Teversham

10 TEVERSHAM

(O.S. 6 ins. ^aTL 45 N.E., ^bTL 55 N.W.) (Fig. 121)

The parish of only 1221 acres lies immediately to the E. of Cambridge, on almost level chalkland sloping gently towards Teversham Fen on the N.E. and the Caudle Ditch on the S.E. Until modern development took place the small village consisted of dwellings extending along a N.W.-S.E. road across the centre of the parish. However, a small rectangular green just E. of the church, now encroached upon by a 17th-century house (4), suggests that this was the original centre of the village. The existence of the moat at Manor Farm (10) shows that the spread of the village S.E. towards Fulbourn had already occurred by the end of the medieval period. The common fields of the parish, together with the former waste of Teversham Fen, were enclosed in 1815 following an Act of Parliament of 1810.

Ecclesiastical

^a(1) Parish Church of All Saints (Fig. 122; Plate 17) stands at the N.W. end of the village. The walls of field stones, flint and clunch, with limestone and clunch dressings, are partly cement-rendered. The roofs are tiled. The church consists of a Chancel, Nave with North and South Aisles, West Tower and South Porch. The chancel and the nave with aisles were built early in the 13th century. In the late 14th century the aisles were rebuilt slightly wider than before; the roofs were made continuous with the nave roof, so obscuring the 13th-century clearstoreys. At the same date the chancel arch was rebuilt. The W. tower was added within the W. bay of the nave and partly to the west of it, in the early 15th century. A vestry, on the N. side of the chancel and evidently of the 15th century, does not survive. The chancel was repaired in 1863 (Ecclesiologist, XXIV) but proposals for lowering the aisle roofs in c. 1888 under J. P. St. Aubyn (C.A.S. Procs. XXXV (1935), 85) were not carried out. Restoration work has affected the exterior to a greater extent than the interior, where the elaborate 13th-century arcades are preserved largely unaltered.

Architectural Description—The Chancel (29¾ ft. by 14¾ ft.) of the 13th century is without plinths or buttresses. It has an E. gable parapet and plain eaves. The E. window is modern. In the N. wall is a 15th-century doorway with chamfered jambs, moulded four-centred head and a segmental rear-arch on the N.; the vestry it served has been destroyed. To the W. is a 13th-century lancet with externally rebated jambs, and a 14th-century window of two cinque-foiled lights with a quatrefoil in a two-centred head; the chamfered rear-arch rests awkwardly on the splayed jambs, the E. of which, in smaller stones, may be 13th-century. In the S. wall are three windows: the first, of the 14th century, has two trefoiled ogee lights, demi-quatre-foiled tracery in a square head, with continuousmoulded splays and pointed segmental rear-arch; the second is much renewed except for splays and chamfered rear-arch, which are clumsily related; the third, of the early 14th century, has one trefoiled light with continuous-moulded external jambs and a transom, below which is a 'low-side' with chamfered and rebated surround. Two external cement-rendered projections at plinth level are of unknown origin. The chancel arch has three moulded orders, the two outer being chamfered and continuous, but with a recessed chamfer above the springing, and the inner rising from semi-octagonal shafts with moulded capitals; the responds with roll-moulded bases are mostly in limestone and of the late 13th century but the arch and capitals, in clunch, are late 14th-century; on the E. of the S. respond, a hacked-back weathered coping with moulded ridge, at dado-level, is probably a survival of a former stone screen of the first period.

The Nave (31¼ ft. by 16½ ft.) (Plate 17), of the early 13th century, has a steeply-pitched roof continuous with those of the aisles. It has N. and S. arcades, originally of four bays but now of three. The arches, of two hollow-chamfered orders with broach-stops on the N. and S., have roll-moulded labels on the nave side; the octagonal piers have moulded bases, capitals carved with varieties of stiff-leaf foliage, and round or octagonal abaci (Plate 36). The E. responds have attached shafts with roll-moulded bases and tall conical capitals carved with stiff-leaf foliage, considerably restored. The springing of the fourth arch survives but the remainder is obliterated by the later tower (Fig. 123). The 13th-century clearstorey, now internal, has on N. and S. two windows of horizontal-vesica shape with splayed jambs and rebated openings, set above the piers. On the N. of the N.E. respond is the rounded recess of a former rood-loft stair, perhaps of the 15th century, leading to an upper doorway in the N. wall of the nave.

