Parishes: Ickleton

ICKLETON

Ickleton, most southerly parish in Whittlesford hundred, lies on the west bank of the river Cam or Granta, 11 miles south of Cambridge. (fn. 1) The southern branch of the pre-Roman Icknield Way ran through the parish, and the village evolved close to the point at which the road crossed the river. The parish is roughly rectangular, and extends westwards from the river, which forms most of its eastern boundary, for 2 miles. Its northern and southern sides follow field boundaries, and the western boundary lies on the course of a disused road from Cambridge via Thriplow to Elmdon (Essex), extant in the 18th century. (fn. 2) The western, southern, and most of the eastern boundaries of Ickleton form part of the county boundary, marked by a procession balk in 1545. (fn. 3) The parish covered an area of 2,700 a. from 1886, when 61 a. were transferred to Hinxton. (fn. 4) In 1965 2 ha. from Chrishall (Essex) and 9 ha. from Great Chesterford (Essex) were transferred to Ickleton, which covered 1,080 ha. (2,669 a.) in 1971. (fn. 5)

The land, low-lying and fairly flat by the river, slopes gently to c. 250 ft. in the west. A stream runs from west to east down the middle of the parish, eventually joining the river; north and south of it the land rises more steeply to hills of c. 330 ft., the parish boundaries lying along the crests. In the south-east corner of the parish by the road from Strethall a massive series of terraced banks lies along the western side of Coploe Hill. Several small late-19th-century plantations are the only woodland in the parish, which is otherwise open and has probably been so since prehistoric times. (fn. 6) Ickleton lies on the Middle Chalk, and the soil on the hills to north and south is thin, dry, and chalky. A chalk-pit on Coploe Hill, open by 1542, has since 1957 been protected as a nature reserve. (fn. 7) Towards the centre of the parish the ground becomes wetter and heavier, and by the river is damp and unsuitable for tillage. (fn. 8)

The area north of the village was sometimes called Clay field, and in 1738 the lord of the manor's tenants were said to have the right to dig clay from the lord's claypits to repair copyhold tenements. (fn. 9) Sheep have been kept successfully on the chalkland and cattle fattened in the valley, but the farming of the parish has been mainly arable. There were three open fields until 1810 when the parish was inclosed.

The conjunction of the Icknield Way and the river has encouraged settlement at Ickleton since early times, the evidence including a Neolithic axe-head, a barrow close to the probable course of the Icknield Way, (fn. 10) a Bronze Age spear-head, gold bracelet, and torque, (fn. 11) the banks on Coploe Hill, which may represent Bronze Age agriculture, (fn. 12) a Roman building west of the Great Chesterford road, (fn. 13) built after a.d. 117 and probably a villa or farm-house associated with Great Chesterford, (fn. 14) and possibly re-used Roman material in the arcade of Ickleton parish church. (fn. 15)

The village existed in its own right in Saxon times, when it received its present name meaning Icel's farm, (fn. 16) and by 1086 there were 43 tenants in the parish. (fn. 17) Their numbers had risen sharply to c. 115 by 1279. (fn. 18) Eighty-six people were assessed to the subsidy in 1524, (fn. 19) showing a decline since the 13th century, and 68 households were counted in 1563, when it was the largest village of the five in the hundred. (fn. 20) The numbers of houses varied between 65 in 1662 and 98 in 1666. (fn. 21) There were 251 adults in the parish in 1676. (fn. 22) The late 17th century and the 18th saw renewed growth, and in 1707 Ickleton was a large village with more than 120 families, many of them poor. (fn. 23) In 1801 it was again the most populous village in the hundred, with 121 families comprising 493 people. Population grew steadily to a peak of 813 in 1851, remaining entirely dependent on agriculture. (fn. 24) The resulting poverty drove young men to emigrate, and many settled in Queensland, encouraged by the lord of the manor, Sir Robert Herbert, the colony's first premier. (fn. 25) After 1851 the population fell gradually to 598 in 1911, and 543 in 1921, after which there was for a time a slow increase. In 1971, however, there were 526 inhabitants. (fn. 26)

Two roads cross the river from the east into Ickleton, both part of the parallel series of tracks which once formed the Icknield Way. (fn. 27) The northern route crosses from Hinxton, and runs only a short distance before turning south to the east end of the village. The road formerly ran west to the Duxford road, and continued across the parish before turning north-west to meet the surviving stretch of the Icknield Way at the north-west corner of the parish. West of the Duxford road this route was known as Delway, and formed the boundary between Hill and Middle fields. (fn. 28)

The other river-crossing with its road, c. 700 yd. further south, has been the more important. The church was built close to it c. 1100, and the section of the road between the church and the DuxfordStrethall road forms the main village street. Coming from Stump Cross, the road crossed the main western branch of the river by a bridge, which had been replaced by a ford and footbridge by 1867. (fn. 29) The construction of the railway line across the road in 1845 cut off the route to the east, in spite of a levelcrossing, and the section east of the railway was an overgrown track in 1972. West of the village the road was called Royston way and ran slightly north of the present east-west road across the parish, turning north-west to join the Thriplow-Elmdon road. Traces of that road or Delway were visible in the late 18th century. (fn. 30) Ickleton Old Grange was built by the last stretch of Royston way, and the road's subsequent change of direction explains the angle of the Grange to the present road. (fn. 31) Three roads run south from the parish: one to Elmdon, one to Strethall, known as Portway (fn. 32) (later Coploe Road), and one from the east end of the village by the river to Great Chesterford.

The area north of the village and close to the northern east-west road was known as Brookhampton; the surviving part of the road is called Brookhampton Street, the bridge was Brookhampton Bridge, Brookhampton closes lay north of the stream, and the road running west was called the highway from Brookhampton. (fn. 33) The application of the name suggests that a separate settlement may once have existed there, although no documentary evidence of such a settlement has been found.

The settlement of Ickleton began near the river, and extended north, south, east, and west along the four streets. The road from the river was called the fulling-mill street (later Mill Lane) by 1432, (fn. 34) and Brookhampton Street was so called by 1528. (fn. 35) The south street (later Paddock Street, afterwards Frog Street) was mentioned in 1335, (fn. 36) and the west street (later Abbey Street) in 1518. (fn. 37) The name Green Street was applied to the road south of the church by the village green in 1431–2; (fn. 38) the road north of the church, however, was not named as Hill Street (later Butcher's Hill) until the 18th century, and may not have been in early use. (fn. 39)

The parish was dominated in the later Middle Ages by Ickleton priory, founded in the mid 12th century. In spite of the prioress's close control of village life and the smallness of the population in the 15th and 16th centuries Ickleton was prosperous, and five of its inhabitants were required to contribute to the loan of 1522. (fn. 40) James Russell, an early15th-century tax-commissioner for the county, lived at Ickleton, (fn. 41) and Joan, widow of Sir Baldwin St. George, settled there in the 1430s. (fn. 42) A smith and a husbandman of Ickleton were both trading with Londoners in the later 15th century, (fn. 43) and the parish was on the edge of the north Essex clothproducing area. (fn. 44) Several of the larger medieval houses survive: parts of Hovells, Norman Hall, Frog Hall, the Mowbrays, and several cottages contain 15th-century work. Most are timber-framed and plastered, and some are decorated with pargetting.

The wealthiest residents of the village in the 16th and 17th centuries were farmers, and most of the buildings surviving from that period are farm-houses or cottages. There were many middling but no large houses at Ickleton in the later 17th century, and in 1674 3 houses were taxed on 5 hearths and 11 on 4 hearths. (fn. 45) Durhams farm-house dates from the 16th century, and Priory Farm was built in the 17th. The Grange (later the Old Grange), the only pre-inclosure house away from the village, had been built by 1685, Brookhampton Hall was a farm-house of the late 17th or early 18th century, and in the late 17th century Abbey Farm replaced the decaying buildings of Ickleton priory. From the later 18th century the village had resident lords of the manor, and Caldrees Manor, enlarged from a 17th-century farmhouse, became the largest house.

Several cottages, small houses, and out-buildings in Abbey Street were destroyed by a fire in 1789, but they were quickly rebuilt, (fn. 46) and the building of small houses continued throughout the 19th century to house the expanding population. The amenities of the village gradually improved, with the opening of the two nonconformist chapels in 1842 and 1852, of the school in 1871, and of a reading room in a barn behind Brookhampton Hall by 1886. (fn. 47) Most of the building outside the village also dates from the 19th century; Rectory farmstead, with two cottages, was built between 1818 and 1825, and Vallance Farm and a lodge of two cottages in 1824. A block of 6 cottages west of Coploe Road had been put up by 1886, (fn. 48) and the New Grange close to the Old Grange dates from the 1890s. Piecemeal infilling has taken place in the 20th century, but the area of the village has not increased. Mr. and Mrs. G. W. H. Bowen in 1927 built the Gertrude Homes in Frog Street, and in 1937 a large red-brick house in Brookhampton Street known as the Place. Nine pairs of semi-detached council houses were built around Birds Close, east of Coploe Road, in 1929 and 1948–54. (fn. 49) The hillside north of the churchyard was filled for the first time in 1965, when four new houses were built there. A few old cottages in Abbey Street have also been replaced by new houses, but most of the older buildings have been carefully preserved, and Ickleton won the competition for the best-kept village in Cambridgeshire in 1964. (fn. 50)

In the 16th century there was an inn perhaps called the Rose, (fn. 51) and a messuage called the Bell was mentioned in 1592. (fn. 52) A house called the White Lion, south of the village green and burned down shortly before 1699, (fn. 53) was succeeded on the same site by the Chequer, mentioned in 1778, (fn. 54) and then by the Duke of Wellington, open under that name by 1847, which closed c. 1957 and became a private house. (fn. 55) The Lion in Abbey Street in 1728 (fn. 56) was perhaps the Red Lion, used as an inn by 1800 and still open in 1972. (fn. 57) The other public house then open was the New Inn, in Brookhampton Street, mentioned in 1884. (fn. 58) The Greyhound, a public house at the south-east tip of Ickleton parish on the outskirts of Great Chesterford, was open by 1851 and survived in 1972. (fn. 59)

The main railway line from London to Cambridge, constructed in 1845, runs along the eastern edge of the parish by the river. (fn. 60) A cottage was built in Mill Lane for the level-crossing gate-keeper; the crossing was closed in 1969. (fn. 61)

Ickleton priory was attacked at least twice at times of strong popular anti-clerical feeling. Landholders and their tenants dispossessed after the battle of Evesham attacked the priory c. 1266, (fn. 62) and in 1381, during the Peasants' Revolt, James Hog forced his way into the house and burnt its muniments. (fn. 63) In 1309 a band of local men assaulted the servants of Pain de Tiptoft at Ickleton and carried away his goods. (fn. 64)

Manors and Other Estates.

