Amy granted their life-interest to John Fordham, bishop of Ely, (fn. 228) to whom Elizabeth and her husband Thomas Crabb released their remainder in 1400. (fn. 229)

The bishop held Barham (fn. 230) until in 1424 it was transferred to William Alington and others, possibly as feoffees for Nicholas Parys. (fn. 231) Alington was in possession in 1428 (fn. 232) in his own right, and released Barham in 1440 to his second son Robert, on whose wife Margaret it had been settled in reversion. (fn. 233) Robert remained in possession until he died after 1475, (fn. 234) and Margaret died in 1480. (fn. 235) Thereupon Barham descended to Robert's two daughters or their representatives, as co-parceners. (fn. 236) Joan, the elder daughter, had married John Barney (d. 1471) of Witchingham (Norf.), (fn. 237) whose elder son Robert died without issue in 1487 and was succeeded by his brother Ralph, then a minor. (fn. 238) On Ralph's death in 1544 his son Sir Robert Barney sold his half-share to John Millicent, the lessee with his father Thomas since 1538. (fn. 239) The other half-share had passed in 1480 to Robert Alington's younger daughter Ellen, wife of Walter Lockton (fn. 240) (d. c. 1505). (fn. 241) Walter's son and heir Geoffrey died in 1512, leaving a son Robert, then aged 10, (fn. 242) who leased his half-share to John Millicent in 1542 (fn. 243) and died in 1550. Robert's son and heir John Lockton (fn. 244) sold his half to Millicent in 1565. (fn. 245)

John Millicent, whose ancestors had been prosperous yeomen at Linton since the early 15th century, (fn. 246) was a vehement protestant and served Thomas Cromwell, (fn. 247) narrowly escaping lynching during the Lincolnshire revolt of 1536. (fn. 248) He was succeeded in 1577 by his son Robert (fn. 249) (d. 1609). Robert's son and heir Roger was knighted in 1607 (fn. 250) and died in 1621. His son and heir Robert (fn. 251) charged Barham manor in 1628 with a rent of £100, half the yearly value, to Sir Giles Alington. (fn. 252) The rentcharge descended (fn. 253) to the duke of Somerset, to whom it was due c. 1740, (fn. 254) and the earls of Aylesford, who were receiving it c. 1785–1800. (fn. 255) Robert Millicent died in 1631, leaving a son John aged 10, (fn. 256) who could not enter upon the estate until the 1650s because it was wholly absorbed by the jointures of Sir Roger's second wife Amphelise and Robert's widow Douglas (d. 1655). (fn. 257) John died in 1686 and his only son John, (fn. 258) a typical Tory squire, (fn. 259) in 1716, after which the heavily mortgaged Barham estate passed in turn to the latter's three sons, (fn. 260) each of whom died without issue, Charles in 1729, (fn. 261) John in 1734, (fn. 262) and Robert, at his death trading in London as an apothecary, in 1741. Barham was sold under Robert's will to pay accumulated debts, (fn. 263) and was bought in 1748–9 by Robert's widow Sarah, (fn. 264) who immediately married Christopher Lonsdale, vicar of Linton 1740–5. (fn. 265) Lonsdale died in 1783, (fn. 266) and following his wishes Sarah (d. 1807) devised the manor to Pembroke College, Cambridge, (fn. 267) which remained the owner in 1974. (fn. 268)

The estate included the former lands of the house of Crutched Friars established at Barham by Robert de Furneaux and endowed c. 1293 with the lands which his ancestors had given to St. Margaret's chapel, Barham, amounting in 1279 to 32 a. (fn. 269) In 1323 John de Furneaux was licensed to add another 52 a. with the right to fold 120 sheep on the friars' land. (fn. 270) The convent, later styled Barham priory, owned c. 1532 some 55 a., (fn. 271) although its sheepfold had fallen into desuetude; the lords of Barham opposed its revival and claimed that the priory land was copyhold. (fn. 272) The house had been suppressed by 1539 and in 1540 its property was granted to Philip Parys, (fn. 273) who sold it in 1553 to John Millicent, (fn. 274) with whose estate it thereafter descended. (fn. 275)

The conventual buildings furnished a site and materials to build the Millicents' manor-house, hence often called Barham Priory. (fn. 276) The original chief messuage of Barham manor, recorded in 1279 and 1313, (fn. 277) near which the friary had been built, had probably become ruinous while owned by absentees. Some medieval walling with an arched doorway remains from the priory. (fn. 278) The priory house was largely rebuilt in two storeys in the mid 16th century, probably by John Millicent (d. 1577). (fn. 279) In 1600 it lay around two courts, called the cloister yard and kitchen yard. (fn. 280) In 1621 the house contained a hall, great and little parlours, and gallery, besides chambers, offices, a yeomen's hall, and a coachhouse. (fn. 281) The house was partially remodelled in the late 17th century, the front receiving some mullion and transom windows and a central pediment, but the Tudor first-floor windows survived unaltered. (fn. 282) From c. 1717 the Millicents and their successors used only part of the house, the rest being occupied by the tenant of their principal farm. (fn. 283) Mrs. Lonsdale's will directed that the master of Pembroke might use the Hall as a country retreat, but must never sub-let it. (fn. 284) The then master already had two official residences, and the empty house gradually passed beyond repair. It was mostly demolished between 1832 and 1838. (fn. 285) One range of five bays, refronted in brick, with a short 16th-century backwing, was preserved as a house for the college's tenant. (fn. 286)

MICHAELOTTS manor was created from Barham manor by Sir Simon de Furneaux, who granted 60 a. of his demesne and c. 50 a. previously held by tenants to his younger son Michael (fn. 287) (fl. c. 1267 to 1297), (fn. 288) who already held 80 a. in 1279. (fn. 289) It was to be held as 1 knight's fee, rendering a pair of gilt spurs yearly to the lords of Barham. (fn. 290) Michael later granted the land to his nephew Simon, son of Thomas de St. Omer. Simon conveyed it, probably in 1315, to his brother Ralph, who returned it to him the same year. (fn. 291) By 1397 Michaelotts belonged to Nicholas Parys, (fn. 292) and descended with the Linton manors. (fn. 293) The Paryses regularly rendered the spurs, or 12d. in lieu, (fn. 294) and still paid reliefs for Michaelotts in the early 16th century. (fn. 295) Michaelotts contained c. 1675 some 185 a., besides the 15-acre Michaelotts wood, (fn. 296) which in 1775 was bought by Christopher Lonsdale and reunited with Barham manor. (fn. 297)

By 1600 the Paryses' combined manors were formally styled the manors of Great and Little Linton with Chilford and Michaelotts. (fn. 298) Robert Parys (d. 1504) owned property called Chilfords, (fn. 299) and in 1547 land belonging to CHILFORD manor was mentioned, (fn. 300) but no evidence has been found of an independent manor of that name.

The church of Linton had been granted by the earls of Richmond before 1163, probably while they still held Linton in demesne, to the Breton abbey of St. Jacut-de-la-Mer (Cotes-du-Nord). (fn. 301) By 1279 the abbey had appropriated the church and, besides the great tithes, owned glebe of 20 a. in Great Linton, 23 a. in Little Linton, and 32 a. in Barham. (fn. 302) From before 1227 the abbey appointed a prior of Linton to manage the estate, (fn. 303) and the land remained almost continuously under the control of priors until after 1400, (fn. 304) although during periods of war with France they were required to pay the surplus revenues to the Crown. (fn. 305) The last prior, Nicholas Menfrey, held the land at farm of the Crown, singly or more often jointly with English farmers, from c. 1370 to c. 1410. (fn. 306) After the alien priories were suppressed in 1414 Linton priory was occupied under the Crown by farmers, including Nicholas Parys between 1413 and 1421. (fn. 307) In 1440 Henry VI granted the reversion to Pembroke College, Cambridge, (fn. 308) and in 1450 the bishop approved the appropriation of the rectory to the college. (fn. 309) The rectorial glebe was reckoned at c. 85 a. in 1523, c. 68 a. in 1652, and 60 a. in 1775, besides 5 a. in Hadstock. (fn. 310)

By 1466 the college was letting the rectory to Richard Millicent, and by 1523 to his kinsman Thomas Millicent (d. 1549), father of John Millicent, lord of Barham. (fn. 311) John Millicent's son-in-law William Bawtry held the lease in 1572 and was succeeded in 1599 (fn. 312) by his son Thomas, who in 1611 resigned the lease, held on very advantageous terms, to Robert Millicent's second son, Sir John (fn. 313) (d. 1641). (fn. 314) By 1667 the lessee was Dr. Nathaniel Hardy, dean of Rochester (d. 1670), whose widow Elizabeth and her next husband Sir Francis Clark held it by 1675 (fn. 315) and sold it in 1694 to John Lone, a Whig lawyer (d. 1700). (fn. 316) The lease was sold in 1706 to Thomas Sclater, later Bacon, (fn. 317) and remained with the Catley Park estate (fn. 318) until in 1761 Thomas Sclater King sold it to Richard Trott (fn. 319) (d. 1788). Trott left it to his son-in-law, Edmund Fisher (d. 1819), vicar of Linton 1789–1800, (fn. 320) whose son Edmund, already vicar there, retained the rectorial glebe until his death in 1851. (fn. 321) Thereafter it was let directly to working farmers. (fn. 322) The rectorial land, for which 78 a. were allotted at inclosure in 1838, (fn. 323) still belonged to Pembroke in 1974, (fn. 324) except for the closes around the site of Linton priory, which had been sold by 1956. (fn. 325) The rectorial tithes were commuted in 1839 for a tithe-rent-charge of £776. (fn. 326)

The priory buildings probably stood in the area, between the church and the river, later occupied by Linton House. The buildings had disappeared by 1600, but a large tithe barn, 68 by 27 ft., survived until c. 1912. (fn. 327) Linton House, called c. 1700 the Great House, was built of brick by John Lone in the 1690s, and was occupied by the two Fishers from c. 1772 to 1852. After standing empty for 30 years it was bought in 1882 and restored by Barney Ficklin. (fn. 328) It has a symmetrical main front to the garden with a recessed centre and short wings. The central doorway has a shell hood. Additions were made to the north in the 18th century.