The North Aisle (8½ ft. wide), rebuilt and widened in the 14th century, has walls consisting of roughly-coursed limestone rubble in the lower half and squared clunch in the upper; the relative levels of the clearstorey windows and the top course of limestone demonstrate that the N. wall of the aisle was probably rebuilt on a new line, rather than heightened only, in the 14th century. The limestone may have been reused from the former aisle wall. Three two-stage weathered buttresses are mostly coursed with the limestone and clunch of the aisle wall. All the openings are 14th-century but some are restorations. In the E. wall is a window with two ogee cinquefoil lights, a quatrefoil in the head and external label with mask stop; below is an external weathered string-course extending beyond the jambs. The first window in the N. wall, of one cinque-foiled light, continuous-moulded rear-arch and jambs with moulded stops, is set low in the wall. The second, completely restored except for sill, has two cinque-foiled lights with tracery in a segmental head, moulded rear-arch and external string as in the E. window. The N. doorway has moulded jambs and a label. In the W. wall is a two-light window of 14th-century character, much restored; below is an external moulded string-course. In the S. wall and set in the clasping buttress of the tower is a rounded corbel, presumably for a roof timber; it aligns with horizontal set-backs above the clearstorey suggesting a heightening of the arcade walls and reroofing of nave and aisles at a slightly higher level in the 19th century. A similar corbel exists in the S. aisle.

The South Aisle (8½ ft. wide), rebuilt and widened in the 14th century as on the N. but with a greater use of clunch, has walls of squared clunch with the lower courses of limestone and flint. The S.E. and S.W. lateral buttresses, of one stage with weathered tops, are perhaps 15th-century additions. The S. openings are largely late 19th-century but the limestone window-sills and a moulded string-course immediately below them are 14th-century. The S. doorway is much renewed.

The South Porch has clunch walls with limestone lower courses which are integral with the aisle walls and include reused moulded medieval fragments. The archway and roof are late 19th-century.

The West Tower (9 ft. by 10 ft.), of the early 15th century, has three stages with wide clasping buttresses rising to the base of the belfry stage, stepped parapet and gargoyles. The ground stage has moulded plinths. The weathercourse of the steeplypitched nave roof survives on the E.; the roof appears to have been raised in the 19th century and is set close to the weathercourse. The tower arch, set in reveals formed by the clasping buttresses, has two chamfered orders, the outer continuous on the E. but dying into the side-walls on the W., and the inner springing from attached shafts with moulded caps and bases. The stair in the S.W. turret has a doorway with a chamfered four-centred head. The 15th-century W. window has three cinque-foiled lights with vertical tracery and a label. In the N., S. and W. walls of the second stage is a small rectangular light with double-chamfered jambs. The belfry-stage has in each wall a window of two cinque-foiled lights, a quatrefoil between vertical bars in the head and a label with beast-head stops. The ground-stage of the tower has a boarded ceiling with ribs forming sixteen panels painted in red, green and white with conventional flowers, the four middle panels containing shields: two bearing a crown and two the sacred monogram in black-letter; probably early 16th-century, but restored in 1891.

The Roofs are late 19th-century.

Fittings—Bells: one, by Taylor of St. Neots, 1799. Bell frame: for three bells, probably medieval. Bier: oak, with drop handles, 19th-century. Coffin lid: fragment with simple foliated cross, perhaps 13th-century. Door: to ringing-chamber, two oak planks, nail-studded with two long hinges now reversed, and lock-plate, 15th-century. Font: octagonal limestone lead-lined bowl with rounded under-edge, octagonal clunch stem with moulded cap and chamfered base; the much-restored and recut bowl is perhaps 13th-century but the stem is 15th-century. Glass: in W. window of tower, fragments of canopies and borders, reset in tracery and main lights, 15th-century.