One hide at Ickleton was devised in the late 10th or early 11th century by Elfhelm of Wratting, a thegn of King Edgar, to his kinsman Elfhelm. (fn. 65) That hide was probably merged by 1066 in the large manor, comprising 19½ of the 20 hides in Ickleton, held from King Edward by Alsi Squitrebil. The remaining ½ hide in Ickleton, held T.R.E. by Estred from Earl Alfgar, was given after the Conquest to Hardwin de Scalers, from whom it was held by Durand. That small estate has not been traced further and was probably absorbed in the main manor. (fn. 66)

Ickleton was given by William I with many other lands to Eustace, count of Boulogne, after their reconciliation following Eustace's treason in 1067. By 1082 Eustace had been succeeded by his son of the same name, who in 1086 held 19½ hides in Ickleton, (fn. 67) and the land thereafter formed part of the honor of Boulogne. Eustace's daughter Maud married King Stephen, who controlled the honor until her death in 1152. (fn. 68) In 1141 the king gave Ickleton to Geoffrey de Mandeville, (fn. 69) but presumably resumed it after Geoffrey's downfall in 1143. About 1150 Stephen and Maud gave the manor to Eufeme, second wife of Aubrey, earl of Oxford, on her marriage. About 1153 she gave £5 worth of land there to Colne priory (Essex), and died without issue soon after, (fn. 70) whereon the rest presumably reverted to the honor of Boulogne. After the death of Stephen's son Count William in 1159 Henry II took possession of the honor. The demesne in Ickleton was later divided, being partly held in feefarm. (fn. 71) By c. 1183 the largest portion of Ickleton was held by Roger de Lucy, (fn. 72) who was named as tenant, probably in error, in 1217. (fn. 73) He may have been the predecessor of Richard de Lucy, who succeeded to land in Cambridgeshire c. 1200 and in 1212 held 1 knight's fee there of the honor of Boulogne. (fn. 74) Richard's father Reynold (d. 1199) was a kinsman of the justiciar Richard de Lucy, (fn. 75) and the tenure may well have been connected with King Stephen's grants to the justiciar of lands from the honor of Boulogne. (fn. 76) Richard's descendants remained mesne lords of the honor's estates in Ickleton until the mid 14th century. Richard died in 1213; (fn. 77) his widow Ada married Thomas de Multon, lord of Egremont (Cumb.), and Richard's two daughters married Thomas's two sons by a former marriage. (fn. 78) The elder daughter, Amabel, married Lambert de Multon (d. 1246), and their son and heir, Thomas de Multon, was mesne lord of the Ickleton lands of the honor of Boulogne in 1279. (fn. 79) Thomas was succeeded in 1294 by his grandson Thomas de Multon (d. 1322), (fn. 80) whose son John died without issue in 1334. His large estates included ½ knight's fee at Ickleton, which was given to his widow Alice in dower. (fn. 81) John's three sisters succeeded to his lands; Ickleton passed to the youngest, Margaret, who had married Thomas de Lucy, the great-grandson of Richard de Lucy's younger daughter Alice, whose descendants had taken the name of Lucy. (fn. 82) Thomas died in 1365; his son Anthony de Lucy, lord of Ickleton in 1367, (fn. 83) died in 1368 without male heirs. (fn. 84) No reference to the mesne lordship after that date has been found. By the early 13th century the Lucys had given part of their land to religious houses and had subinfeudated the rest.

Ickleton priory was founded in the mid 12th century for Benedictine nuns, probably by a member of the Valognes family. (fn. 85) The estate which it held at Ickleton by the 1180s was possibly derived in part by exchange or otherwise from that of Colne priory, for in 1279 it was apparently said to have been given by a count of Boulogne and his wife Eufeme. (fn. 86) PRIORY or NUNS manor, which produced most of the priory's income in 1535, (fn. 87) comprised 714 a. in 1536, (fn. 88) and was known as the chief manor of Ickleton, being the largest single estate in the parish. (fn. 89) The priory was dissolved in 1536, and the Crown granted its manor to the bishop of Ely in 1538, together with the Ickleton lands of the dissolved abbeys of West Dereham, Calder, and Tilty, in exchange for the manor of Hatfield (Herts.). (fn. 90)

Hamon Walter, whose mother was of the Valognes family, held an estate in Ickleton which his brothers Hubert Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, and Tibbald had by 1199 granted to the Premonstratensian abbey of West Dereham (Norf.), founded by Hubert in 1188. (fn. 91) The estate, later called DURHAMS manor, was assessed at 1 hide, c. 1235. (fn. 92) In 1279 the abbey held c. 52 a. mostly of Robert son of Reynold the knight, and possibly 68 a. of Ickleton priory. (fn. 93)

The Cistercian abbey of Calder (Cumb.) received lands in Ickleton before 1213 from Richard de Lucy, from whose successors they were held as ¼ knight's fee. In 1231 Henry III confirmed to the abbey land in Ickleton and Brookhampton and part of a mill in Brookhampton given by Roger son of William, and half a mill in Ickleton given by Richard de Lucy. (fn. 94) The abbey's lands in the parish, known as CALDREES manor, were held in 1279 from Thomas de Multon as of the honor of Boulogne, and the abbot owed suit of court twice a year for them at St. Martin's-le-Grand, London. (fn. 95)

By 1183 Ralph Brito (d. by 1194) held land at Ickleton of the honor of Boulogne. (fn. 96) The daughter of his successor Thomas Brito, tenant c. 1218, was given in marriage to Robert Hovel, who held the estate by 1221 and to whom William Brito, presumably Thomas's heir male, released a carucate at Ickleton in 1222. (fn. 97) Probably by 1251 the estate had been given to the Cistercian abbey of Tilty (Essex), to which Ralph Hovel confirmed 140 a. in 1253. (fn. 98) The abbey's manor, known as HOVELLS, covered c. 190 a. in 1279, and was mostly held from Robert Hovel who held of the honor of Boulogne. (fn. 99)

The manors of Priory, Durhams, Caldrees, and Hovells descended together from 1538, although they retained their distinct names and lands. Bishop Goodrich granted the reversion of a Crown lease of the Priory manor to his kinsman Thomas Goodrich, and after a series of assignments the lease came into the hands of John Wood of Hinxton. (fn. 100) Wood (d. 1590) and his brother Edward of Fulbourn (d. 1599) (fn. 101) both had an interest in the lands in the 1580s and 1590s. (fn. 102) Edward was succeeded by his son John. (fn. 103) In 1600 Bishop Heton on his appointment to the see surrendered the four episcopal manors at Ickleton to the Crown, (fn. 104) and John Wood bought the manors two years later. (fn. 105)

Wood sold the whole estate in 1623 to William Holgate, a member of the corporation of Saffron Walden, and his son Edmund (fn. 106) (d. 1626). William settled the manors in 1628 on his youngest son John Holgate, a lawyer of Saffron Walden, who held them until his death in 1673. John's heir, his grandson John Holgate, had by 1700 been succeeded by his younger brother William. On William's death in 1717 the manors passed to his son John (d. 1738), a London druggist, (fn. 107) who had by 1719 conveyed them to Henry O'Brien, earl of Thomond. (fn. 108)

The earl died childless in 1741, and his estates were inherited by Percy Wyndham, son of his wife's sister Catherine. Wyndham, who attained his majority c. 1744, had assumed the name O'Brien in 1741, and was created earl of Thomond in 1756. (fn. 109) He was an M.P. 1745–74, lord of the Treasury 1755–6, and treasurer and cofferer of the Household 1757–65. (fn. 110) When he died unmarried in 1774 his estate at Ickleton passed first to his nephew George O'Brien, earl of Egremont, and then by gift before 1784 to George's younger brother, Percy Charles Wyndham. (fn. 111) Wyndham too was an M.P. 1782–4 and 1790–6, (fn. 112) and he converted and took up residence at Caldrees Manor in Ickleton. (fn. 113) On his death in 1833 the manors passed to his nephew Algernon Herbert, son of the earl of Carnarvon, author of works on folklore and history. (fn. 114) His widow Marianne held the estate from 1855 until her death in 1870, and was succeeded by their only son, Sir Robert George Wyndham Herbert (kt. 1882). (fn. 115) Sir Robert, whose childhood was spent at Ickleton, was colonial secretary and the first premier of Queensland, Australia, 1859–66, and permanent under-secretary of state for the colonies, 1871–92. (fn. 116) He died unmarried at Ickleton in 1905, and was apparently succeeded as lord of the manors by George Frederick Herbert, a grandson of his uncle William Herbert, dean of Manchester. (fn. 117) By 1909 the lady of the manor was G. F. Herbert's sister, Beatrice Mary Herbert (d. 1948). Percy Charles Dryden Mundy, a greatgrandson of William Herbert, held the manors from that year until his death in 1959. (fn. 118)