Other religious houses with land in Linton included Warden abbey (Beds.) and the Austin canons of Thetford (Suff.). Before 1199 members of the Furneaux family granted land in Barham fee, amounting in 1279 to 32 a. held in demesne, to Warden, which acquired other land c. 1200. Geoffrey de Furneaux (d. c. 1197) granted to the canons of the Holy Sepulchre of Thetford land amounting in 1279 to 3 a. and the right to the ninth sheaf from 36 a. held by Warden. In 1199 the ninth sheaf was commuted for 12d. a year. (fn. 329) Thetford priory apparently had no land in Barham at its dissolution, (fn. 330) and Warden sold its Linton property c. 1390. (fn. 331) Walden abbey (Essex), to which William de Say granted a rent in 1265, and Westminster abbey were said to have had properties in Linton, parcel of estates elsewhere, which were granted in 1538 and 1541 to Thomas, Lord Audley. (fn. 332)

In the 17th and 18th centuries the largest nonmanorial estate was that accumulated by the lawyer Robert Flack (1626–1705). (fn. 333) In 1663 he bought c. 90 a. from the coheirs of the Richardsons, a prosperous yeoman family, (fn. 334) in 1672 c. 22 a. of demesne from Philip Parys, (fn. 335) in 1674 c. 74 a. of Michaelotts from the Colstons, (fn. 336) and in 1683 over 40 a. from the daughters and coheirs of Adam Lawrence, another Linton yeoman. (fn. 337) He left his estate to his grandson Barrington Flack, (fn. 338) who died in 1749 having settled his lands for life upon his wife Susannah (d. by 1780) with remainder to his brother-inlaw, FitzWilliams Barrington. (fn. 339) In 1783 Sir FitzWilliams sold the land, c. 265 a., to Benjamin Keene, (fn. 340) with whose manors it afterwards passed.

Of the Lawrence family's lands, amounting to 212 a. c. 1675, another 65 a. was bought in 1683 by Robert Moore, a Linton grocer. (fn. 341) By 1705 he owned c. 134 a., which by will of 1711 he left to his son Thomas, who in 1763 devised his lands to his brother Samuel's son Thomas. (fn. 342) The latter sold c. 122 a. to Benjamin Keene in 1778. (fn. 343)

In 1675 David Appleyard's charity for the poor of Balsham held 14 a. in Chilford and Linton fields under Linton manor. (fn. 344) At inclosure 21 a. near Borley wood were allotted to the churchwardens of Balsham. (fn. 345) Part of the land was sold in 1872. (fn. 346)

Economic History.

Agriculture. In 1086 2 hides out of 3¾ in Great Linton were held in demesne, employing 6 servi and 3 of the vill's 8 plough-teams, while 16 villani had 5 teams. In Little Linton the demesne included 1½ of the 2½ hides, and the lord had 4 servi and 2 plough-teams, while his 8 villani had 3 teams. On the two Barham manors there were 3 demesne teams, while the 12 villani possessed 3½ between them. There were 5 bordars in Great Linton, 2 in Little Linton, and 6 in Barham. Since Count Alan had obtained the manors the value of Great Linton had been raised from £7 to £12, that of Little Linton from £5 to £7, but at Barham the combined yield had remained stable at £17. (fn. 347)

In 1279, (fn. 348) besides c. 233 a. of demesne pasture and woodland and c. 123 a. of common land, the recorded arable in the parish amounted to c. 2,810 a., of which c. 1, 075 a. belonged to Great Linton, c. 685 a. to Little Linton, and c. 1,050 a. to Barham. The three manors' demesnes came respectively to 360 a., 428 a., and 393 a., thus comprising as in 1086 almost half the village. The smaller lay fees, including Michaelotts, covered 120 a., and religious houses held c. 145 a., including the rectory. Of the remainder c. 733 a. was freehold, and c. 704 a. belonged to customary tenants. The freeholds varied greatly in size. Eleven prosperous freeholders, including Gilbert Kirkby, lord of Hildersham, with 60 a., Robert of Linton with 64 a., and four with full yardlands of 32 a., had 394 a. between them, but c. 70 lesser men had altogether only c. 107 a.

On Great Linton manor the villein tenants all occupied regular-sized holdings, one a full yardland, 5 three-quarter-yardlands, and 11 half-yardlands. A yardland owed 20 works between Midsummer and Lammas, and 64 from Lammas to Michaelmas, and the ploughing of 22 a. a year. Two cottagers had to do 32 works between Michaelmas and Lammas and each reap 7½ a. Little Linton's 4 halfyardlanders and 1 quarter-yardlander were more heavily burdened. Each half-yardlander owed 69 works between Michaelmas and Lammas, and 34 more in harvest, besides mowing for 3 days and sending two beasts every Monday to plough the demesne. On Barham manor there were 5 yardlanders, 2 half-yardlanders, and 5 quarter-yardlanders. Each yardland provided 154 works between Michaelmas and Lammas for ploughing and so on, and 36 more in harvest to reap, thresh, and carry the corn. Eleven men held 1 a. each by doing 50 works between Michaelmas and Lammas, each reaping 4 a., and performing 4 harvest-boons, which 3 cottagers also owed.

The area held of the Linton manors steadily diminished from the 16th century, when the copyholds were all held by rent. In 1575 it comprised approximately 145 a. of freehold arable and 285 a. of copyhold, (fn. 349) by 1675 122 a. and 227 a. respectively, (fn. 350) and by 1793, after the lord had purchased the Flack and Moore estates, 246 a. altogether. (fn. 351) At inclosure c. 185 a. were allotted for copyhold of those manors, (fn. 352) and were mostly enfranchised between 1860 and 1900. (fn. 353) On Barham manor, however, the successors of 11 free tenants, who paid rents c. 1350, (fn. 354) were later, perhaps because they owed scutage, reckoned to hold by knight-service. In 1397 they did homage and paid reliefs to Bishop Fordham for fractions of a knight's fee. (fn. 355) The lords of Barham carefully listed the land so held in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, (fn. 356) for most of their tenants, through possessing fragments of that land, became liable to the consequent exactions. The tenants were sometimes recalcitrant. (fn. 357) When Robert Millicent (d. 1609), who was especially diligent in asserting his feudal rights, (fn. 358) tried to procure the wardship of the minor heir of Thomas Fulwell (d. 1584), a prosperous freeholder, the majority of the homage refused to present that any of Fulwell's land was held by knight-service. (fn. 359)

As for copyhold, only two customary tenants remained on Barham manor by c. 1380, when tenure in villeinage had apparently been replaced by tenure at farm of supposedly demesne land. (fn. 360) About 1430 23 men, including 2 with 30 a. each, occupied c. 150 a. on such terms. (fn. 361) In 1465 Robert Alington converted those tenures into rent-paying copyholds. A new book of customs which he compiled forbade them to sub-let for more than one year or cut timber without licence. Fines on alienation or death were to be arbitrary. (fn. 362) Robert Millicent proved as vexatious to his copyholders as to his freeholders, exacting fines for the redemption not only of land actually sub-let, according to previous practice, (fn. 363) but of a copyholder's whole tenement, claiming the whole to be forfeit through the unlicensed sub-letting of part. (fn. 364) In 1575 there were c. 17 copyholders, (fn. 365) whose lands in 1598 covered c. 206 a. (fn. 366) At inclosure in 1838 202 a. copyhold of Barham manor remained, of which 60 a. were enfranchised to the lord of Linton. (fn. 367)

Although the parish was from the Middle Ages largely devoted to arable farming, the common fields covered barely half of it, because much that was not pasture or woodland lay in severalty. (fn. 368) In Little Linton the land between the river and the Hildersham road, c. 160 a. in 1672, belonged mostly to that manor's warren and new park. South of the road lay an open field called Little Linton, Linton, (fn. 369) or Little, field. At inclosure it contained c. 200 a. In 1279 Little Linton had 13 a. of common pasture called Museholt, (fn. 370) probably near the river. When in 1328 the lord planted willows there, the tenants cut them down to vindicate their right to common. (fn. 371) West of that open field the remainder of Little Linton was by 1672, and probably long before, held in severalty as demesne land of that manor. Of the 475 a. it covered in 1672 up to 180 a. was ley ground. (fn. 372) North of the river and beyond the road lay the common fields of Great Linton. Of Limekiln field, nearest the village and so named by 1580, (fn. 373) only 56 a. remained at inclosure. It was divided from the larger Chilford field to the north, which in 1838 covered c. 360 a., (fn. 374) by a belt of closes then amounting to c. 100 a. The arable area had been further reduced by piecemeal inclosure. The lord had c. 70 a. inclosed as sheep-pens by 1838. In 1551 the Linton court had ordered those with crofts near the highway to leave them open from 1 December to Candlemas. (fn. 375)

The fields and pastures of Barham to the east were reckoned to cover c. 1,600 a. in 1580, excluding heath and woodland, and c. 1,700 a. in 1786, including 410 a. of ancient closes and 975 a. of open fields. (fn. 376) In the 13th century the area was divided among many fields, some of which bore the names of later furlongs. About 1275 Michaelotts had land in 7 fields. (fn. 377) The area west and south of Borley wood, probably called in the 16th century West and Wood fields, (fn. 378) was a single field called Wood field in 1779, (fn. 379) but in 1838 it was divided from north to south into Brick-kiln, White Eye, and Little Hill fields, covering together c. 270 a. Ballydon hill-top to the south-west was left as pasture or heath. In 1582 Robert Millicent ceded the 40 a. there to Linton manor in exchange for land further east. (fn. 380) To the south-east lay Barham field, in 1838 covering c. 450 a. The land south of the Bartlow road was mostly ancient closes of Barham manor demesne, c. 125 a. by local measure in 1580.