Monuments and Floor slabs. Monuments: In chancel—(1), of John Brocklebank B.D., 1843, white marble tablet, by Tomson and Son, Cambridge. At W. end of S. aisle—(2) (Plate 46), of Edward Styward (d. 1596) and Margaret (Kirby) his wife, set up by Thomas Jermy, husband of their surviving child Joan, tomb chest of alabaster and other marbles, with effigies of a man in Greenwich armour on rolled rush-mattress, and of a woman with head on cushion; the tomb chest with the N. side of two bays having middle and angle pilasters, moulded base and primitive gadrooned edge to slab, has achievement of arms on E., two shields of arms on N. and inscription tablet on W.; the achievement has shield of fourteen quarters: 1 Styward or Steward (a lion rampant debruised by a bend ragulée), 2 Styward (a fesse checky), 3 Boreley (three boars' heads), 4 Walkfare (a lion rampant), 5 Baskerville (a chevron between three hurts), 6 Bestney (a lion rampant crowned), 7 unidentified (a tower), 8 unidentified (a two-headed eagle displayed), 9 Spenlow (a cross flory between four martlets), 10 unidentified (quarterly of nine, fleurs-de-lis in each), 11 FitzGeffrey (three lions passant), 12 Beruen (a lion rampant guardant within a border engrailed), 13 Blackney (a chevron between three leopards' heads), 14 unidentified (a griffin); the other shields are (1) for Styward with fourteen quarters as above, impaling Kirby (a lion ram-pant), and (2) for Kirby alone. The monument originally stood in the N. aisle (Palmer, Inscriptions and Arms from Cambs., 168; Parker, Ecc. Top. Cambs. No. 74). In churchyard—headstones include five carved with floral swags and emblematic decoration, of the second half of the 18th century; also a rectangular pedestal with urn, of 1843. Floor slabs: in chancel—(1), of 'J.B.', rector 1843, for John Brocklebank; (2), of Catherine Ashley, 1844; (3), of Ellen Ashley, 1846. In nave—(4), of John Rant, 1696, and Johan (Jermy) his wife, 1663, black ledger with achievement of arms of Rant impaling Jermy; (5), of Thomas Haylocke, n.d.

Piscinae: in chancel—(1), recess with buttressed jambs, trefoiled and sub-cusped ogee head with crockets, rising into a cresting of pierced arcading of three cinque-foiled openings, 15th-century. In N. aisle—(2), in N. wall, recess with moulded jambs, ogee trefoiled head and sex-foiled drain, 14th-century. In S. aisle—(3), in S. wall, recess with trefoiled head, 14th-century but much restored. Plate (Plate 62): cup (ht. 7½ ins.) with baluster stem, London 1638; cover-paten, inscribed as gift of Ralph Witty, rector, early 18th-century. Pulpit (Plate 61): oak, octagonal, sides panelled in three heights, the lowest fluted, the middle carved with conventional leaf-design and the upper with guilloche ornament, dentilled cornice; early 17th-century, on modern stone base, purchased in 1891 from Cherry Hinton church (Churches of Cambs. (1845), Pl. opp. 22). Screen (Plate 57): under chancel-arch, oak, of six bays, the centre two amalgamated by a four-centred septfoiled and sub-cusped arch over entrance; each bay has a cinque-foiled ogee and sub-cusped arch above which are two tiers of tracery in a four-centred head; the lower parts of the side mullions have been removed. The dado is blind-panelled: N. of the entrance are four trefoiled sub-cusped panels with foliated spandrels and brattishing, and S. of it, two panels with semicircular enriched heads of the early 17th century. The screen, which is carved on both sides, is late 14th- or early 15th-century and retains some original colouring. For former stone screen, see Chancel.