Although the lordships of Priory, Durhams, Caldrees, and Hovells manors descended together from 1538, the lands belonging to them were soon divided. The site of the priory, known as Abbey Farm, was leased with c. 400 a. from 1644, (fn. 119) and in 1804 the tenant farmed 447 a. (fn. 120) Before 1776 the farm was owned by William Parker, whose nephew William Parker Hamond claimed 380 a. and received 261½ a. at inclosure for that and another farm. (fn. 121) Hamond and his heirs remained in possession until in 1893 Lt.-Col. R. T. Hamond of Pampisford Hall sold Abbey farm with 388 a. (fn. 122) It was farmed from 1892 until 1933, and owned by 1900, by James Welch. (fn. 123)

The priory and its farm-buildings, once extensive, gradually collapsed through fire, demolition, and neglect. (fn. 124) In the later 17th century a new house was built on the site, incorporating pieces of the medieval structure. The house has been extended and modernized at various times in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Hovells farm, consisting of the manor-house and 150 a., also owned by William Parker and his grandson before 1776 and in 1810, (fn. 125) later ceased to be a separate farm. The house stands on the west side of Frog Street and although extensively remodelled may be a late medieval hall-house.

The Grange (later Ickleton Old Grange) was built at the extreme west end of the parish, 2 miles from the village, between 1618 and 1685. (fn. 126) It may have been built before 1623 by Sir John Wood, who moved a barn from the priory to a site a mile away: (fn. 127) a list of Cambridgeshire gentry mentions 'Wood of Ickleton Grange'. (fn. 128) By 1685 a large estate in the western half of the parish was farmed from the Grange, (fn. 129) comprising 364 a. in 1810. (fn. 130) At inclosure P. C. Wyndham received his allotment of 314 a. around the Grange, though he lived in Caldrees Manor in the village. (fn. 131) The 17th-century house was refronted in the 18th century. Some blocks of limestone in a barn at the back of the house may have come from the priory.

Ickleton New Grange was built between 1885 and 1901 close to the Old Grange. (fn. 132) Its owner until 1937 was G. W. H. Bowen, whose father, Sir George Bowen (1821–99), had served, as the first governor of Queensland, with Sir Robert Herbert. (fn. 133) The New Grange was later the home in retirement of Sir Claude Frankau (d. 1967), an eminent surgeon. (fn. 134)

The house called Caldrees Manor, at the east end of Abbey Street, was created by P. C. Wyndham in the late 18th century from a 17th-century farmhouse. He also purchased land north and east of the house and laid out pleasure grounds and a park, which in 1812 covered 7 a. (fn. 135) Sir Robert Herbert extended the grounds by exchanging land with Clare Hall in 1870 and 1884, and diverted a stream to make ornamental ponds. (fn. 136) Sir Robert left the house to W. F. Beddoes and G. W. H. Bowen, (fn. 137) and Beddoes, whose wife was Sir Robert's niece, lived there until his death in 1929. (fn. 138) Mrs. Beddoes left Caldrees Manor in 1933 to P. C. D. Mundy, (fn. 139) who lived in the house until his death in 1959. It was sold in 1960 and again in 1971. (fn. 140)

The lands of Durhams remained with the lords of the manor, being farmed as a separate estate by the late 17th century. (fn. 141) Sir Robert Herbert devised the farm in 1905 with Caldrees Manor. (fn. 142) The 17thcentury farm-house, which stands north of Butcher's Hill, was sold without any land in 1971. (fn. 143)

By 1162 Henry II had confirmed a grant by Count William's steward of an estate at Ickleton to the hospital of Montmorillon (Vienne). (fn. 144) In 1279 Thomas the deacon held c. 100 a. of demesne for life from the hospital. (fn. 145) In 1300 the hospital was licensed to convey its estate to Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, to whom Thomas released his rights in 1305. (fn. 146) Aymer granted VALENCE manor for life to Sir John Wollaston. (fn. 147) After Aymer's death in 1324 the reversion was assigned to one of his three heirs, Elizabeth Comyn, younger daughter of his sister Joan. (fn. 148) Elizabeth married Richard Talbot, (fn. 149) with whom she leased the manor to Richard's brother John for life in 1330. Two years later John surrendered his life-interest, (fn. 150) and Richard and Elizabeth immediately conveyed the manor to Richard of Barking, a London merchant. (fn. 151) In 1333 Barking sold the Ickleton estate to William le Waleys, Queen Isabel's tailor, who sold it a year later to Thomas of Lavenham and Ralph Mendham, rector of Hargham (Norf.). (fn. 152) In 1344 Ralph conveyed the manor to John Illegh, rector of Icklingham (Suff.), and Thomas Keningham, a fellow and later master of Michaelhouse, Cambridge. (fn. 153) Illegh granted Valence manor in 1345 to Michaelhouse, for his earlier foundation of two poor scholars and a chantry priest. (fn. 154)

When Michaelhouse was surrendered in 1546 its lands at Ickleton were immediately granted to Trinity College, Cambridge. (fn. 155) In 1612 the manor was extended at 307 a., (fn. 156) and at inclosure in 1814 the college received a compact allotment of 243 a. south of the Elmdon road. (fn. 157) Trinity's farm at Ickleton, consisting of 340 a., was sold in 1946 to Mrs. E. M. Scales and J. B. Wamsley. (fn. 158) In 1972 it was owned by Mrs. E. M. Wamsley.

Valence manor had a manor-house by 1324. (fn. 159) The manor-house in 1612, probably the same as in 1324, 1461, and 1508, (fn. 160) stood on the south side of Mill Lane, and was a tiled building with six rooms on the ground floor and two solars above, and a thatched range of out-buildings including a gatehouse. (fn. 161) The same house was in use in 1685 and 1726. (fn. 162) By 1810 there was no house with the manor, (fn. 163) and in 1824 Trinity built a new farm-house and farmstead known as Vallance Farm on the land that it had acquired at inclosure. (fn. 164)

An estate including c. 60 a. of demesne was held in 1279 by Roger de Neville under Thomas de Multon of the honor of Boulogne, with Mr. William Boys as life-tenant. Another 127 a. held of Neville by Roger Barbedor presumably descended with Barbedors manor in Hinxton. (fn. 165) In 1302 ¼ knight's fee in Ickleton was held by Philip de Neville; by 1316 it had passed to Sir John Limbury, (fn. 166) and acquired the name of LIMBURYS manor. Sir John held 100 a. in Ickleton of the Multons in 1335, when he was sheriff of Cambridgeshire, and his widow Gillian was in possession by 1343. (fn. 167) Between 1346 and 1367 she was succeeded by Sir Philip Limbury, perhaps her son, who died at Constantinople in 1367. (fn. 168) His widow Joan, who afterwards married Sir John Clinton, held the manor (fn. 169) until her death in 1388, when it passed to her daughter Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas Trivet (d. 1388). (fn. 170) In 1391 it was settled on Elizabeth and her second husband Sir Thomas Swinburne who still held lands in Ickleton at his death in 1412. (fn. 171) Elizabeth died in 1433. In 1456 Limburys was sold with c. 80 a. to Clare Hall, Cambridge, by her executor Nicholas Wimbish, (fn. 172) a Chancery clerk. (fn. 173) Clare Hall held the manor in 1546, (fn. 174) and had 123 a. in Ickleton in 1810, receiving at inclosure 77½ a., mostly close to the village. (fn. 175) In 1819 it bought the lands and farm-house of Mowbrays manor, c. 160 a., of which 30 a. were to endow scholarships. (fn. 176) It bought another 9 a. in Ickleton in 1876, and 30 a. from the executors of H. F. Beales, the tenant, in 1927. (fn. 177) Clare College still owned Mowbrays Farm and its land in 1972.