In Barham, as in Linton, the open fields were reduced by the inclosure of single strips, even in the 13th century. (fn. 381) After 1465 copyholders were permitted to inclose land accessible from the highway until 1 November, but had to leave it open every third year for the lord's flock to common there. (fn. 382) Many such closes had become permanent by 1600, and survived until the general inclosure. (fn. 383) Moreover, the lords of Barham gradually enlarged their several holdings adjoining the east part of Barham field. There the land had probably never been under the plough. The north end had been inclosed as demesne pasture well before 1500, and probably belonged to the grange recorded in 1327 and to Bellasyes grange which in 1412 included a sheepfold. By 1500 it was styled the lord's grange called the Oaks, and in 1564, after recent hedging by John Millicent, covered c. 87 a. (fn. 384) Further south lay Barham heath, presumably derived from 80 a. of heath recorded in 1279, of which the Frith heath lay common from Lammas to Candlemas. (fn. 385) By 1550 it was called the lords' heath ground, (fn. 386) and was apparently in their sole ownership, for in 1564 they planned to break up parts of it for conversion to arable. (fn. 387) By the 1590s Robert Millicent was leasing c. 128 a. of arable, lately heath, (fn. 388) and by 1600 c. 366 a. of the area east of Barham field was divided into blocks called the lord's land, late heath. (fn. 389) Cultivation later receded, and c. 1735 the Barham estate included 300 a. of ley or barren heath, of which small plots were occasionally ploughed and sown for a year or two. (fn. 390) On the eve of inclosure, out of the 2,960 a. of arable in Linton, ancient closes accounted for 1,523 a. and the common fields for 1,436 a.; there were also 265 a. of wood and 420 a. of permanent pasture. (fn. 391)

The open fields of Great Linton were under a triennial rotation in 1272, (fn. 392) as probably were those of Barham in 1286. (fn. 393) In 1581 the latter were divided between the fallow field, the 'tilland' field, and the bullymong field. (fn. 394) The early 14th century saw some recession of cultivation, for in 1340 300 a. once yielding corn was lying waste through the tenants' insufficiency. (fn. 395) The principal crop was barley. In 1420 the great tithes yielded 60 qr. of barley, 20 of wheat, 4 of pease, and 3 of oats. (fn. 396) Even on Barham demesne only 32½ a. of wheat were sown in 1439 compared with 103 a. of barley. (fn. 397) By the 16th century rye was also grown. (fn. 398) By the 1470s saffron was being cultivated, (fn. 399) eventually even in the open fields, (fn. 400) and in 1592 24 a. of the fallow field were kept inclosed mainly for saffron. (fn. 401)

In 1086 11 cattle and 135 sheep were recorded at the Lintons, and 8 cattle and 137 sheep at Barham. (fn. 402) All inhabitants had c. 1515 to keep their cattle in the common herd from Midsummer at latest until Christmas, (fn. 403) and from 1536 butchers were forbidden to put their fattening calves in the Linton herd. (fn. 404) On the fallow fields in the 16th century horses were allowed in first, then cows 6 days later, and sheep after 4 more days. (fn. 405) By the 18th century rights of common after harvest were combined for both fees. The joint herd of cows and horses moved a week ahead of the sheep from the fallow field across the stubble of successive fields, spending a week on each. (fn. 406)

On Barham manor two men were fined in 1408 for keeping 10 sheep more than their stint. (fn. 407) In 1556 the tenants there were stinted to 2 or 3 cows each and forbidden to take in outsiders' cattle. (fn. 408) No fresh reductions of stints were recorded in the 16th century or later. Some villagers had flocks of their own, one man leaving 44 sheep in 1517, (fn. 409) but the main flocks belonged to the demesnes. In 1613 and 1650 the lords of Linton reserved in leases the right to fold up to 300 sheep, including 30 belonging to their shepherd, his traditional perquisite. (fn. 410) In the 18th century Little Linton and Michaelotts farms each enjoyed sheep-walk for 280 sheep. (fn. 411) Barham manor had in 1547 included folds for 200 sheep, besides the suppressed priory's lately revived fold for 120. (fn. 412) In 1567 John Millicent leased out, with a large farm, the right to fold 220 sheep over Barham's open fields. (fn. 413) His son Robert had set up his own flock by 1578, (fn. 414) and later charged his tenants rent for putting their own sheep with it. About 1600 it included c. 230 sheep belonging to 12 tenants. (fn. 415) In 1595 he again leased out his sheep-walk, including the right to pasture in the Oaks and the closes round Barham Hall. The lessee was to keep 60 of Robert's sheep with his own, and to manure Robert's land from 1 April to 16 November. (fn. 416)

The lords of Linton claimed, as tenants of Michaelotts manor, to feed their flock over Barham fee also, and in 1553 John Millicent recognized their right to sheep-walk there for 300 sheep. (fn. 417) In 1581, however, Robert Millicent and Ferdinand Parys agreed to distinguish their rights of sheep-walk territorially. Parys was to have sheep-walk over the western third of Barham as far as Shortwood and along the north side of Borley wood, Millicent retaining the rest. (fn. 418) Three separate folds were established, two for Linton manor and one for Barham, which at inclosure had rights respectively over 720 a., 416 a., and 500 a. of the parish. (fn. 419)

The Linton demesne consisted by the 17th century of two portions, an inclosed farm, mainly cultivated from Little Linton farm-house and covering in the 1670s c. 660 a., and open-field land probably derived from the Great Linton and Michaelotts demesnes, then amounting to c. 260 a., besides 63 a. of meadow and pasture. (fn. 420) The Paryses probably kept part of Little Linton in hand. Robert Parys (d. 1504) left money to his ploughmen, and his grandson Sir Philip had corn and cattle to be sold at his death. (fn. 421) Their open-field land was probably let. Michaelotts, c. 117 a. in 1577, was yielding £4 6s. 8d. rent in 1575, when 17 men held another 117 a. by indenture, much probably on 89- to 98-year leases made c. 1553. (fn. 422)

Although Barham demesne was still in hand in 1438, (fn. 423) it had been transferred to a farmer by 1460. (fn. 424) After 1480 the demesne was apparently divided among four men, each paying 33s. 4d. as farm and as much again in lieu of renders of beer. (fn. 425) In 1564 it comprised, besides 31 a. of ancient closes and 87 a. of the Oaks, c. 305 a. of arable. (fn. 426) In the 1560s John Millicent leased 162 a. to his son-in-law William Bawtry for 40 years, and by 1577 had let out over 120 a. (fn. 427) John's son Robert let out even more land, raising his receipts from that source from £80 a year for 330 a. in 1578 to £142 by 1599. (fn. 428) In 1593–4, besides the 136 a. of Bawtry's farm, c. 360 a. of arable were on lease. (fn. 429) In 1603–4 of 55 lessees 15 occupying over 10 a. accounted for 346 a. of the 417 a. then leased. One had 76 a., two others 39 a. and 33 a. (fn. 430)

Sometimes the Barham demesne was 'let to halves', a practice already in use among the tenants there c. 1500. In 1501 they were forbidden to let copyholds to halves to evade the need for a licence to underlet, (fn. 431) and in 1591 a tenant agreed with another to have his land manured, ploughed, and sown in return for half the crop. (fn. 432) In 1598–9 Robert Millicent let 257 a. to three men to halves, (fn. 433) and in 1611 Sir Roger Millicent let most of the demesne to four men on like terms. Each party found half the seed, the lessee undertook the cultivation, the lessor provided manure from his sheepfold and stables, and had first choice of half the area of corn grown. (fn. 434) Philip Parys let Little Linton on similar terms in 1613. The farmer was to be allowed half the seed, and to divide the crop equally before harvest. (fn. 435) The farm was still being let in that way in the 1640s. (fn. 436)

Most of the land outside the demesnes belonged to a small group of prosperous yeomen. In 1524 9 people taxed at £5 or more owned altogether £85 in goods. The wealthiest, Stephen Fulwell, (fn. 437) owned over 60 a. By c. 1570 his heir Joan and her husband Henry Lawrence held c. 146 a. altogether, (fn. 438) of which c. 132 a. was divided among coheirs c. 1660. (fn. 439) Of about 430 a. held as freehold and copyhold of the Linton manors in 1575, 18 persons with 10 a. or more accounted for c. 385 a. (fn. 440) On Barham manor c. 360 a. were held in 1599 by some 40 people, of whom 7 owning 20 a. or more occupied c. 280 a. (fn. 441) Many men therefore had only a croft or a few openfield acres: of 95 tenements held in Linton in 1575 30 consisted only of messuages or shops and 15 more were of 3 a. or less. (fn. 442) Some probably belonged to village craftsmen, (fn. 443) and as the population increased many inhabitants came to have no holdings. In 1524 59 men were taxed on goods worth only £1, and 7 on their wages, while 5 had no taxable wealth at all. (fn. 444)

The township became increasingly concerned with controlling and maintaining such people. In 1568 the villagers were forbidden to let any but their wives, children, or servants dwell in their houses without the lord's special leave. (fn. 445) In 1581 it was ordered that none should take in married couples as under-tenants without giving surety to the parish. (fn. 446) In 1577 the right to glean was confined to those with less than 4 a., and in 1583 45 people were reported to have gone gleaning prematurely. (fn. 447) Substantial legacies for the poor were made in the 1520s. In 1528 there were thought to be 40 poor householders in the parish. (fn. 448) In 1664 25 out of 160 householders were too poor to be rated, (fn. 449) and in 1666 only 31 out of 185 had more than 3 hearths, while 43 had 2, and 87 only one. (fn. 450)

By the late 17th century the two demesnes were being consolidated into a few large farms. The inclosed lands of Linton manor were divided in 1672 into Little Linton farm, c. 563 a., and the Catley House farm, c. 95 a. (fn. 451) used mainly for dairy-farming. (fn. 452) Little Linton farm comprised in 1764 306 a. of arable, 112 a. of meadow and pasture, and 100 a. of heath. In 1779 its 575 a. included 190 a. of pasture and ley. Not being subject to rights of common it was more valuable than the open-field land. (fn. 453) About 1825 it covered c. 650 a. Catley Park farm came to c. 132 a. in 1779 and c. 191 a. in 1825. From 1704 Michaelotts farm and the estate's other open-field land were combined into one unit, covering in 1764 340 a., besides 70 a. of heath. By 1825 as Chilford farm it amounted to c. 590 a.