Seating: in nave, seven oak benches with moulded rails, panelled ends and modern buttresses, 15th- or early 16th-century. Sedilia (Plate 38): in chancel, of clunch in three bays with stepped seats and recesses divided by shafts with moulded bases and embattled caps, flat arched heads and miniature vaulted canopies with nodding ogee cinque-foiled and crocketed heads, somewhat mutilated; the wider E. bay has canopy of two arches with central shaft and behind the heads is a stone backing with trefoil-headed piercings; 15th-century. Squints: in N. and S. responds of chancel arch, slanting rectangular openings, perhaps 15th-century. Table: in N. aisle, with turned legs and bracketed top rail, early 18th-century.

^b(2) Baptist Chapel, built in 1858, owns a two-handled silver cup (Plate 63) without stem, of 1720, bearing inscription stating that it was presented by St. Andrew's Street Church, Cambridge, in 1921.

Secular

^a(3) Rectory (Plate 113), of two storeys and white brick walls, has slated parallel gabled roofs with chimney stacks at each end. It was designed and built by James Webster in 1819 at the expense of the Rev. John Brocklebank, rector 1817–43, (C.U.L., C 3/21, Churchwardens' presentments, 1836) at a cost of £2000 (Church Commissioners' Records). The former parsonage house, which stood to the E., seems to have remained until the completion of the present building (C.A.S., two watercolours by Relhan). The S. elevation, in four bays, has sash windows and a moulded timber eaves cornice concealing the gutter. The entrance is centrally-placed at the W. end beneath the roof-valley; the flanking gable walls have blind window recesses behind the chimney stacks. Later additions on the E. and N. have been removed, so restoring the building to its former rectangular shape. The plan conforms to the pattern of parsonage houses of the time by providing an incumbent's study close to the front door. Inside, the central axial passage separates two main rooms on the S. from the staircase and lesser rooms on the N. Architectural interest is given to the passage by round-headed cross-arches (Plate 98). The door-heads to the main rooms are strangely low. The S.W. room has a moulded plaster cornice enriched with key-pattern, and reeded wooden fireplace surround with angle-roundels. A modern rectangular window replaces a former round-headed window which lit the plainly-designed staircase at mezzanine level.

Stables, S.E. of house, of white brick and slated roofs, are early 19th-century.

^a(4) House, of one storey and attics, timber-framed with thatched gabled roof, is probably 17th-century; except for the E. gable it is brick-cased. A single-storey thatched addition on the S. may be 18th-century. The plan approximates to Class J but the position of the original entrance is not certain. Inside, the axial beam of the centre room is cased.

^a(5) House, Class J, of two storeys, timber-framing on brick plinth, with tiled gabled roof, is 17th-century. The E. gable wall has a first-floor jetty with exposed joists. On the S. are two additions. The internal chimney stack has four conjoined diagonal shafts on a square base. A former chimney stack against the W. gable has been demolished but the stop-chamfered bressummer of the fireplace it served survives internally. The central and W. rooms have stop-chamfered axial beams; the cross beam in the E. room is plain. The roof, in five bays, has collars clasping purlins.

^a(6) Teversham Hall (Plate 113), of two storeys with white brick walls (13½ ins. thick on the ground floor and 9 ins. on the first floor), and slated roofs behind parapets, has an L-shaped plan; footings to the rear wing include old red bricks and large boulders. In 1837 tenders were invited for '. . . taking down part of Teversham Hall and making certain additions and alterations in erection of farmhouse and other buildings . . . Mr. Lane, Teversham, Thomas Ward Archt. London' (Camb. Chron. 7 Oct. 1837). No part of the earlier building referred to can be traced although irregularities in the rear wing may be due to a structure which may have stood against its E. side; a building is certainly shown on the Enclosure Map of 1815. The main range on the S. contains a central stair hall and two large flanking rooms with chimney stacks in the rear walls; the front and rear wings are separated by a cross passage, which is single-storey, except for part concealing water-tanks. The S. front is of five bays, the centre breaking forward to take a columnar porch, originally with Ionic caps and bases, and a doorway with rectangular cast-iron fanlight. Below the plain parapet is a cement-rendered cornice, and a first-floor platband in cement at sill level; only the lower windows have sills. The return elevation repeats the theme with the addition of blind recesses; a doorway to the cross passage has a fanlight with radial bars. Inside, the stair has plain balusters, mahogany handrail terminating in central iron newel. On the first floor is a reeded stone fireplace surround with angle-roundels, now marbled in dark paint.