Limburys manor had a messuage attached to it by 1279. (fn. 178) In 1388 and 1389 the estate included two messuages; (fn. 179) the site of one was perhaps the close called Old Limburys, north-west of Caldrees Manor. (fn. 180) In 1545 the farmstead stood on the west side of Frog Street, close to its junction with Abbey Street. (fn. 181) The same site contained only farm-buildings, without a house, in 1704. (fn. 182) From 1819 the tenants of Clare Hall's farm occupied the Mowbrays. (fn. 183)

The later manor of MOWBRAYS was derived from 30 a. held in 1279 of Dereham abbey by the heirs of William de Beauchamp of Bedford, which descended through a female heir to the Mowbrays. (fn. 184) John Mowbray of Axholme (Lincs.) held 30 a. at Ickleton of the honor of Boulogne at his death in 1368. His eldest son John (fn. 185) died under age in 1383 and was succeeded by his younger brother Thomas, (fn. 186) later duke of Norfolk, who died in banishment in 1399. Thomas had settled his estate at Ickleton on his eldest son Thomas's marriage to Constance Holland. (fn. 187) His widow Elizabeth was granted dower in the lands in 1399, (fn. 188) but the estate reverted after her death in 1425 to Constance, whose husband had been executed in 1405. (fn. 189) On Constance's death in 1437 the manor passed to her husband's nephew, John, duke of Norfolk, who was succeeded in 1461 by his son John. (fn. 190) In 1469 John and his wife Elizabeth conveyed Mowbrays with many other lands to feoffees, (fn. 191) including Thomas Hoo (d.s.p. 1486). Thomas was possibly succeeded by the four daughters of his half-brother Thomas, Lord Hoo, (fn. 192) including Anne, the younger of two daughters of that name and wife of Roger Copley. A William Copley died in 1490 leaving his brother Lionel heir to a manor in Ickleton held of the earls of Oxford, (fn. 193) perhaps that called Copleys c. 1530. (fn. 194) In 1540 William Copley and his wife conveyed Mowbrays manor to John Hinde, who presumably sold it soon afterwards, for in 1547 George Rolle conveyed it to John Crudd. (fn. 195)

Eleanor, another daughter of Lord Hoo, married secondly James Carewe, (fn. 196) and Richard Carewe of Ickleton (d. c. 1510), who was later said to have held Mowbrays, (fn. 197) may have been her descendant. Richard's daughter and heir Margaret, wife of William Morris, sold part of the estate in 1544 to John Crudd, (fn. 198) who had bought the rest in 1543 from George Rolle and his wife. (fn. 199)

Crudd, one of a large and prosperous yeoman family of Ickleton, considerably enlarged the manor. (fn. 200) He or his son of the same name died in 1607, shortly after enfeoffing a younger son Daniel of his lands. (fn. 201) In 1646 Daniel conveyed Mowbrays to his kinsman John Crudd. (fn. 202) John, accused of raising forces for an anti-parliamentarian rising at Linton in 1648, died c. 1652 before the case was completed. (fn. 203) Mowbrays remained in the Crudd family until 1714, when Thomas Crudd died unmarried, (fn. 204) having devised Mowbrays and Brays manors to his sister Anne Hanchett (d. 1721) for life, and then to his nephew Thomas Hanchett, eldest son of his sister Joan. (fn. 205)

Thomas Hanchett was succeeded c. 1744 (fn. 206) by his son John (d. by 1759), who by his first wife had two daughters, Rachel and Susanna. Half Mowbrays manor was settled on Rachel, on her marriage to William Warner, and the other half on Susanna, who in 1765 married Zachary Brooke, vicar of Ickleton (d. 1788). William Warner, who apparently survived his wife, conveyed his moiety in 1789 to Susanna Brooke, and by will proved 1792 released all his rights to Susanna's three children. (fn. 207) Mrs. Brooke (d. 1812) owned over 280 a. in Ickleton in 1810, and her children were alloted 160 a. lying south of the village at inclosure in 1814. (fn. 208) The whole estate was sold by the Brookes in 1819 to Clare Hall, Cambridge, and still belonged to the college in 1972.

In the 14th century there was apparently no manor-house, but in 1438 there was a site of 3 a. and probably a house. (fn. 209) The present house, the Mowbrays, just outside the south-west wall of the churchyard, was built in the 15th century, when it had a central hall and two cross-wings. In the later 17th century the hall was raised to two storeys and another wing was added on the west. Extensive improvements and repairs were made in 1819 and 1912. (fn. 210)

William Brito, son and heir of Robert Brito (d. by 1199), who had held an estate at Ickleton, (fn. 211) still held the land of the king at farm in 1230 and 1242. (fn. 212) In 1279 land in Ickleton was held by John le Bray, (fn. 213) possibly a descendant of William Brito whose name was also written le Breton or le Bret. (fn. 214) John le Bray held BRAYS manor of the honor of Boulogne in 1302; it had passed to John Sawston by 1346, (fn. 215) and in 1428 was divided between John Pauly and Thomas Andrew. (fn. 216) The descent of the manor is unclear from that date until 1523, when Richard Bendyshe of Steeple Bumpstead (Essex) died leaving Brays to his only son John, a minor. (fn. 217) In 1540 John conveyed the manor to his father-in-law Thomas Crawley. (fn. 218) The manor later came to John Trigge, whose son John, a yeoman of Ickleton, succeeded him. (fn. 219) Much of the land was claimed by a John Crudd, to whom in 1604 five members of the Trigge family sold Brays. (fn. 220) Crudd was possibly not the John Crudd who held Mowbrays in 1607, (fn. 221) but by 1704 the two manors were held together by Thomas Crudd, who devised both of them to Anne and then Thomas Hanchett. (fn. 222) Brays descended from John Hanchett (d. c. 1759) to his son by his second marriage, John, (fn. 223) and was sold in 1778 to Henry Hanchett of Ickleton (d. 1795), who left it to his son Samuel. (fn. 224) At inclosure in 1814 Samuel was allotted 106 a. close to the village, (fn. 225) which by will proved 1835 he devised to his nephew John Hanchett. John died intestate in 1848, leaving two daughters, on whose behalf the property was sold in 1867. Part was bought by Sir Robert Herbert, (fn. 226) but much was again for sale in 1873 with an arable farm of 112 a. formerly held by William Hanchett, (fn. 227) and the farm, with 8 cottages and 28 a. of arable, was sold yet again in 1877. (fn. 228)

John le Bray held a messuage with his land in 1279. (fn. 229) By 1545, however, the site of the manor of Brays was a pasture full of bushes with a stream running through it, in the south-east angle of Brookhampton Street. (fn. 230) The farm-house attached to the estate from at least 1730 was the Little Farm, east of the churchyard. (fn. 231) By 1867 the farm-house had been amalgamated with an adjoining tenement to form Norman Hall. (fn. 232) After its sale in that year the house was no longer used as a farm-house. The oldest part of the house is a late medieval hall and cross-wing. It was extended and remodelled in the 16th century and again in the 18th.

Ickleton rectory was appropriated to the priory, probably from the priory's foundation, and passed to the Crown in 1536. The priory's lands thereafter were treated as a single manorial estate, and the rectory therefore consisted only of tithes. By a composition of 1516 the prioress received both great and small tithes, (fn. 233) as did later lay rectors. (fn. 234) In 1547 the Crown granted the rectory to the dean and canons of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, (fn. 235) who held it until 1867 when their estates were vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. (fn. 236)

In the later 16th century a dispute developed between the dean and canons and their farmers, and members of the Wood family, lessees of the former priory demesne. (fn. 237) In 1579 John and Edward Wood refused to pay tithes from the demesne. A long series of lawsuits and appeals ensued. Edward's son John, eventually lord of Priory manor, was still opposing the dean and canons in 1620. The courts consistently upheld the rectors. (fn. 238) By the later 18th century tithes had apparently been commuted for money payments, for a proposal in 1776 to collect tithes in kind raised 'no small stir' in the parish. (fn. 239)

The dean and canons' lessees in the 16th and earlier 17th centuries tended to be eminent men without local connexions, although Sir William Byrd, dean of the Arches, who held the rectory 1615–24, was the son of a gentleman of Saffron Walden. (fn. 240) His widow Jane married Sir William Acton, Bt., to whom the lease was transferred in 1630. The lessee from 1660 was John Bennett of Abington, who was succeeded by his widow Elizabeth by 1668 and his son John in 1675. In 1698 Bennett sold the lease to William Russell of London, and two years later it was transferred to Edward Evans of London, who held it until 1718. (fn. 241) John Hanchett of Chrishall Grange, whose wife was Evans's niece, was the dean and canons' farmer at Ickleton from 1718 until his death in 1737; his son-in-law and executor, Thomas Fuller the elder, held the lease from then until 1747, when it passed to Hanchett's son John. (fn. 242) Thomas Wolfe was lessee 1763–77, and the rectory was leased to Thomas Fuller from 1777 to c. 1826. (fn. 243)

At inclosure in 1814 the dean and canons of Windsor received 640½ a. in lieu of tithes. By far the largest allotment in Ickleton, it lay in four pieces with the largest covering 438 a. north of Grange Road. (fn. 244) Thomas Fuller devised his lease to two trustees, one of whom, James Raymond, held it from c. 1826 to 1840. His nephew and heir W. F. Raymond, archdeacon of Northumberland, was lessee from 1840 until his death in 1860, and his nephew, Lt.-Gen. William Inglis, later of Hildersham Hall, held the property 1861–82. He was succeeded at Ickleton by George Jonas, whose father Samuel Jonas of Chrishall Grange had farmed the land from Lt.-Gen. Inglis. (fn. 245) The Ecclesiastical Commissioners sold the farm in 1920 to H. F. Beales, whose executors offered it for sale again with 612 a. in 1927. (fn. 246)

Between 1818 and 1825 Thomas Fuller, as the dean and canons' lessee, built a farmstead on the large allotment north of Grange Road, but his undertenant was still required to live in Fuller's own farmhouse in the village over a mile away. (fn. 247) The rectory's farmstead was known first as Ickleton Farm, and later as Rectory Farm. (fn. 248)

Economic History.