On the Barham estate most of the demesne arable and heath was let out as one farm after 1633. (fn. 454) In 1733 it comprised 220 a. of arable, 60 a. of meadow and pasture, and 300 a. of heath, (fn. 455) and after 1775 a total of c. 757 a. There were also two or three smaller farms, in all some 245 a. in 1786, of which three-quarters was open-field land, (fn. 456) to whose tenants the lessee of the main farm had to allow so many nights' folding of the manor flock. (fn. 457) After 1800 that estate was reorganized, eventually into two large farms, one of 450 a. in 1814, increased by 1830 to 660 a., based on Barham Hall, the other of 280 a., farmed from Little Barham Hall. (fn. 458)

In 1786 the Barham estate comprised 1,187 a., and the Keenes' land there c. 346 a. Of the remaining 360 a. of Barham c. 220 a. belonged to 7 men with 15 a. or more each. (fn. 459) By the 1820s, of some 3,660 a. in the whole parish, comprising 2,880 a. of arable, 510 a. of meadow and pasture, and 263 a. of woodland, eight large farms of over 100 a. covered 2,815 a. Five, totalling 1,680 a., belonged to the Linton estate, two, 960 a., to the Barham estate, and Robert Taylor occupied 197 a. Nine smaller farmers, mostly owner-occupiers, had 375 a. between them, and 25 other occupiers shared 205 a. (fn. 460)

There had been some agricultural innovations at Linton in the 17th century, when root crops were introduced. In the 1630s a gardener began to plant carrots and peas in his closes, and his neighbours observed and imitated his success. Turnips soon followed, and by the 1640s they were being grown in the fields also. In the 1650s up to 80 a. of them were planted there, and in 1694 60 a. of turnips and 80 a. of green peas. Normally, after two crops had been taken, peas were sown and cropped before Midsummer, followed by turnips, usually cultivated with the hoe or spade, and picked before Christmas. The intensive digging involved and the rotting compost were thought greatly to improve the soil for the ensuing barley crop. (fn. 461) With their increased cultivation elsewhere, peas and turnips were grown less at Linton, (fn. 462) where there were 75 a. of turnips in 1760 and only 6 a. of peas; turnips accounted in 1775 for 55 a. and in 1815 for less than 40 a. (fn. 463)

Most of the parish remained subject to the traditional three-course rotation, which was also followed on the inclosed arable of the Barham farms. (fn. 464) About 1780, on two open-field farms of the Linton estate, 70 a. of wheat and 48 a. of barley were sown as the first crop, and 47 a. of barley and 40 a. of oats as the second, while 124 a. was left as summer land, including 40 a. planted with turnips. (fn. 465) Similarly on Barham Hall farm there were in 1787 45 a. of wheat, 90 a. of barley, and 80 a. of oats and pease, besides 100 a. of fallow. (fn. 466) Clover, rye-grass, cinquefoil, and trefoil had also been introduced by the 1790s, when a rotation in force included wheat or barley one year, and oats or pease the next followed after a winter's fallowing by turnips in preparation for a succeeding barley crop. (fn. 467) Turnips and coleseed were still grown on the fallow in the 1830s and potatoes had been introduced by 1820. (fn. 468) The manorial estates still had the largest flocks. Of 850 tithable lambs in 1761, 800 were from three flocks on the Linton estate. (fn. 469) Barham Hall farm had a flock of 300 sheep in 1733, and one of 480 in 1787. (fn. 470) In 1814 its farmer sold his flock of 380 Norfolk sheep. (fn. 471) Cattle were more widely owned. Of 100 cows in Linton in the 1760s and 1770s, 40 were on the Linton estate, the others belonging to over 20 people. (fn. 472) Barham Hall farm had a herd of 15 milking cows in 1733. (fn. 473)

The Revd. C. E. Ruck-Keene proposed inclosure in 1837. (fn. 474) An Act, obtained by June 1838, (fn. 475) appointed a single commissioner who had finished dividing the fields by October, (fn. 476) although the award was executed only in 1840. (fn. 477) Of c. 110 landholders in Linton in 1838 only 25 owned more than 5 a. of open-field land, the rest possessing simply smallholdings or crofts, for which they might claim common rights. (fn. 478) Of the estimated 3,776 a. in the parish the land allotted comprised 1,495 a. of land to be inclosed and 153 a. of old inclosures entirely surrounded by open fields. Keene received 676½ a. in addition to his 1,090 a. of old inclosures and 90 a. of wood. Pembroke College received 454 a., and 78 a. for the rectorial glebe, in addition to its 606 a. of old inclosures and 146 a. of wood. Smaller allotments were of 95 a. and 62 a., five of 10–50 a. totalling c. 105 a., and fifteen of under 10 a. amounting to 87 a.; 67 allotments, 19 a. altogether, were made for rights of common only. (fn. 479)

Most of Linton continued to be divided into a few large farms. (fn. 480) South of the river were Catley Park farm, 130 a. c. 1840, but 303 a. by 1871 and in 1902, and Little Linton farm, 601 a. c. 1840 (fn. 481) and 618 a. in 1902. The two farms, totalling 918 a., were run as one in 1950. Chilford farm, north of the river, covered 494 a. and Little Chilford 212 a. c. 1840. Together they came to 498 a. in 1902, and 502 a. in 1950. Chilford farm was sometimes, as in 1902, let with Rivey farm, then comprising c. 220 a. on the slope south of Rivey Hill, of which 150 a. were sold in 1926, (fn. 482) and the Grip farm, whose 260 a. south of the village included much land in Hadstock. The Pembroke estate was still divided into Barham Hall farm, covering 682 a. in 1841, and Little Barham farm of 289 a.; they had been combined by 1871, but were again separate by the 1910s. (fn. 483) About 1851 there were still also 10 smaller farmers, of whom Robert Adcock had 100 a. and William Livermore 60 a. Those two farms were later combined into Greenditch farm of c. 160 a. In 1879 there were eight farmers in Linton, in 1908 seven, in 1937 six. (fn. 484)

In the early 19th century c. 120 families usually depended on farming for their employment. (fn. 485) In 1830 there were 169 labourers over and 170 under 20; wages were 9s. a week, and married men were allowed ½ rood each for growing potatoes, their main food. Their cottages were almost all rented from local farmers and tradesmen. (fn. 486) In the mid 19th century the farmers usually employed c. 150 men and up to 90 boys, (fn. 487) the remaining labourers finding work in neighbouring parishes. (fn. 488) The number employed in agriculture gradually declined until by the 1970s it was less than 5 per cent of the population. (fn. 489)

Sheep-farming remained important after inclosure. There were 7 shepherds at Linton in 1861, 11 in 1871. (fn. 490) In 1902 there were 1,735 a. of arable and only 150 a. of permanent grass on the Keene estate. (fn. 491) In 1905 the whole parish contained 3,156 a. of arable, 316 a. of grass, and 194 a. of wood. (fn. 492) In 1950 the Linton estate farms were devoted mainly to cereals and root-crops, and contained 200 a. of grass out of 1,630 a. (fn. 493) Sugar-beet was being grown by the 1950s. One farm had a flock of pedigree Suffolk sheep, from which stock was exported. A seed-testing station had been established by 1954, (fn. 494) and apparently closed c. 1970. By 1970 there was an abattoir, principally for pigs. (fn. 495)

Mills. In 1086 two water-mills belonged to Great Linton manor and one to Little Linton. (fn. 496) In 1272 and 1279 William de Say owned two water-mills of which no later evidence has been found. Little Linton mill, recorded in 1279, (fn. 497) stood just downstream from the manor-house. It was at farm in 1516, (fn. 498) and still belonged to the estate in the 1670s. (fn. 499) In the 18th century it was leased with a windmill, (fn. 500) and both were let to the lessee of Little Linton farm in 1805. A new wheel was provided for the water-mill in 1810. (fn. 501) It remained in use until c. 1875, and was briefly reopened in the 1890s. (fn. 502) The timber-framed, thatched mill-house, empty from 1900, was demolished in 1903. (fn. 503)

By 1279 Barham manor had two water-mills and a windmill. (fn. 504) Windmill shot was recorded in 1468, near the Haverhill road. (fn. 505) One water-mill stood a little west of Barham Hall, the other further upstream. (fn. 506) One was let as a fulling-mill c. 1460, the other remaining a corn-mill. (fn. 507) Both the greater and the lesser mills were still in use c. 1600, being sometimes in the same hands, (fn. 508) but only one survived in 1657, and that too probably closed soon after 1712. (fn. 509) The windmill was let separately in 1713. (fn. 510) The Barham estate included no mill in 1740. (fn. 511)

Linton mill, south of the village, originally belonged to the bishop of Ely's manor of Hadstock in Essex, and was possibly reckoned as part of Hadstock parish until the 19th century. (fn. 512) The bishop had a water-mill probably near there c. 1270. (fn. 513) In the 14th century Walter de Furneaux, brother of John, lord of Barham, granted John, bishop of Ely, 2 a. of waste for building a water-mill, with an 18-ft. way across the meadow from Hadstock. (fn. 514) The tithe of the mill was disputed between Linton and Hadstock in the 1370s; then, as in 1580, it was on lease to Linton men. (fn. 515) About 1850 it belonged to John Reeve, (fn. 516) and in 1884 was sold to F. S. Nicholls, (fn. 517) whose family worked it until its sale in 1908 (fn. 518) to the newly started Linton Milling and Corn Co., which owned and ran it in 1972. After 1954 it produced animal feedstuffs. (fn. 519) The building dates from c. 1725; (fn. 520) the brick-and-flint miller's house was sold in 1962. (fn. 521)