^a(7) House, of two storeys, brick, perhaps formerly timber-framed, with slated gabled roof, was built in the early 19th century on a Class-I plan to which a wing was later added on the N.

^a(8) House, of one storey and attics, timber-framed and plastered, with pantiled gabled roof, is a single room surviving from a larger house possibly of the 17th century. A later wing is on the W. The early part is gabled along the long axis. Inside, corner posts are traceable; the axial beam is cased.

^b(9) House, of two storeys, brick with slated gabled roof, is a small double-depth dwelling of the early 19th century; the upper windows have sliding sashes.

^b(10) Manor Farm, of two storeys, timber-framing largely brick-cased, with tiled gabled roofs, has a 17th-century origin approximating to Class J. Alterations have been considerable but probably in the 18th century the use of the rooms was reversed, the former parlour, next to the stack, being rebuilt and a service wing added at the rear. A passage, axial with the main range, was added later and in the early 19th century a small study with lean-to roof behind a high parapet was built at the W. end. No original features show externally. Inside, the centre room has 18th-century plaster cornices enriched with acanthus and reeding. The rear wing, widened by an outshut on the W., has a stop-chamfered cross beam. Reset, upstairs, is an early 17th-century door with run-through panelling, carved upper panel and scrolled iron hinges.

The house stands in the N. corner of a Moated Site (Class A1 (b)) of roughly rectangular shape and two acres in area; it was formerly bounded by a water-filled ditch 35 ft. wide and 4–6 ft. deep. The N.E. side and part of the S.E. have been filled in except at the E. corner. The interior is flat with two modern depressions within it. On the Enclosure Map of 1815 the moat is shown complete, with a causewayed entrance in the centre of the S.E. side. No trace remains of the cross ditch described by V.C.H. (Cambs. II, 42).

^b(11) Terrace of three dwellings, of two storeys, white brick, with slated roofs, is early 19th-century. The dwellings are symmetrically arranged, the flanking ones being entered from the ends. The main elevation in five bays is articulated by pilasters at the arrises; the gabled outer bays and the central bay break forward. The windows are sash and the central door has a panelled door-surround with angle-roundels. The end houses each have double-depth rooms and the centre block approximates to Class U.

Earthworks

Roman

^a(12) Roman Settlement (TL 49965753), lies on chalk at about 40 ft. above O.D. Large quantities of Roman pottery including Horningsea and Nene Valley wares, as well as tiles and building material, have been found.

Medieval and later

For Moat at Manor Farm see (10).

^ab(13) Cultivation remains. There were three large common fields around the village before their enclosure in 1815. Ploughed-out and destroyed ridge and furrow of these fields can be traced on air photographs in two places. Within Cambridge Airport (around TL 489587) are some 50 acres of ridge and furrow arranged in rectangular interlocked furlongs up to 250 yds. long and 7 yds. wide. This area was in the former Causeway Field. On the S. side of Teversham Fen (TL 506585) are some 15 acres of ridge and furrow arranged in a reversed-S curved furlong at least 200 yds. long, and a further 10 acres N. of Manor Farm (TL 502581) arranged in a C-curved furlong; these were formerly in Mill Ditch Field.

Ridge and furrow within fields already enclosed in 1815 remains or can be seen in air photographs in many places immediately around the village. It is usually straight, up to 170 yds. long, 5–7 yds. wide with headlands up to 15 yds. within the field boundaries. (C.R.O., Enclosure Map and Award, 1815; air photographs: 106G/UK/1490, 4159–62; commercial air photographs in N.M.R.)

Undated

^a(14) Crop marks (TL 49705675), lie in the extreme S. of the parish, N. of Fulbourn Old Drift on chalk at 50 ft. above O.D. Air photographs show an incomplete rectangular ditched enclosure, orientated N.W.-S.E., 240 ft. by 110 ft. with only slight traces of a S.W. side. (C.U.A.P.)