The small estate of Hardwin de Scalers could be cultivated with half a plough-team. It had been worth 5s. T.R.E., and 12d. when given to Hardwin, and was worth 32d. by 1086. (fn. 249) The rest of Ickleton, held in 1086 by Count Eustace, comprised 19½ hides, of which 9 hides were in demesne. There were 3 plough-teams on the demesne, and there was land for 1 more. The meadow was sufficient for 3 teams. Three servi worked on the estate, and there were also 10 bordars. The 30 villani had 16 plough-teams, with land for 4 more. Eleven of them held ½ hide each, one held 1 yardland, and one held 1 hide. Count Eustace's estate had been worth £24 T.R.E. and when he received it, but by 1086 it was worth £20. (fn. 250)

In 1279 the vill included c. 790 a. of demesne land, over 225 a. of freeholdings, and c. 900 a. held in villeinage. The largest demesne, that of Ickleton priory, covered c. 300 a.; Tilty, West Dereham, and Calder abbeys possessed respectively 112 a., 110 a., and 48 a., and Montmorillon hospital c. 100 a., farmed for 10 marks a year. Of the two lay fees Roger de Neville held in demesne 61 a., also farmed, and John de Bray 48 a. Of the 27 freeholders recorded with field land only two, with 55 a. together, owned over 15 a., and more than 12 others had only their messuages. Of the villein land 4 men on the later Valence manor held 30 a. each and 3 on the Neville fee 20 a. each, but the normal tenement was a half-yardland of 15 a., of which there were probably 40, including 17 on Valence manor. Another 8 half-yardlands were divided into fractions of between 3 and 9 a., held by c. 20 tenants. There were also c. 30 cottagers occupying c. 18 a. Three half-yardlands on the Tilty manor yielding substantial rents had probably been recently enfranchised. Most customary tenements owed small money-rents and renders of hens and eggs. The labour-services required were relatively light. Apart from 2 divided half-yardlands on Ickleton priory's manor, whose tenants owed week-work between Michaelmas and Lammas and had to reap altogether 28 a. in harvest, the villeins were required, probably only once a year, to harrow, weed, thresh, carry corn, and build haystacks. Some had to thresh 30 sheaves of barley and 12 of wheat. On the priory manor all villeins, down to the cottagers, had also to do 4 boon-works for every 15 a. or less, on the Neville and Montmorillon fees 5 a year. No details of work were recorded on the other estates, and the low values set on them, from 4d. to 7d. a holding, suggest an ancient commutation. (fn. 251)

In 1279 the land under cultivation covered more than 1,900 a. of the 2,700 a. in the parish. The arable had contracted by 1341, when 2 plough-lands lay uncultivated because of the poverty of their tenants. (fn. 252) The three main open fields, Middle, Heath, and South fields, were all established by 1432. (fn. 253) The name West field, also in use, was probably then as later an alternative name for Middle field. (fn. 254) The fields stretched from east to west along the contours of the valley west of the village, and cultivation probably began in the bottom of the valley and later extended up the slopes to north and south. Middle field, by far the largest, reached from the west boundary of the parish to the Duxford road, including all the land north of Grange Road. Heath field lay south of Middle field, from the western boundary nearly as far east as the Strethall road. South field, the smallest, took in a strip of land along part of the southern boundary, another strip west of the Strethall road, and all the land south of the village between the Strethall and Chesterford roads. (fn. 255) Brookhampton field, or Clay field, north of the village, was mentioned from 1432, but was never listed in terriers as one of the three main fields. (fn. 256)

Distinct areas within the three fields were sometimes given field-names of their own. Warren field was part of South field in the south-east corner of the parish. (fn. 257) North of Middle field, along the boundary with Duxford, was an area known as the Hills; Windmill hill, Stony hill, Skipping hill, and 'Horenhyll' were mentioned in 1432, and Gallow hill, Calf hill, Tutt hill, Stocking, Highdown, and the Rows in 1545. (fn. 258) Stocking field, Highdown, and the Rows were marked in 1814 as distinct areas along the parish boundary, with a long narrow Hill field lying south of them, (fn. 259) and in 1794 the arable was said to lie in five distinct open fields, presumably including Brookhampton and Hill fields; (fn. 260) the invariable division of estates between three main fields in terriers, (fn. 261) however, suggests that cultivation, at least, was organized on a three-field basis.

Sheep-farming was widely practised at Ickleton by the 15th century. (fn. 262) Richard Carewe (d. c. 1510) kept sheep for their wool, (fn. 263) but later farmers fattened sheep for the London market. (fn. 264) A sheepcote had been built on Valence manor by 1508, (fn. 265) and in 1545 the bishop's Penpiece of 46 a. in Heath field contained a sheep-pen. (fn. 266) The priory estate produced c. 400 lambs in a year in the later 16th century, (fn. 267) and there were c. 1,400 sheep in the parish in 1794. (fn. 268)

The chief crops grown in the 15th and 16th centuries, as in 1279, were barley and wheat, (fn. 269) with a smaller amount of rye. (fn. 270) In 1655 the tenant of Abbey farm had 193 a. under cultivation, growing wheat, barley, rye, peas, lentils, oats, and vetch. (fn. 271) Several of the prominent farmers in the 16th and 17th centuries were also maltsters. (fn. 272) By the 18th century little barley was malted locally, and the maltinghouse and kiln at Durhams Farm had fallen into disrepair by 1750. (fn. 273)

Saffron was first mentioned at Ickleton in the late 15th century; the disputes over tithes on saffron before 1516 suggest that it was then a new crop there. (fn. 274) It was planted in small gardens and plots: parts of the Priory demesne were inclosed before 1536 and leased for growing saffron. (fn. 275) It was grown in the parish throughout the 17th century, (fn. 276) but was not mentioned later.

The only inclosed land in the parish before 1814 lay round the village and close to the river, where wetness and flooding made cultivation difficult. The closes and meadows were attached to the various demesnes, and little was common. There was a common near the river called the Goosehome, (fn. 277) Olive or Oly mead, part of Valence, was several until Lammas and then common, (fn. 278) and Great Nyardes, pasture south of the village, was divided among the lordships in fixed proportions until Whitsun week and then became common. (fn. 279) The only land permanently available to the parish as common was the heath, an uncultivated area in the middle of Heath field. The few animals kept, besides sheep, were mainly cows and pigs. (fn. 280)

In 1545 all three fields contained large parcels of 'leys which be seldom eared or sown'. (fn. 281) Nearly a third of the priory estate in 1536 was leys, (fn. 282) and in 1627 75½ a. were leys out of Valence's 110 a. in South field. (fn. 283) Some of the leys in Heath field had been recently ploughed up in 1545, and Valence's remaining 20 a. of leys c. 1680 were let for cultivation by the acre. (fn. 284) Ley-farming was not mentioned at Ickleton in the 18th century. Pressure on land in the 16th and 17th centuries led to a gradual extension of cultivation. The tenant of Abbey farm in the later 16th century was not to convert land to tillage without permission. (fn. 285) John Wood claimed to have improved the estate by increasing the area under cultivation, but Wood's opponents said that although he had ploughed some sheep-walks he had left an equal area of demesne unsown. (fn. 286) Tenants were fined in the 1640s and 1650s for ploughing the balks between strips. (fn. 287) By 1730 2,236 a. in the parish were arable land. (fn. 288)

On all the manors copyholds descended by borough-English to the youngest son, youngest daughter, or youngest sister of the tenant. (fn. 289) The heir succeeded as a matter of course on paying an entry-fine, and a tenant might sell, assign, or devise his land. (fn. 290) In 1623 a group of villagers sued Sir John Wood who as lord refused to admit their nominees to a copyhold. (fn. 291) Some copyholds were enfranchised by individual agreements in the early 18th century, and there was further enfranchisement after inclosure, when more than 400 a. was allotted as copyhold. (fn. 292)

In the early 16th century the priory's demesne, with 3 or 4 ploughs, (fn. 293) had a bailiff, a hogherd, and a shepherd, besides labourers, who were probably drawn from the large class of wage-earners, a third of the taxpayers at Ickleton in 1524. (fn. 294) Later holders of the priory lands leased out parcels of the demesne, (fn. 295) and the large estates tended to be divided between several tenants. Valence was farmed as one estate in 1508, but by 1610 was divided between two members of the Swan family, and was held in four parts in 1636. (fn. 296) In the 18th century it was generally leased as two farms, each of c. 140 a. (fn. 297) The two farms derived from the priory estate were larger: in 1726 the Grange had 378 a. of land, and Abbey farm had 380 a. (fn. 298) The Limburys estate was also divided into two farms, one freehold and one copyhold. The copyhold farm, held from 1699 by the Westropp family, descended to Mary Pytches in 1747. (fn. 299) In 1810 Mrs. Pytches claimed 175 a. in her own right and 123 a. leased from Clare Hall, both estates being farmed by Samuel Hanchett. (fn. 300)

Two-thirds of Ickleton's tax in 1524 was paid by the 14 men with goods worth more than £5. (fn. 301) The wealthiest inhabitants were Richard and John Crudd, assessed at £48 and £46 respectively, whose family remained prominent until the 18th century, when their property passed to the Hanchetts. By the 18th century John Hanchett, lessee of the tithes, occupied 226½ a.: 140 a. were leased from Trinity College as half of Valence, and the remainder was added by purchase and exchange. (fn. 302) He later acquired also the Little Farm and its 100 a. In 1726 there were four large farms, based on the Grange, Abbey Farm, Valence, and Chrishall Grange in Fowlmere parish. (fn. 303) Of the 22 main occupiers of land in Ickleton in the 18th century, only 9 farmed more than 50 a. William Simonds occupied 493 a. in the three fields, probably as tenant of either Abbey farm or the Grange. John Hanchett had 360 a., and there were other farms of 298 a., 252 a., 184½ a., and 167 a. (fn. 304) The distribution of land had changed little by 1804, when only 11 out of 31 occupiers farmed more than 50 a. Abbey farm was the largest with 447 a., and John and Samuel Hanchett between them had 465 a. There were 6 other holdings of more than 100 a. (fn. 305)