Markets and Fairs. In 1246 William de Say was granted a weekly market on Tuesdays at Great Linton and a three-day fair at St. Lawrence's feast (9–11 August). (fn. 522) In 1282 Simon de Furneaux of Barham was granted a weekly market on Fridays and a three-day fair at St. Margaret's feast (19– 21 July). (fn. 523) Both fairs endured, but only the Great Linton market. The original site of the market, an open space between the high street and the Hadstock manor mill, had possibly passed out of use by 1363, when it was styled the old market. (fn. 524) The new market-place lay halfway along the street south of the river, where it widened to the east into an open space; to the west stood a double row of permanent stalls. (fn. 525) In 1528 money was left for building a market-house, which by 1600 stood at the east end of the stalls. (fn. 526) Its first importance was as a provision market, regulated by the Linton manor court. (fn. 527) From 1528 the court sometimes appointed two men to oversee the sale of meat and fish. (fn. 528) In 1536 seven bakers and six butchers were selling at Linton, some of them outsiders. (fn. 529) In 1533 men were fined for regrating barley and herrings in the market. (fn. 530) By c. 1578 one row of stalls was named Butchery Row, another Middle Row. (fn. 531) By 1630 there were rows named for the woollen and linen drapers, (fn. 532) and stalls were kept by tanners, shoemakers, and glovers. (fn. 533) By 1604 two searchers of leather were being appointed, (fn. 534) and from 1622 two clerks of the market. (fn. 535) Under Charles II besides a clerk and crier there were searchers of flesh, fish, and leather and weighers of bread and butter. (fn. 536) Their duties gradually became nominal, and by 1720 all those offices were held by one man. (fn. 537)

From c. 1640 until the early 19th century Linton market was held on Thursdays. It was still an important corn market in the late 18th century, and by the mid 19th was the only market in the county outside Cambridge. (fn. 538) Its stalls were still yielding tolls to the lord in 1807, (fn. 539) but by 1850 it was decaying, despite changing the market day, and had expired by 1864. The market-house, a building partly of brick with its lower storey open, (fn. 540) became ruinous and was demolished c. 1950. (fn. 541)

Linton fair, owned by Benjamin Keene in 1807, was probably that held on Ascension day, which was partly a hiring fair, partly for selling pedlary. (fn. 542) It lingered into the 1870s, but by 1883 had been superseded by the village flower-show. (fn. 543) Barham fair was not recorded in the 15th or 16th centuries, and may have been revived after John Millicent had the charter for it exemplified in 1664. (fn. 544) It was mainly for selling sheep and lambs, and was held in an area called Lamb Fair south of Barham cross. (fn. 545) About 1806 it was held on 30 July, and in 1867 yielded £15 to Pembroke College. (fn. 546) It was formally abolished in 1878. (fn. 547)

Linton remained an important centre for local shopping. From the late 18th century to the 1930s it had its own firm of auctioneers and land surveyors. (fn. 548) In the late 19th century and early 20th there were usually 4 to 6 bakers, 3 or 4 butchers, 4 or 5 grocers, and 1 or 2 tailors, besides chemists and hairdressers from 1841, and by 1904 a branch of the Sawston Co-operative Society. The largest shop was a general stores, said to have been started in 1739, and taken over in the 1860s by Richard Holttum whose name it still bore in 1937. (fn. 549) Its site covered much of the area once occupied by the market stalls. (fn. 550) It was later acquired by the International Stores, and had been closed by 1974.

Trade and industry. William de Say exploited his charter for a market by granting out plots in the village, some sited round the old market-place, in free burgage. By 1279 there were 48 such shops, whose owners included 4 mercers, 2 bakers, 2 potters, a smith, a skinner, a barker, a barber, a tailor, and Adam Caiaphas, perhaps a Jewish moneylender. (fn. 551) Burgage tenure is not recorded later, but many shops were held of Linton manor by quitrents, while others were copyholds. (fn. 552) Men from neighbouring towns acquired shops at Linton, a Saffron Walden man owning one c. 1549, (fn. 553) and two others c. 1584. (fn. 554) Among craftsmen and traders recorded in the 17th century, besides those usual in villages, were a glazier, a cutler, a rope-maker, a weaver, and a clothier. (fn. 555) Others in 1694 included a glover, a locksmith, and a wheelwright, and in 1757 a periwig-maker. (fn. 556)

The most important trades were those based on the timber supplied by the manorial woods. Woodsales yielded much of the profit of Barham manor, both in the 15th century (fn. 557) and the 18th. (fn. 558) It was mainly local men who bought the wood c. 1600. (fn. 559) The timber in Linton wood was valued at £1,717 c. 1680. (fn. 560) About 1795 it was being cut every 10 to 12 years. (fn. 561) A sawpit was dug on the old marketplace in 1756. (fn. 562)

The bark from the timber was used for tanning. There was a tanner at Linton in 1327, (fn. 563) and two of the Millicents were active as 'barkers' in the 15th century. (fn. 564) A tanner left his son his vats and bark in 1559. (fn. 565) About 1725 Thomas Malying owned a tanyard, probably near the old market-place, with the right to lay his bark on the green there. (fn. 566) Edmund Taylor (d. 1804) acquired the yard c. 1776, and his heirs probably carried on business until the 1830s. (fn. 567) Another tannery stood west of the river near the Independent chapel. Although partly burnt down in 1819, (fn. 568) it was still working c. 1838. (fn. 569) Tanning had ceased at Linton by 1851, (fn. 570) but leather-working persisted. Craftsmen in 1736 had included a saddler and a cordwainer. (fn. 571) In 1851 there were a currier, 14 shoemakers and cordwainers, and 4 harnessmakers, in 1871 12 shoemakers and 3 harnessmakers. (fn. 572) Of two saddlers' businesses recorded in 1851 that belonging to the Maris family was active from c. 1750 to after 1937. From the 1870s to the 1910s there were usually 4 or 5 boot- and shoemakers. (fn. 573)

Building materials were dug and made at Linton from the Middle Ages. A tile-kiln was rented from Barham manor c. 1460. (fn. 574) By the 16th century a field was named after a lime-kiln, (fn. 575) perhaps that held of Linton manor with lime-pits in 1575. (fn. 576) In the 1670s a local brick-kiln produced bricks for work on Catley House, until the brick-earth in the pasture there gave out c. 1681. (fn. 577) The Barham brick-kiln in Woodhole by Borley wood was in production in 1738, as was a lime-kiln on Barham heath in 1745, when both were let to a Cambridge builder. (fn. 578) A lime-kiln newly built on the same site c. 1774 was still in use in 1814. (fn. 579) In 1851 the building trades were represented by 22 bricklayers, 3 thatchers, and a plumber, and in 1871 there were also 4 painters and a glazier. D. P. Day's building firm, employing in 1851 10 carpenters, 8 bricklayers, 2 sawyers, and 10 labourers, survived until 1888. In 1841 there were 16 carpenters at Linton, 14 in 1871. Other woodworkers included wheelwrights, 6 in 1871, coopers, hurdle-makers, a lath-render, and from 1888 a cabinet-maker. The Starling family ran a wheelwright's and coachmaker's business from before 1851 to after 1937. (fn. 580)

In 1737 Robert Millicent (d. 1741) was induced to prospect for coal north of Borley wood, where the name Coal Hole Lane survived in 1838. A shaft over 225 ft. deep was sunk, (fn. 581) and c. 1745 it was alleged that a large vein of good coal had been found, (fn. 582) but by 1755 the owners of Barham Hall were having coal carried from Cambridge. (fn. 583)

Some new manufactures were introduced in the 19th century. A small hemp factory opened in 1832 to provide employment (fn. 584) was not recorded later. By 1851 Henry Prior had a substantial brewery off Stony Street, which closed shortly before 1919. (fn. 585) In the 1860s Prior began to produce whiting with materials from a neighbouring chalkpit. There were two whiting-makers in 1871. (fn. 586) About 1880 the business was taken over by the Whiffen family, and from 1922 by the Linton Chalk and Whiting Co., whose works, in use until 1937 or later, stood by the Hadstock road. (fn. 587) Ten blacksmiths were working at Linton in 1841 and 7 in 1871, but only 3 forges survived by 1900, of which the last ceased working after 1922. (fn. 588) A small printing firm set up by 1904 had been succeeded by 1925 by the Eagle Printing Works, still open in 1937. (fn. 589) Light industry in Linton in the 1960s included the Crofton Engineering Works, started in 1952, making builders' metalwork, Cathodeon Crystals Ltd., opened in 1953, producing quartz crystals for telecommunications equipment, and a fertilizer-maker. (fn. 590)

Local Government.

In 1279 the lords both of Great Linton and of Barham exercised view of frankpledge and the assize of bread and of ale, and were entitled to a gallows and tumbrel. (fn. 591) Little Linton manor had no such jurisdiction. In 1334 it was instead represented by a reeve and four men at a tourn held there for the honor of Richmond. (fn. 592) The Great Linton court sometimes overstrained its authority: in 1272 its members were amerced for hanging a shepherd on his own confession without due process. (fn. 593) In the 17th century the lord of Linton claimed felons' chattels, a right actually exercised in 1631, deodands, and waifs and strays. (fn. 594)

For Linton manor court rolls survive for 1509– 1716 and court books for 1720–1946, (fn. 595) and for Barham there are court rolls almost continuously from 1493 to 1596 and rolls and books from 1604 to 1831. (fn. 596)

From 1509 the Linton court met twice yearly in spring and, for leet business, in autumn, except between 1528 and 1547 when it met yearly in January or February. After c. 1620 it met once a year. In 1513 two Linton tenants were presented for suing a third for debt outside the lord's court. (fn. 597) The Barham court met annually, before 1535 at Lammas. From 1577 Robert Millicent held up to four courts a year, probably to control more strictly his tenants' transfers of property. In the same period the record of leet jurisdiction became cursory. The two courts occasionally co-operated formally, as in authorizing in 1549 the diversion of the highway near Barham Hall. (fn. 598) Under Henry VIII each court was choosing a constable, one or two ale-tasters, and a hayward or field-reeve of its own, as was still done in the 1630s. (fn. 599) The 18th century saw disputes between the two lords over control of the village. The chief farmers of the two estates had been sharing offices, but c. 1745 the Millicents' successors questioned Robert King's right to name constables for the whole parish at his Linton court leet. (fn. 600)