All the large pre-inclosure farms had rights of sheep-walk and foldage for large flocks in the common fields. Mowbrays had rights for 400 sheep, and Abbey farm and the Grange for 360 each; (fn. 306) the Limburys sheep-walk for 180 was divided in 1790 between Clare Hall and Mrs. Pytches, (fn. 307) and Valence also had rights for 180 which were apparently leased in units of 30 with pieces of land in the 16th century. (fn. 308) The Grange flock alone could be fed and folded in Stocking and Hill fields, when they were fallow, between Lady day and Ickleton fair (22 July), though the Valence flocks could feed then in Stocking field during the day. (fn. 309) It was said in 1794 that the sheep were healthy, but that no improvement in the stock was possible until the parish was inclosed. (fn. 310)

The growth of large farms at the expense of small ones was accentuated by inclosure. Some proprietors favoured inclosure in 1803, and three unsuccessful bills were drawn up; (fn. 311) the Act was passed in 1810, (fn. 312) and the award covering 2,672 a. was made in 1814. An estate covering 640½ a. in place of tithes was awarded to the dean and canons of Windsor. Allotments of 314 a., 261½ a., 243 a., 160 a., and 106 a. were made to the owners of the Grange, Abbey farm, Valence, Mowbrays, and Brays. There were 5 allotments of between 50 a. and 100 a., 5 between 20 a. and 50 a., and 9 between 5 a. and 20 a. Forty people received less than 5 a., many of them ½ a. for rights of common. (fn. 313)

The largest parcels were immediately divided to allow the rotation of crops. One of Clare Hall's parcels was divided into four c. 1825, and the other into two, (fn. 314) and the rectory estate was similarly divided. (fn. 315) Clare Hall's tenant pursued a complicated rotation, including wheat, barley, rye, turnips, clover, oats, peas, and seeds, using the turnips and clover to maintain a flock of sheep. (fn. 316) In 1843 the same farm had 65½ a. of barley, 41 a. of seeds, 40 a. of wheat, 19 a. of peas, and 34 a. lying fallow. (fn. 317) Trinity College's tenant in 1824 was growing mainly barley and oats, with some spring wheat and vetches, and small areas of turnips, potatoes, clover, rye, and peas. (fn. 318) Samuel Jonas, an Ickleton farmer whose prize essay on Cambridgeshire farming was published in 1846, recommended the cultivation of turnips and mangolds to feed the sheep, and large flocks were fattened in that way on Clare Hall's farm. (fn. 319)

After inclosure the number of farms gradually fell. The tenant of Mowbrays allegedly made a loss in every year from 1818 to 1821, (fn. 320) and the dean and canons' lessee reported that some of their allotment was poor land on the hills, as their agent had preferred quantity to quality at inclosure. (fn. 321) There were 12 occupiers of land at Ickleton in 1831, and 9 farmers in 1883. (fn. 322) Their numbers fell gradually to 8 by 1888, 7 by 1896, 6 by 1912, and 5 by 1937. (fn. 323) The decline resulted not from land going out of cultivation, for almost 2,500 a. remained arable in 1905, (fn. 324) but from the amalgamation of small farms with large. (fn. 325) In 1972 there were 8 farms; most were mainly arable, growing corn and sugar-beet, with some potatoes, but sheep and pigs were also kept. Durhams was used for grazing, and there was a milking herd at the New Grange. Pigs and poultry were also raised on two smallholdings. (fn. 326)

The land of Durhams farm was leased to butchers in the 18th and 19th centuries, (fn. 327) and by 1905 Durhams was a dairy farm, with its land at the east end of the parish in the river valley. (fn. 328) Mowbrays and Valence farms also kept small herds of cows in the 19th century, as well as pigs and poultry, (fn. 329) and there were a cattle-dealer and a cow-keeper at Ickleton in 1879 and 1888. (fn. 330) Market-gardening was established in the parish in the early 20th century, but did not apparently survive after 1940. (fn. 331)

Eighty of the 133 families in Ickleton in 1831 were supported by agriculture, and the lack of alternative employment, as the farms came to employ fewer men, caused much hardship in the later 19th century. (fn. 332) Other occupations were principally those supporting the farmers, such as carpenters, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and saddlers. (fn. 333) The village had its own shoemakers, butchers, and bakers, and there was generally a grocer; (fn. 334) the only unusual craftsman was a watch-maker, established by 1865. (fn. 335) Developments in farm machinery were exploited by William Godfrey, who by 1873 was manufacturing and selling agricultural implements, machines, and engines, while acting also as an ironmonger, wheelwright, smith, and coach-builder. (fn. 336) By 1900 the business had extended to contracting and building, as well as making agricultural implements, (fn. 337) and it survived in 1972 as a family concern.

In 1865 there were only four shops in the village, (fn. 338) but when professional people began to settle there local trade grew, with a newsagent and a hairdresser by 1933 and a café by 1937. (fn. 339) A surgeon lived there in 1864 but soon moved to Duxford; Ickleton had a veterinary surgeon by 1883 and a physician by 1922, and an optician and four physicians in 1937. (fn. 340) It has continued to attract professional people, many of whom commute to Cambridge or London. Most inhabitants work at Duxford and Sawston, and there is little employment in the parish.

Cloth-making at Ickleton was probably on a very small scale. The surname Fuller occurred locally in the later Middle Ages, (fn. 341) and there were weavers there in the 16th century. (fn. 342) Cloth-finishing was carried on at the Great Chesterford fulling-mill close to Ickleton. (fn. 343) A wool-comber was recorded in the 18th century. (fn. 344) There were tailors at Ickleton throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, (fn. 345) but the manufacture of cloth had probably ceased there by c. 1700.

There were two mills at Ickleton worth 30s. in 1086. (fn. 346) One was perhaps the water-mill at Brookhampton, part of which belonged to Calder abbey in 1231, and part to Valence manor in 1279. (fn. 347) The Valence estate included a third of a mill in 1324, and Brookhampton mill was mentioned in 1338, (fn. 348) but by the 16th century Valence had no mill and there was none in the Brookhampton area. (fn. 349)

The other mill in 1086 was probably the watermill in Ickleton, of which Calder abbey owned half in 1231 and 1279, and Tilty abbey the other half in 1279. (fn. 350) It had gone by 1545, when a former mill of Hovells and Caldrees manors south of the village was mentioned. (fn. 351)

The name Windmill hill, in use by 1432, suggests that there was then a windmill at Ickleton. (fn. 352) In 1545 the windmill stood on or very close to its later site, west of the Duxford road, with the old Brookhampton highway north of it. (fn. 353) It continued in use throughout the 19th century, (fn. 354) but closed soon after 1900, and by 1925 its shell had been converted into a house. (fn. 355)

In 1818 a water-mill was built on the river at Camping close, west of the church and south of Mill Lane. (fn. 356) It was sold with the Hanchett estate in 1867, (fn. 357) and closed in 1927 when the last miller was killed in the water-wheel. (fn. 358)

A windmill by Great Chesterford village stood just inside Ickleton parish, west of the railway, by 1872; it was still there in 1903, (fn. 359) but had been demolished by 1910. (fn. 360)

A market on Thursdays at Ickleton was granted to the prioress in 1222 and 1227, possibly in confirmation of an earlier grant by King Stephen (fn. 361) although in the 14th century the prioress claimed it by grant of Henry III. (fn. 362) No further evidence of the market has been found. The prioress also held an annual fair at Ickleton, which she claimed by a charter of King Stephen. (fn. 363) It was held in July in 1287. (fn. 364) The profits of the fair were leased with the site and lands of the priory in 1536 and 1557. (fn. 365) In the later 16th century the fair was held for five days around the feast of St. Mary Magdalen (22 July), the patron saint of the priory, in the great barnyard of the former convent, (fn. 366) where wooden stalls were set up. (fn. 367) It was still held on 22 July in the 18th and early 19th centuries, (fn. 368) when horses and cheese were the main commodities. (fn. 369) In 1872 it was owned by Joseph Heydon of Abbey Farm, and was probably still held on its original site. Under the Fairs Act, 1871, Ickleton fair was abolished from 1872, (fn. 370) but it may have lingered until 1875. (fn. 371)

The bishop of Ely was in 1556 granted a Friday market at Ickleton and a fair on 14–16 February; (fn. 372) no evidence has been found that either was ever held.

Local Government.

As part of the honor of Boulogne, Ickleton was said c. 1235 to owe 2s. a year as wardpenny to the sheriff, but not to owe suit to his court. (fn. 373) In 1260, however, the suit formerly made by the vill to the county and the hundred had been withdrawn for the last five years by the keeper of the honor. (fn. 374) Ickleton was one of the three places in Cambridgeshire where the honorial court of Boulogne was held in 1333. (fn. 375)

The prioress in 1299 claimed view of frankpledge in the parish by prescription. She also had infangthief and the assize of bread and of ale, with a tumbrel, pillory, and gallows; (fn. 376) the site of the gallows was probably Gallow hill, west of the Duxford road. (fn. 377) All the other manors except possibly Brays held courts baron for their tenants. (fn. 378) The court of Priory manor was still after 1536 the only one with view of frankpledge; its court rolls, surviving for most years in the periods 1644–59 and 1710–57, show it making orders about commoning and the maintenance of balks, and presenting encroachments. (fn. 379) The last manorial court was apparently held in 1882, though admissions to copyholds continued until the 1920s. (fn. 380)

Ickleton had at least one constable by 1285, (fn. 381) and more than one in 1388. (fn. 382) The Priory court appointed constables, probably for the whole parish, in the 17th and 18th centuries, and in some years a hayward and one or two pinders. (fn. 383)

In 1524 the 'town stock' was valued at 40s. (fn. 384) It had been supplemented by 1545 by the town lands, 23 a. of which were held by 1569 by trustees for the payment of taxes. (fn. 385) In 1779 the 23 a. were held with the other town lands, the income being applied to poor-relief. (fn. 386) By 1658 seventeen cottages had been given for the poor; all the endowments were administered by the overseers, and were normally sufficient for the relief of all Ickleton's poor. (fn. 387) In the 18th century expenditure on the poor rose sharply from £107 in 1776 to £223 c. 1784, and reached £358 in 1803. In that year 41 people received permanent relief. (fn. 388) Expenditure fell to £181 in 1814, but averaged over £400 in the 1820s. (fn. 389) In 1831 unemployed labourers with large families were given task work, and the poor-rate had risen to £644. (fn. 390) Ickleton became part of the Linton poorlaw union in 1835, was transferred to the South Cambridgeshire R.D. in 1934, (fn. 391) and was included in South Cambridgeshire in 1974.

Three acres allotted at inclosure for land held by the parish clerk 'since time immemorial' (fn. 392) were let for £2 8s. 6d. in 1835, and for c. £5 in 1865, paid to the clerk. (fn. 393) The clerk's land was in 1966 a registered charity, the income going to the church clerk. (fn. 394)

Church.

Ickleton church has not been found in records before the 14th century, but its architecture shows it to date from c. 1100. The church was appropriated to Ickleton priory, probably in the mid 12th century as part of the original endowment of that house. (fn. 395) The parish church has been said to be the priory church, but in fact the nuns had their own church at the priory, described after the Dissolution as a pretty church with a steeple and three bells, and employed a chaplain to serve it. (fn. 396) The parish church was served in 1341 by a vicar presented by the prioress. (fn. 397) Several vicars in the 14th and 15th centuries were former chaplains of the priory, but the two offices were always held separately. (fn. 398)

In 1536 the advowson of the vicarage passed to the Crown, which, apparently by an oversight, included the advowson both in the grant of monastic lands to the bishop of Ely in 1538 and in the grant of the rectory to the dean and canons of Windsor in 1547. (fn. 399) It is not known who made the next presentation, between 1552 and 1561, but in 1588 the dean and canons presented. (fn. 400) When Bishop Heton returned his Ickleton lands to the Crown in 1600 the advowson was expressly reserved to him. (fn. 401) In 1612 both parties claimed the patronage, which was apparently awarded to the bishop. (fn. 402) Vicars were collated in 1618, 1641, and 1660 by the bishop, (fn. 403) but in 1678 the dean and canons re-asserted their claim, their presentee being also collated by the bishop. On the next vacancy, in 1684, the bishop collated his domestic chaplain as vicar. (fn. 404) The bishop granted the next presentation to the bishop of London, who exercised his right in 1689, but all the 18th-century vicars were collated by the bishop of Ely, the dean and canons of Windsor having abandoned their claim. (fn. 405) The patronage of the vicarage was transferred in 1852 to the bishop of Peterborough, and from him in 1874 to the Lord Chancellor. (fn. 406) The vicarage of Ickleton was held jointly with that of Hinxton from 1930, with alternate presentation by Jesus College, Cambridge, and the Lord Chancellor, but the two benefices were separated again in 1955 and the Lord Chancellor still held the patronage of Ickleton in 1972. (fn. 407)

The vicarage was valued at £8 6s. 8d. in 1535, and was worth only £47 a year in 1707. (fn. 408) It was augmented by Queen Anne's Bounty in 1803, and by a parliamentary grant in 1816; in 1864 the living was so poor that the bishop of Peterborough had great difficulty in finding an incumbent. (fn. 409) In 1877 the vicar estimated his gross income at £123, but by 1897 it was £288, most of it given by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. (fn. 410)

In the Middle Ages the vicar was entitled to the small tithes, while the prioress, as appropriator, collected the great tithes of corn and hay. (fn. 411) In 1516 the vicar complained that his income was too small; by a later arrangement the prioress received all tithes, both great and small, and paid the vicar £8 6s. 8d. a year, besides all charges on the church and the vicarage. (fn. 412) In 1547 the Crown raised the vicar's stipend to £10, which was still being paid by the dean and canons' farmers in 1650. (fn. 413) In 1660 it was raised to £30, and by 1707 it was £35 a year. (fn. 414)

In the 16th and 17th centuries the vicar owned c. 29 a. of glebe. (fn. 415) He claimed 29 a. in 1810, and was awarded 15 a. at inclosure in 1814. (fn. 416) The glebe consisted in 1887 of 17 a., let for £16 a year. (fn. 417) From 1955, when the remaining glebe was allotted to Hinxton on the separation of that living from Ickleton, the vicarage of Ickleton had no glebe. (fn. 418)

A reference to a close called 'the old vicarage' in 1485 suggests that a new house had been built; in 1527 the vicarage was a good house with a wellfurnished hall. (fn. 419) In 1615 the house stood south of the green near the river, and had a large hall, a parlour, kitchen, four small chambers and a large one, a buttery and a milkhouse, and a study recently added. There were also farm-buildings, and a gatehouse with a chamber over it. (fn. 420) The vicarage was taxed on 3 hearths in 1664 and 1666, but in 1678 it was a substantial house with 10 rooms. (fn. 421) In 1705 a fire destroyed much of the house and in 1783 it was described as a mere cottage. (fn. 422) It was unfit for residence by the incumbent throughout the earlier 19th century, and by 1841 part of it had fallen down. (fn. 423) A new vicarage was built in 1846 north of Butcher's Hill. (fn. 424) The old vicarage was demolished c. 1870. (fn. 425)

Two small pieces of meadow south of the village, belonging to Ickleton church but not part of the vicar's glebe, had probably been given by the priory, and were traditionally used to provide rushes for the church. The land, known as the church plot or platt, was still used for that purpose in 1730. (fn. 426) In the open fields were several small pieces of land which paid Maundy money, mentioned in 1545, (fn. 427) but payment had ceased by c. 1550. (fn. 428)

Before the Reformation there were two guilds in Ickleton, in honour of the Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi. A chalice was given in the earlier 14th century to the Trinity guild, (fn. 429) which had an altar in the church in 1510, and owned £7 worth of goods in 1524. (fn. 430) The Corpus Christi guild had a light in the church in 1520, and goods in 1524 worth £3. (fn. 431) Both guilds owned small amounts of land. In 1553 18 a. of guild land was sold by the Crown, and in 1572 two more small parcels. (fn. 432) The guildhall in Ickleton, sold as concealed land in 1571, was bought in 1575 by John Paxton of Great Chesterford. (fn. 433)

By will dated 1510, Richard Carewe of Ickleton left at least 10 a. for an obit and a chantry priest. (fn. 434) The land was sold in 1572, and eventually bought by John Paxton. (fn. 435) Two chantry chapels in the church, north of the chancel, dating probably from the 15th century, were demolished in the 18th century. (fn. 436)

Several 15th-century vicars were Cambridge graduates. (fn. 437) Robert Burton, vicar 1496–1527, left money to the priest who helped him in the parish and to 'my poor scholar'. (fn. 438) Robert Davy, 1527– c. 1553, chaplain to Lord Mountjoy, (fn. 439) probably lived in Ickleton, and later-16th-century vicars were resident. Neither Robert Procter, c. 1553–88, nor Michael Coule, 1588–1612, was a graduate, but both were said to be learned and good preachers. (fn. 440) Preaching was popular in the parish, and a parishioner in 1602 left money for four sermons a year. (fn. 441) The vicar in 1650, Arthur Lund, described as 'a man mean of life and conversation', (fn. 442) was replaced by Augustine Rolfe, 1660–78, who was also curate of Hinxton 1662–76 and possessed books worth £12 at his death. (fn. 443)

After 1678 the standard of pastoral care declined, as most incumbents held other benefices, and the condition of the vicarage and the poverty of the living did not encourage residence. Thomas Sayes, 1689–1744, lived a mile away at Chesterford, where his father-in-law was vicar. (fn. 444) Zachary Brooke, vicar 1744–88, became a royal chaplain in 1758 and Lady Margaret professor of divinity in 1765. (fn. 445) In 1775 he lived at Cambridge, and shared his duties at Ickleton with a 'gentleman of the university'. (fn. 446) The curate in 1788, James Buck, was headmaster of Newport grammar school in Essex, and a lecturer in Greek and Hebrew at Cambridge. (fn. 447) George Hewitt, vicar 1789–91, was described as 'a scandalous old reprobate'. (fn. 448) Zachary Brooke the younger, 1793– 1802, son of the former vicar, was also domestic chaplain to the prince of Wales. (fn. 449) Both the Brookes were joint holders of Mowbrays manor. (fn. 450) Nicholas Bull held Ickleton with Saffron Walden 1803–44, employing his son as curate. Although both lived at Saffron Walden where they kept a school, two services with sermons were held on Sundays. (fn. 451) A later curate lived at Duxford. (fn. 452) Bull established a Sunday school, and encouraged his wealthier parishioners to augment the church plate. (fn. 453)

His successor W. J. Clayton built a new vicarage, and from that date all incumbents were resident. He also employed a curate, who lived in the village. (fn. 454) Even so, less than half of the seats in the church were filled at each service on Census Sunday in 1851. (fn. 455) Clayton maintained a day-school, and collected money to replace the old high pews in the church. (fn. 456) John Amps, vicar 1864–1907, raised the number of communion services from four to twelve a year; during his incumbency the chancel was entirely rebuilt. (fn. 457)