By the 1570s the churchwardens and constables, with collectors for the poor regularly appointed from 1577, were transacting much business independently of the courts, and accounting to 6 or 8 of the elders of the parish. (fn. 601) They managed the former guildhall which Pembroke College had leased in 1564 to feoffees at a nominal rent. The profits were to help to maintain the church, the causeway to it, and Linton's great bridge. (fn. 602) The hall was hired for wedding festivities, visiting players sometimes performed there, and rooms in it were let to widows. (fn. 603) Although again leased to village trustees for 40 years in 1656, (fn. 604) it passed from their hands in 1697 and became a private house. (fn. 605) The township owned another town-house or task-house, used partly to accommodate the poor. (fn. 606) In the 1580s money for the poor came mainly from legacies. (fn. 607) By 1591 fines levied in the Linton court went half to the lord, half to the poor. (fn. 608) Charitable gifts needed increasingly to be supplemented by rates by the 1630s. (fn. 609)

From the late 17th century the parish was managed by a vestry of 5–10 substantial inhabitants, who met monthly by the 1750s to check the overseers' accounts. Each overseer acted for half a year. (fn. 610) General town meetings were sometimes attended by over 20 people, and smaller groups were chosen for special purposes. (fn. 611) In the early 19th century the vestry was nominally open, but the churchwardens and overseers apparently settled the rates. (fn. 612) The vestry bought a fire engine c. 1733 and kept it in the church. (fn. 613) In 1748 a pest-house for those with smallpox was built. (fn. 614) In 1697 a house was probably bought for a parish alms-house, (fn. 615) presumably the same as the four alms-houses where 20 poor people lived in 1783. (fn. 616) In 1837 it comprised eight singleroom dwellings, next to the old parish workhouse. (fn. 617)

By the 1670s there were a dozen people listed as entitled to weekly poor-relief, by 1685 over 20, costing up to 1s. a week each. (fn. 618) In 1697 the vestry forbade those on relief to beg from door to door, and in 1710 and 1712 restricted the giving of relief to a regular time after Sunday evensong. (fn. 619) The expense of relieving c. 30 people yearly rose from £60 a year in the 1690s to £130 by 1731, of which a third went on casual relief. (fn. 620) In 1737 the parish built a workhouse, near the east end of the high street, to be run by a salaried master and dame. (fn. 621) Until the 1770s it usually had between 12 and 22 inmates, who occasionally did such work as spinning and were allowed a liberal diet. By 1748 out-relief, mainly for women, had been resumed. Between 1740 and 1765 expenditure on poor-relief fluctuated between £150 and £170, and from the late 1760s regularly exceeded £200. (fn. 622) It increased to over £300 c. 1784, of which less than £5 was spent on setting the poor to work. (fn. 623) By 1803 it was £579; the workhouse, with 16 inmates under a contractor who took their earnings, cost £101, while 50 people received permanent outdoor relief. (fn. 624) Expenditure on the poor rose to £1,850 in 1813, to support 12 people in the workhouse, 52 on permanent out-relief, and 150 relieved casually. (fn. 625) It usually exceeded £1,600 until 1822, and fluctuated until 1830 around £1,400. (fn. 626) In 1830 41 out of 169 adult labourers were employed on road-work. (fn. 627) In 1832 the rates, at 16s. in the £, were the highest in the county. Of £2,320 spent on the poor, £793 went to the aged, sick, and widows, £527 to paupers employed by the parish, and £689 on casual relief, apparently including making up wages. Only 9 people, all old or unfit, were in the workhouse in 1833, but 125 obtained out-relief, at 1s. a week over the county bread-scale. They were described as the best-fed and most comfortable and thriving paupers in Cambridgeshire, being mostly artisans earning double a farm-worker's wages, who let themselves fall on the rates in winter and intimidated the parish officers. In 1829 a vestryman's corn stacks were fired, and in 1833 two J.P.s narrowly escaped alive from a riot at Linton. (fn. 628)

In 1835 Linton became part of the Linton poorlaw union, (fn. 629) was incorporated with the Linton R.D. into the South Cambridgeshire R.D. in 1934, (fn. 630) and was included in South Cambridgeshire in 1974. In 1836, after the guardians had sold the old workhouse, a large new one was built for up to 230 people. (fn. 631) It then stood outside the village on the Cambridge road, built of brick with two courtyards. (fn. 632) By 1960 and in 1974 it was being used as an old people's home. (fn. 633)

An association with 32 members for prosecuting criminals, started at Linton in 1818, organized nightly patrols, hiring a constable for the duty in 1821, but dealt with little except occasional thefts of hay, turnips, or potatoes. (fn. 634) Linton had a resident policeman by 1841, (fn. 635) and a police station, serving the whole district, by 1861. (fn. 636) The parish council, set up in 1894, provided some services for what was becoming a small town, including in the 1890s some winter street-lighting by oil-lamps (fn. 637) and a fire-engine manned by volunteers. (fn. 638) The council also managed c. 25 a. of allotments leased since the 1870s from the Catley Park estate, (fn. 639) and c. 1906 took over the village recreation ground allotted at inclosure. (fn. 640) In 1922 it bought out the lord of the manor's residual rights there, and steadily improved it as a village sportsground. (fn. 641)

Church.

The church of Linton was given before 1163 by an earl of Richmond to the abbey of St. Jacut-de-la-Mer, (fn. 642) which had appropriated the glebe and great tithes by 1279. (fn. 643) Vicars were recorded by c. 1275. (fn. 644) In 1312 the right to appoint them was in dispute between the bishop of Ely and the prior of the abbey's cell at Linton, who claimed that his predecessor had presented under Edward I. (fn. 645) The bishop regularly collated to the vicarage from 1338, (fn. 646) and, when appropriating the rectory to Pembroke College in 1450, reserved the collation to himself and his successors. (fn. 647) The patronage still belonged to the bishop in 1972. (fn. 648)

Tithe portions belonged to certain religious houses. About 1088 Count Alan granted tithe from his lands at Barham to the abbey of St. Sergius and St. Bacchus, Angers (Maine et Loire), whose dependent priory at Swavesey was receiving 18s. a year in 1256 and 1325. (fn. 649) About 1130 Count Stephen of Richmond granted tithe at Linton to St. Mary's Abbey, York, (fn. 650) whose cell of Rumburgh (Suff.) received 3 marks in 1254 and 4 in 1291. (fn. 651) In 1302 it let the portion for £5 to the lord of Little Linton, from whose fee the tithe arose. (fn. 652) In 1553 Philip Parys, who owned the 60 a. paying the tithe, bought the portion, and Parys's heirs claimed to hold that land tithe-free. (fn. 653) Between c. 1730 and the 1770s Thomas Bacon and his heirs tried to stretch the exemption, for both great and small tithes, to cover the newly inclosed Catley park, but they failed to exclude the vicar's right to a modus of 5 guineas for small tithes. (fn. 654) When the tithes were commuted in 1839 only the original 60 a. were considered tithe-free. (fn. 655)

Of the former Barham friary lands c. 79 a. were claimed as tithe-free in 1775, and 41 a. in 1807. (fn. 656) At the commutation at least 66 a. were allowed exemption. (fn. 657) About 1475, in return for a grant of land, Pembroke College released its right to tithe from the Barham demesne woods. (fn. 658) Barham heath, never having been under the plough, was not thought liable to pay great tithes, and in 1839 only 3,200 a. out of 3, 820 a. in the parish were charged with them. (fn. 659)

The vicar had in 1279 only 1½ a. of glebe, in Barham fee, given by the Furneaux family. (fn. 660) Pembroke College gave more land in 1473, (fn. 661) so that in 1615 he had 9½ a., and c. 1730 10½ a., (fn. 662) for which 8 a., still owned by the vicar in 1972, were allotted at inclosure. (fn. 663) He had also all the small tithes, a pension of 12s. a year from Barham manor, and the tithe of 20 a. of barley and 10 a. each of wheat and oats in Barham fee. About 1470 the tithe of saffron was disputed between the college and the vicar. The college agreed in 1473 that the vicar should have tithe of the saffron grown in named closes, covering c. 5 a., and 3s. 4d. a year for tithe of saffron grown elsewhere. (fn. 664) A similar dispute followed the introduction c. 1650 of turnips and peas as field-crops. At first the vicar took tithes on them at a fixed rate, but after 1668 John Curtis, under-tenant of the rectory, obliged Thomas Punter, vicar 1663–84, who was heavily in his debt, to relinquish those tithes. In 1694 a new vicar, William Stephens, sought to recover those tithes, and in 1697 the House of Lords confirmed an Exchequer judgement that the vicar was entitled to tithe of turnips, carrots, and peas, cultivated with hoe or spade, both in closes and in common fields. (fn. 665) The vicars also faced claims to exemption from the Barham estate, to whose lords they had since 1566 let the small tithes therefrom for a rent (fn. 666) which the tenant of Barham Hall farm claimed after 1700 to be a modus. (fn. 667)

By the early 18th century the great tithes, though sometimes taken in kind, were frequently compounded for at 20d. an acre. (fn. 668) The small tithes, from the 17th century, were also mostly taken at fixed rates. In the 1760s they yielded £55–70 a year. (fn. 669) The vicar's gross receipts were increased from £120 a year c. 1800 to £175 by the 1820s. (fn. 670) The tithes were commuted in 1839, immediately after inclosure, (fn. 671) and the vicar received a tithe-rent-charge of £267 10s. (fn. 672)

The church of Linton was worth 30 marks in 1217 and £30 in 1276. (fn. 673) In 1291 the rectory was taxed at £20 and the vicarage at £5. (fn. 674) In 1535 the latter was worth £10 13s. 4d. (fn. 675) In 1650 it was thought to yield £30 a year, (fn. 676) and c. 1680 £28, without the disputed tithes. The vicar then thought the parish herdsman's place worth more than his living. (fn. 677) The net income rose from £50 a year in 1728 (fn. 678) to just over £100 in the 1760s and 1770s, (fn. 679) and to c. £120 in the early 1820s. (fn. 680) About 1830 it was given as £204 net and in 1851 as £196. (fn. 681) It had risen to £260 net by 1877. (fn. 682)

About 1280 Geoffrey, then vicar, built a small house at the east end of the high street. (fn. 683) The house was inconveniently distant from the church, and in 1473 the vicar exchanged it with Pembroke College for a messuage south of the church. (fn. 684) The new vicarage probably remained in use until the early 18th century. (fn. 685) It had only four hearths in 1664, (fn. 686) and by 1783 was reckoned a mere cottage, while the vicar lived elsewhere. (fn. 687) In 1861 the vicar received permission to demolish it. (fn. 688) There was no glebe house in 1877, (fn. 689) and a 17th-century house north of the church was bought c. 1897. (fn. 690) It was replaced by a newly built house on the vicarage close c. 1965.