The churchyard, no longer sufficient by 1877, (fn. 458) was closed in 1883, to be replaced by a cemetery with a small chapel west of the Hinxton road; (fn. 459) a burial board administered the cemetery in 1888, the parish council by 1896. (fn. 460)

A room in a cottage on the New Grange estate was used in the early 20th century as a chapel, known as St. Barnabas. Services were held there on Sundays until 1937 by G. W. H. Bowen for his tenants, with monthly visits by the vicar. (fn. 461)

The church of ST. MARY MAGDALEN was originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, (fn. 462) but by the mid 18th century it had adopted the dedication of Ickleton priory. (fn. 463) The church, at the east end of the village north of the village green, is of field stones and rubble with ashlar dressings, and has a chancel, crossing tower with north vestry and south transept, and aisled and clerestoried nave with south porch. (fn. 464) The cruciform plan is largely determined by the surviving parts of the early-12th-century church, which was a substantial building with an aisled nave of four bays, in which two piers in each arcade are thought to be re-used monolithic columns from a Roman building. In the 14th century the south transept was rebuilt and the aisle widened to align with it; the porch was added, the clerestory heightened and a new roof put over the nave, the transept arches were rebuilt, and a spire was placed over the tower. The chancel was rebuilt and provided with a north chapel and a vestry in the mid 15th century, which was probably the occasion of the church's rededication in 1452. (fn. 465) In the same century new west windows were put into the nave and north aisle, and there were new pews, stalls, and a roodscreen. Although not always in good repair, the building survived largely unaltered until the 18th century, when, before 1791, the ruinous north transept, chapel, and vestry were taken down. (fn. 466) The chancel was rebuilt in 1882, (fn. 467) some of the 15thcentury features being re-used though not all in their original positions.

There were four bells and a sanctus bell in 1552, one of which was probably the great bell mentioned in 1521. (fn. 468) In 1742 the six bells included a saints' bell; there were then two sanctus bells on the outside of the steeple, (fn. 469) but only one by the later 19th century, when it was used as a curfew or fire bell, (fn. 470) and later as an hour-bell for the church clock. (fn. 471) The six bells, all made or recast in the 18th century, were restored in 1907. (fn. 472) By 1927 the largest was broken, having fallen when the frame collapsed, and in that year the remaining bells were recast and three more were added. (fn. 473) In 1972 there were eight bells, besides the sanctus bell: (i) 1927, Gillett & Johnston; (ii) 1927; (iii) 1927, Lester & Pack; (iv) 1729, Thomas Newman of Norwich; (v) 1781, William Chapman of London; (vi) 1755, Lester & Pack; (vii) 1729, Newman of Norwich; (viii) 1751, Thomas Lester of London.

Ickleton church was unusually rich in plate in the Middle Ages, having four chalices, one gilded, an ivory pyx, and three processional crosses. (fn. 474) In 1552 there were a chalice, censers, a ship, a cross, two candlesticks, a pyx, and a pax with a crucifix, all containing silver. (fn. 475) A silver cup and a pewter chalice, the only vessels in 1771, (fn. 476) had by 1835 been augmented by two pewter flagons and a pewter plate, with a recently presented silver flagon and paten. (fn. 477) A silver chalice was given in 1950. The registers begin in 1558 and are virtually complete.

Nonconformity.

Three or four women in Ickleton, thought to be Quakers, were said in 1669 to attend conventicles in other places, (fn. 478) and two men were presented for the same practice in 1677. Six people were presented in 1675 for refusing to receive the sacrament, (fn. 479) and in 1676 there were seven adult nonconformists in Ickleton. (fn. 480) By 1690 the congregation was large enough to invite two Cambridge ministers to preach in Ickleton every third Sunday. (fn. 481) A house in the village, licensed for nonconformist worship in 1715, may have been the barn where fortnightly meetings were held in 1728. Described as the meeting-house in 1740 and the meeting barn in 1790, it was licensed again in 1801 (fn. 482) but had been pulled down by 1861. (fn. 483) Numbers remained low throughout the 18th century, and the congregation was served by ministers from Cambridge, Linton, and Saffron Walden, while some Independents and Baptists attended meetings at Saffron Walden. (fn. 484)

In 1842 a Congregational chapel was built on the east side of Frog Street. (fn. 485) It was twice enlarged between 1876 and 1896, when it had 200 sittings, (fn. 486) and was served by the minister from Duxford once a fortnight. (fn. 487) It was closed c. 1954, (fn. 488) and the building, sold in 1956, (fn. 489) was derelict in 1972.

Two houses, one near the Red Lion and the other in Frog Street, were licensed for worship in 1824 and used by Methodists. (fn. 490) Martha Ridding who occupied both houses was their teacher, and they were known as the Old Wesleyan church people. (fn. 491) By 1851 Ickleton was a station of the Cambridge Primitive Methodist connexion, served by a minister from Saffron Walden; it had no chapel, but on Census Sunday 80 people attended the evening service. (fn. 492) A brick chapel on the north side of Abbey Street was built in 1852, with seating for 160 people. (fn. 493) The congregation numbered 95 in 1877. (fn. 494) In 1972 the chapel was served by a minister from Saffron Walden.

There was a Salvation Army hall in Ickleton between 1899 and 1903. (fn. 495)

Education.

Ickleton schoolmasters were licensed in 1601 and 1625, (fn. 496) and a school was held in part of the church in 1638 and in 1678. (fn. 497) There was, however, no other school when the vicar, Nicholas Bull, started a Sunday school c. 1804, (fn. 498) which had more than 60 pupils in 1807 and c. 100 by 1818. (fn. 499) The schoolroom in the church, probably part of the tower, was rebuilt in 1824.

There was one day-school by 1825, and two by 1833, with 34 and 25 pupils respectively. (fn. 500) They may have been the two dame-schools, of which one was held near the green and the other in one of the town houses. (fn. 501)

The British school at Ickleton was established in 1846, in the Congregational chapel and schoolroom built in 1842 in Frog Street. The children paid 1d., 2d., or 3d. a week according to their age and the size of the family. Average attendance in 1870 was 80, (fn. 502) said by the vicar to be mostly children from other parishes. (fn. 503) The building was enlarged after 1876. (fn. 504) The British school was still open in 1888 (fn. 505) but has not been traced later.

There was no Church day-school until the vicar, W. J. Clayton, established one c. 1848. (fn. 506) It was held in a room on the south side of Mill Lane, which was sold in 1867 as part of the Hanchett estate. (fn. 507) In 1871 a new school and teacher's house were built in Church Street. Each child paid school pence; in 1872 the average number of pupils was 57. (fn. 508) Attendance rose rapidly to 97 in 1877 and 103 in 1888, and the school was enlarged in 1884. (fn. 509) The vicar also held evening-classes, but they were poorly attended. (fn. 510) The school closed in 1961, and the village children were transferred to schools at Duxford and Sawston. (fn. 511) The building was bought by the village and converted into a village hall. (fn. 512)

Charities for the Poor.

Ickleton was one of the parishes to benefit under the charity of Lettice Martin. (fn. 513) In 1783 the income of 13s. 4d. a year was distributed to the poor every three years, (fn. 514) and by 1836 26s. a year was received from the charity.

By will proved 1659 (fn. 515) Richard Swan left 1¼ a. to the churchwardens for poor widows. The land, known as the Widow's Acre, yielded 8s. 9d. in 1783. (fn. 516) At inclosure the charity was allotted 1 a., yielding by 1865 £1 16s. a year, which was distributed among poor widows. (fn. 517)

The town lands amounted to 40 a. by 1545, and in the 16th and 17th centuries were leased to farmers, the income being devoted to poor-relief. (fn. 518) The rural dean in 1783 accused the trustees, all substantial farmers, of occupying the lands themselves instead of allotting 3 a. to each poor family at a low rent, while the income was no longer distributed among the needy. (fn. 519) The trustees were allotted 50 a. at inclosure, and in 1825 the town lands were let for £41 which was distributed to the poor at Easter. (fn. 520) Town houses were also given in the 17th and 18th centuries; by 1837 there were ten cottages let for £15, and the number had grown to seventeen by 1851. (fn. 521) The town lands and houses were administered together in the 19th century, and the income, amounting to £148 in 1900, was distributed in food, clothing, and money. (fn. 522)

In 1911 the charities of Lettice Martin, Richard Swan, and the town lands and houses were amalgamated as the Ickleton United Charities. As early as 1835 expenditure on the upkeep of the town houses had exceeded that on doles, and the houses were gradually sold by the trustees. By 1959 five cottages, let at low rents to the needy, remained to the charity, two of which were sold in 1962. The income of the Ickleton United Charities in 1961 was c. £200, which was spent partly on rates and repairs to the town houses and partly on gifts of coal.

Ann, widow of Samuel Jonas, founded a clothing club for the poor; members' weekly subscriptions were augmented by contributions from wealthier parishioners, and the fund was distributed in clothing to the members. In 1882, after Ann's death, her children purchased £350 stock in memory of their parents, to be held in trust by the vicar and churchwardens. Payments from the fund were made in clothing until the 1960s. In 1927 Mr. and Mrs. G. W. H. Bowen built and endowed three bungalows in Frog Street for elderly parishioners, with a preference for their former servants. Mrs. Bowen (d. 1967) left £1,000 to the alms-houses, known as the Gertrude Homes, which were modernized in 1971. A Scheme of 1970 joined the Jonas and Bowen charities with the Ickleton United Charities.