In the 13th century a chapel of St. Margaret was established at Barham, and the abbot of St. Jacut held his 32 a. there in 1279 partly by service of keeping it thatched. About 1250 Michael de Furneaux endowed it with 32 a., (fn. 691) which was diverted to found the friary in 1293, (fn. 692) and the chapel was probably reserved for the friars. After the Reformation the small building was used until the late 18th century as a private chapel for Barham Hall, and eventually demolished with it. (fn. 693)

In 1308 Sir Walter Huntingfield was licensed to grant 60 a. to endow a chantry for his family in St. James's chapel, Linton. (fn. 694) It is uncertain whether it was in Linton church or at Little Linton. In 1466 Thomas Millicent and Henry Parys left money to guilds of St. Lawrence and the Trinity. (fn. 695) The latter survived until after 1523. (fn. 696) In 1507 Nicholas Wickham, then parish priest, left 10 marks to its aldermen and churchwardens as a stock to support an obit, and 2 marks towards making a new guildhall. (fn. 697) In 1508 Pembroke College leased out a plot of rectory land by the causeway running north-west from the church as a site for the hall, which was nearly completed in 1523. (fn. 698) Since it stood on leasehold ground it escaped confiscation when the guilds were suppressed, and was later converted to parish uses. (fn. 699) The building, which survived in 1974, is timber-framed, with a jettied upper storey on two sides and an original arched doorway with carved spandrels on the south. Inside are some original moulded ceiling beams. A guild of Our Lady was recorded in 1484. (fn. 700)

The medieval vicars usually resided, but especially in the late 14th century resigned the cure for others at frequent intervals. (fn. 701) One vicar fled the parish in 1437, pursued by charges of assault, robbery, rape, and attempted murder. (fn. 702) The vicars had usually one or more priests to assist them. (fn. 703) The first known pluralist vicar, James Hutton, D.C.L., vicar 1487– 90, was chancellor and official to his patron the bishop of Ely. (fn. 704) His successor, Ralph Heton, 1490– 1532, also held Duxford St. Peter and in the 1520s left Linton to his curates. (fn. 705) Some of the most valuable church plate, including a 5–lb. silver cross and silver censers, was sold shortly before the royal commissioners' visit in 1552. (fn. 706) Edward Lockton, vicar from c. 1546, was deprived for marriage in 1554 but restored by 1561 when he was living on a Somerset benefice. (fn. 707)

By the early 17th century Linton was coming under strong puritan influence. Thomas Newcomen, vicar 1582–8, a Crown nominee, rejected the Prayer Book and refused to wear his clerical headgear. (fn. 708) In 1605 Thomas Carmbrooke, then vicar, was presented for giving communion to the sick at home, (fn. 709) and by the 1630s there was a vigorous puritan party, which by 1635 had imported a Scottish schoolmaster. (fn. 710) Its members chafed at Carmbrooke's acceptance of Bishop Wren's 'superstitious' innovations and at his bringing Laudian fellows from Pembroke College to preach. In 1641 that party started a lecture at the weekly Thursday markets, and when Carmbrooke died in 1642 they petitioned for Parliament to empower them to elect 'a godly preaching minister'. Wren, however, had granted the patronage for the next turn to Pembroke College, which shortly presented a fellow, Roger Ashton. He obstructed the Thursday lectures, substituting Laudian preachers, and being himself non-resident appointed a likeminded curate. (fn. 711) Ashton fled in 1643. The living was sequestrated in 1644, and given to a succession of puritan ministers. (fn. 712) By 1649 it was held by Thomas Punter, who, although expelled from his Hadstock curacy in 1644, (fn. 713) was styled an 'orthodox and godly divine' in 1650 and had links with the Cambridge presbytery in 1658. (fn. 714) Two High-Church vicars were successively nominated in 1661–2, (fn. 715) but by 1663 Punter had conformed and was formally reinstated, retaining Linton until his death in 1684. (fn. 716)

William Stephens, vicar 1694–1720, also held Hadstock from 1696. (fn. 717) His successor, John Bernard, was resident, in lodgings, in 1728, holding two services on Sundays and on fast-and feast-days, and claiming that c. 40 people attended communions held every other month. (fn. 718) Later the vicarage was held by Edmund Fisher (d. 1819) from 1789 to 1800 and his son Edmund (d. 1851) from 1800 to 1844. (fn. 719) The younger Fisher had started a Sunday school by 1807, preached every Sunday, and raised the number of communicants to over 60. (fn. 720) In 1836 he held communion seven times a year. (fn. 721) In 1851 up to 550 people, besides 130 Sunday-school pupils, attended Sunday afternoon services. (fn. 722) In 1877 the vicar held two or three services, besides communions, every Sunday, and claimed up to 50 communicants weekly. (fn. 723) In 1897 the vicar employed district visitors to serve his growing congregation, which he reckoned at 1,200 church people, including 240 communicants. Besides three Sunday services he held others on weekdays. (fn. 724) He also held services in the workhouse chapel, to which the vicars had acted as chaplains for many years. (fn. 725) In the 1890s the church choir numbered 20, (fn. 726) and 40 or more in the 1960s. (fn. 727) By 1959 the congregation had declined to c. 11, but was revived by an energetic High-Church vicar. (fn. 728)

The church of ST. MARY, so called in 1486, (fn. 729) is built of flint with ashlar dressings, and consists of a chancel with north vestry and north and south chapels, an aisled and clerestoried nave with north and south porches, and a west tower. (fn. 730) The earliest part of the surviving structure is the six-bay south arcade of c. 1200 with alternate circular and octagonal piers and pointed arches. Its clerestory, reopened in the 19th century, has alternate circular and quatrefoil windows. The chancel was rebuilt in the late 13th century and the north aisle of three bays added probably soon after 1300. Later in the 14th century the two eastern bays of the south arcade were combined into a single wide opening, matching the first bay of the north arcade, (fn. 731) and providing access to a transeptal chapel, and the chancel arch was rebuilt. The three-stage west tower was built at about that time; it lies partly within the western bay of the nave. The south chapel was probably built in the early 15th century, Nicholas Parys being buried there in 1425, (fn. 732) and the north chapel in the late 15th century. St. Lawrence's guild was enlarging the church to the north c. 1466. (fn. 733) Perhaps c. 1500 the aisles were rebuilt, and the nave walls were raised to support a low-pitched roof above a new clerestory, which was probably glazed in the early 16th century: it once contained armorial glass recalling the service of William Parys (d. 1520) to the archbishops of Canterbury. (fn. 734) The north and south porches, the vestry, and most of the lower windows are also of that period.

In 1644 William Dowsing destroyed the altar-rails and three crosses, defaced inscriptions, and broke some 80 windows. (fn. 735) The church needed much glazing under Charles II, (fn. 736) and what little medieval glass, mostly armorial, survived in 1742 (fn. 737) later disappeared. About 1660 the interior was whitewashed and the piers marbled in black. (fn. 738) In the great storm of 1703 the spire of unknown date was blown down through the roof. Repairs were completed in 1705, (fn. 739) and the steeple was raised 10 ft. in 1797. (fn. 740) A singing gallery had been erected at the west end by 1742, (fn. 741) and further galleries were added in 1790 and 1831. (fn. 742) In 1870–1 the vicar, E. W. Wilkinson, swept away pews, galleries, and pulpit, and replaced the wide arch in the south arcade with two intended to match the earlier arches further west. (fn. 743) About 1879 Pembroke College repaired the chancel and north chapel. (fn. 744) The church was restored between 1887 and 1891, and again repaired in 1910. (fn. 745) The south chapel, latterly used for storage, was repaired and rededicated in 1964. (fn. 746)

On the chancel north wall are fragments of a former Jacobean screen, inserted after 1600, which once bore Bishop Heton's arms. (fn. 747) The south chapel, the Parys family's burial place, once contained, besides the brass for Nicholas Parys of an armoured man, which survived without its inscription in 1974, more than ten monuments of 1504–1673 to members of the Parys family. (fn. 748) The Millicents took over the north chapel, perhaps remodelling it, for the north doorway bore the date 1587. (fn. 749) Against the east wall is a large monument, with effigies, to John Millicent (d. 1686), his wife Alice (d. 1699), and his mother Douglas (d. 1655). Below was a brass to John Millicent (d. 1577). (fn. 750) The Millicents had their family pew in the chapel and objected when in 1702 the arch to the chancel was filled with a brick wall bearing a tablet to John Lone, lessee of the rectory, having a provocative epitaph; the wall was later demolished. (fn. 751) The two chapels remained attached respectively to the Catley and Barham estates, which were responsible for repairing them in 1783 and 1836. (fn. 752) Monuments in the chancel included mural ones to Robert Flack (d. 1705) and several of his children. (fn. 753) The large monument to Elizabeth (d. 1726) wife of Thomas Bacon, with an urn and obelisk between life-size statues of Hope and Faith, was carved by Joseph Wilton in 1782 under a bequest from her half-brother Peter Standly (d. 1780), whose bust appears on the obelisk, and who had left £1,000 for making it. (fn. 754)

A John Millicent left money to buy an organ in 1511, (fn. 755) but after the Reformation there was none until one was placed in the west gallery in 1847. (fn. 756) In 1552 there were four bells. (fn. 757) In 1557 two new ones were made. (fn. 758) The later set of five (fn. 759) comprised two by John Draper, dated 1617 and 1630, two by Miles and Christopher Gray, dated 1664 and 1665, and one of 1754 by Thomas Lester and Thomas Peck of London. (fn. 760) A small medieval bell was used between 1810 and 1900 as a clock bell in the tower, (fn. 761) where there had been a clock since 1610. (fn. 762)

There were three chalices c. 1350. (fn. 763) The parishioners succeeded in retaining both their silver-gilt chalices in 1552, (fn. 764) but by 1610 had replaced them with a silver cup and cover. (fn. 765) In 1791 Mrs. Lonsdale gave a flagon, cup and paten, and two almsdishes, all of silver, (fn. 766) which the church still possessed c. 1960.

The older part of the churchyard was ordered to be closed in 1882, (fn. 767) but part remained in use (fn. 768) until a new cemetery, managed by the parish council, was opened in 1905. (fn. 769) The parish registers begin in 1559 and are virtually complete. (fn. 770)

Roman Catholicism.

The descendants of Sir Philip Parys, who had assisted in and profited from the Dissolution (fn. 771) but in 1558 left £10 a year for masses, (fn. 772) became recusants, and formed a small nucleus for Catholicism at Linton. Ferdinand Parys's wife Frances and her daughter Elizabeth were regularly presented for recusancy from the 1590s, (fn. 773) when Richard Carlton, gentleman, and two other Linton men were fined for recusancy. (fn. 774) After Philip Parys's death in 1617 the family normally lived in Norfolk, and only one papist was recorded at Linton in 1676. (fn. 775) By 1973 a small congregation of Catholics, usually worshipping at the village college, had its own priest-in-charge. (fn. 776)

Protestant Nonconformity.

In 1662 6 men and 11 women refused to go to church, (fn. 777) and 17 people were presented for absence from church in 1675, 24 in 1678. (fn. 778) In 1676 there were 78 nonconformists compared with 428 conformists. (fn. 779) At first Quakers were most prominent, and by 1669 30 people, mostly women, were attending weekly meetings conducted by John Harvey, a Quaker grocer. (fn. 780) About 1672 there were six Quaker families, (fn. 781) and by 1690 they had a burial ground. (fn. 782) In 1706 a grocer was licensed to teach at a Quaker meeting-house. (fn. 783) There were 15 Quakers in 1728 but they seldom assembled, (fn. 784) and the sect had disappeared by the 1780s. Their meeting-house had been sold by 1793, and was demolished in 1921. (fn. 785)

By the 1690s there were also many Independents, mostly poor, who had their own minister and met every other Sunday. (fn. 786) A barn was licensed for their worship c. 1690, (fn. 787) and a chapel built in 1698 off Horn Lane west of the river. Inside, a large pulpit faced a singers' gallery over the door, and two other galleries were built in 1703–4. The congregation, including people from other parishes, numbered 83 adults in 1703, 147 in 1728. (fn. 788) In the mid 18th century there were c. 60 members. There were five ministers between 1698 and 1783, three of whom had eventually to remove elsewhere following disagreements with the congregation. About 1783 there were 27 dissenting families in Linton itself, who sometimes attended the parish church when their minister was absent. (fn. 789)

After 1783 the congregation had several temporary ministers, who nearly led it into Socinianism. In the 1790s there was a sharp division over a new minister. Attendance declined to c. 100 and there were only 17 full members, including 7 active ones from Linton itself, by 1797 when the larger faction called to be minister Thomas Hopkins, whose energy revived the chapel. In 1799 he started a Sunday school. He set up out-stations in neighbouring parishes, and induced the congregation to admit to communion all protestants professing Trinitarianism. The congregation was then divided into an inner circle of full members, of whom 140 were admitted during Hopkins's ministry, 1798–1839, and a larger group of subscribers, who attended services and shared in electing the minister and managing finances, but not in the chapel's discipline. In 1817 the old meeting-house was pulled down, and a new one on the same site was opened in 1818. An organ was installed in 1827. There were 46 full members in 1820, 74 in 1841, and 94 in 1848. In 1851 attendance averaged 280–350, besides 50 Sunday-school pupils. (fn. 790) By 1850 the chapel owned a manse near the Red Lion. Membership declined again to 74 by 1857 and 50 by 1879, but after the chapel had joined the Congregational Union in 1881 it recovered by 1905 to 105. In 1897 there were c. 300 dissenters in the parish. Thereafter membership fell steadily to 89 in 1935 and 44 in 1967. (fn. 791) By 1972 the chapel was affiliated to the United Reformed Church. (fn. 792) William Davey by will proved 1887 left £100, the interest to help repair the chapel. (fn. 793)

About 1840 the Primitive Methodists from Saffron Walden established a preaching station at Linton. In 1851 180 to 220 people were said to attend afternoon and evening services. (fn. 794) The Saffron Walden minister registered a building in Market Lane for their worship in 1852, and a Linton tailor registered another in 1853 and a third in the High Street, called the Zion chapel, in 1870. (fn. 795) The sect was still active in 1883, but by 1888 that chapel had been taken over as a hall by the Salvation Army, (fn. 796) which was still working at Linton in the 1970s. (fn. 797)

Education.

John Lord, curate of Hildersham (fn. 798) (d. c. 1556), left £100 to Sir Philip Parys to establish a school at Linton. By his will of 1558 Parys directed that £10 a year be paid for 10 years to teach Linton children singing and simple grammar. (fn. 799) Linton from the 1570s to the 1630s had usually a resident schoolmaster, often a graduate, (fn. 800) and by 1600 a school-house stood in the north-west corner of the churchyard. (fn. 801) The churchwardens were maintaining it c. 1625. (fn. 802) The vicar was licensed to keep a school in 1696, (fn. 803) and a charity school had 20 pupils in 1724. (fn. 804) No parish school was recorded in the late 18th century, (fn. 805) but there were several private ones. The antiquary William Cole attended one kept by a dissenter in the 1720s. (fn. 806) Private boarding-schools flourished at Linton from the late 18th century to the mid 19th. One, transferred from Westley Waterless, was opened at the former Bull inn in 1777. Its pupils were taught languages, mathematics, surveying, and accounting. (fn. 807) In 1799 the school had 40 boarders and was called the Linton Academy, (fn. 808) and it continued until after 1814. (fn. 809) A rival boardingschool, started in 1804, lasted at least until 1813. (fn. 810) In the 1840s a similar school, called the Collegiate Academy, was kept in Horn Lane. It had 32 boarders in 1851, (fn. 811) and had closed by 1861. (fn. 812) A girls' boarding-school was kept at Linton from 1871 to 1896. (fn. 813)

For the poorer classes there were in 1818 6 or 8 dame-schools, which had c. 205 pupils, and the church and chapel Sunday schools, started by 1807 and in 1799, each with c. 60. (fn. 814) In 1833 the church Sunday school had c. 80 pupils, the dissenters c. 150, and in 15 day-schools, 14 opened since 1818, c. 240 children whose parents could pay for them were taught. (fn. 815) A National school was started in 1840. The lord of the manor gave the site, with a barn to be converted for the girls' schoolroom; a brick schoolroom for the boys, with a master's house, was built next to the barn. The school was supported by subscriptions and school-pence, and taught by a master and mistress, often husband and wife. In 1846 there were c. 80 pupils. (fn. 816) In 1851 there was said to be a British school with 130 pupils, later perhaps merged with the chapel Sunday school. (fn. 817)

Average attendance at the National school rose from 138 in 1851 (fn. 818) to c. 250 between 1876 and 1893 and almost 300 by 1900. By 1877 it was divided into a mixed school for c. 200 children and an infants' department under the mistress with c. 120. (fn. 819) A night-school was started c. 1875, but attendance soon fell from 94 to 23. (fn. 820) The old National schoolhouse in Horn Lane, already twice enlarged, was rebuilt in 1896. (fn. 821) Attendance in both departments gradually declined until 1927, but by 1936 had risen again to 192. (fn. 822) After Linton village college was opened in 1931 the older children went there and the Church of England school became a junior mixed and infants' school with c. 100 children. (fn. 823) In 1960 there were c. 200. (fn. 824) In 1971 the county council decided to open a new primary school in the Hadstock road for children between 7 and 11, leaving the old buildings for the under-sevens. (fn. 825)

Charities for the Poor.

William Millicent by will proved 1528 provided that within 3 years an alms-house should be built for four poor men and women upon a plot belonging to the Trinity guild just west of its guildhall. The rent of a granary to be built over the dwellings was to pay for their repair. The alms-folk were to be ejected if not contented. The management was to be shared with his heirs, (fn. 826) and the alms-house was reckoned a family foundation. His son Thomas (d. 1549) left it 33s. 4d. for 20 years, (fn. 827) and in 1561 Thomas's son John (d. 1577) took a 99-year lease from Pembroke College at a nominal rent of the two cottages used as alms-houses for two poor men and their wives. (fn. 828) When in 1697 the college let the plot to John Lone it gave him leave to remove and re-erect the almshouses, (fn. 829) but they were apparently not demolished until 1794. (fn. 830)

William Thurgood by will dated 1551 left a £1 rent-charge for the poor. It was duly distributed until 1598 when the partition of the lands charged made it difficult to collect the money. In 1620 a commission of inquiry settled what proportion should be charged on each fraction of land, (fn. 831) and the amounts due were re-assessed six times between 1637 and 1803. In 1697 the parish agreed that the money should be distributed in bread every Sunday. (fn. 832) By 1783 the £1 was saved up and distributed every 6 or 7 years. (fn. 833) Because of the difficulty of tracing ownership collection was abandoned in 1831. (fn. 834)

Stephen Fulwell, a Linton-born London grocer, by will proved 1590 left £10 as a stock for the poor, which was received in 1618 and used as a loan charity. (fn. 835) Record of it has not been found after the 17th century.

Elizabeth Harrison (d. c. 1800) left £100, paid by 1809, the interest to be distributed to the poor. The income, £6 c. 1815, was being given in bread in 1837, in proportion to the size of the recipients' families. (fn. 836) In 1924 124 loaves were given out. By the 1940s the poor were reluctant to collect their loaves publicly; credit was given at a baker's instead, but since few claimants came forward distribution lapsed. Later the money was distributed in kind in other ways. In 1961 the charity income was £2 10s. (fn. 837)

Sarah Jane Butt by will proved 1924 left £70 a year in reversion, which bequest took full effect in 1961, to buy coal for the poor of Linton. The income, £40 a year from 1924, £70 from 1961, was used to buy coal in 1964. (fn. 838)

J. Brinckmann left £500 c. 1918 to the parish council for coal and other goods for the poor. Distribution had begun by 1922. (fn. 839) The parish council presumably retained the endowment in 1974.