Burwell

2 Burwell

(O.S. 6 ins. ^aTL 56 N.W., ^bTL 56 N.E., ^cTL 56 S.E., ^dTL 66 N.W., ^eTL 66 S.W.)

(Figs. 24 and 25)

The parish, roughly L-shaped, covers nearly 7000 acres approximately N.W. of Newmarket. The S.E. part is entirely on the chalk and slopes N.W. from 160 ft. above O.D. on Newmarket Heath to 10 ft. above O.D. at the fen edge; the N.W. part is fenland and ranges between 10 ft. and 12 ft. above O.D. The fenland was formerly peat-covered, the greater part of which, on the S.E., has now disappeared owing to drainage and cultivation, and the underlying chalk and clay are exposed.

Until 1953 the parish included the E. part of Reach (q.v.) situated at the end of Reach Lode.

The village lies close to the fen edge and is now a large settlement extending for nearly 2 miles in a N.-S. direction. It consists of several clearly defined regions.

The original nucleus was at the S. end of the present village around the church which stands on a low flat-topped circular hill about 50 ft. above O.D. (Fig. 24). Its name 'Spring by the fort' (Reaney, 'Place-names of Cambs.', 187–8) perhaps implies a pre-Conquest fortified site; although no identifiable feature survives, the roughly oval arrangement, with a N.—S. axis, of roads and lanes round the hill-top may indicate the outline of early defence works. An early 19th-century map (P.R.O., Map of the Manor of Burwell Ramseys, 1806) shows a well-preserved 'green' S. of the original centre and outside the presumed line of the early defences. The construction of the railway in 1883–4 destroyed part of this 'green'.

The development of the village was continued on the axis of the early settlement along part of High Street, N. of St. Mary's church; the former church of St. Andrew was perhaps the ecclesiastical centre of this development. Parallel to the High Street, and on the E., is a back lane. To the W. of St. Mary's church, and around and under Burwell Castle, are remains apparently of houses and gardens, indicating that the building of the castle in the 12th century terminated the development of the village in that direction.

The S. part of the present village, comprising the whole of the foregoing area and still known as High Town, had until the early 19th century Pound Hill at the end of High Street as its N. limit. Beyond lay part of the common fields which were crossed by a track known as the Causeway (149) at the further end of which, and parallel with the fen edge, a long winding road forms the N. part of the village (Fig. 25). Its name, North Street, is recorded in 1351 (Reaney, ibid., 188). The street runs almost parallel to the former headlands in the common fields to the N.E., perhaps indicating its origin on such fields (P.R.O., Map of Burwell, 1806). North Street has a number of late 16th- or early 17th-century houses of high quality, probably associated with the development of the water-borne trade; Burwell New Lode was constructed in the mid 17th century in connection with this trade.

Near the S. end of North Street is a district, rectangular in shape and divided by parallel E.-W. lanes into four zones, known as Newnham. The name is recorded in 1445–6 (P.R.O., SC 6/765/11). The regular layout of lanes suggests an element of deliberate planning. On the E. and W. of the district are two parallel lanes, Low Road and The Leys, which continue S. as far as Parsonage Farm (40); on Low Road and its continuation southward are two medieval moated farms (39 and 41). The origin of this pattern is uncertain but, as with North Street, it may have resulted from settlement along headlands in former common fields.

Until 1817 much of the chalkland was occupied by the common fields (150) with the exception of an area of downland on Newmarket Heath and one of old enclosures around Breach Farm (TL 604683). The name Breach is recorded in 1232 (Reaney, ibid., 188); the cultivation of former wasteland in the medieval period is indicated. Enclosure and drainage of fenland started in the Middle Ages and continued into the mid 19th century.

Ecclesiastical

^b(1) Parish Church of St. Mary (Fig. 26; Plate 24) stands in the S. part of an irregularly-shaped churchyard whose boundary follows the 50 ft. contour. The present churchyard incorporates on the E. and N. the sites of houses which were removed in 1859. The church consists of Chancel with Crypt, Nave with Aisles, North and South Porches, West Tower and South-west Vestry. The walls are of field stones, flint and rubble, with limestone dressings some of which, in 'Barnack', is reused; except for the lower part of the nave piers, the interior is in clunch. The roofs are covered with lead and the porches are tiled.

The earliest parts of the fabric are the lower two stages of the tower which are 12th-century; the scale of this survival points to a church of considerable size. In the 14th century a S. aisle was built or partly built; only the W. section of the present aisle survives of this date. In the 15th century the tower was heightened by three additional stages and strengthened by buttresses; the S.W. vestry, probably a treasury originally, is integral with these alterations to the tower. The arms in the chancel of Higham for John Higham, vicar 1439–67, indicate a general date for the building of the church, and constructional features suggest that the progress of building was sporadic; an inscription over the chancel arch states specifically that the east wall and the roof of the nave were completed in 1464. A bequest of 40 shillings from John Andrew, chaplain, in June 1465 was for 'the new building of the church'. The spirelet is dated 1799. Of the considerable restorations undertaken in the 19th century a major one in 1862 at the expense of the University was supervised by Mr. Edlin (Church Builder (1862), 61), and another by George Street in 1877 concerned the chancel.

The building of the chancel and nave at Burwell followed the first phase of construction of King's College chapel, Cambridge, under the direction of Reginald Ely, the master mason, between 1446 and 1461; affinities between the forms of window tracery in both buildings is noticeable (Plate 33). A stylistic precursor may be found in the architectural detail of the gateway at Queens' College (1448) where Ely was almost certainly employed (A. Oswald, C.A.S. Procs. XLII (1949), 8–26).

Architectural Description—The Chancel (41½ ft. by 22 ft.) has a moulded plinth, embattled ashlar parapet with a moulded string carved with foliated and head bosses, gargoyles carved as grotesque beasts and foliated gable-cross. The E. window of five cinque-foiled lights, arranged 2:1:2 with vertical and mouchette tracery in a four-centred head with external label and carved lion stops, is much restored. Below, in the plinth, a square-headed window of two lights serves the crypt. The two-stage diagonal and side buttresses have moulded plinths and crocketed pinnacles. The first two windows in the N. wall have four transomed cinque-foiled lights with vertical tracery and quatrefoils and external labels; the third repeats the design but omits the W. light to allow for the semi-octagonal external rood-loft stair in the angle between chancel and aisle (Plate 32). Below the first window is an external weathered projection splayed on the E., which encloses a staircase to the crypt; the doorway to it from the chancel has chamfered jambs and moulded four-centred head. Canted across the N.W. angle and with a high threshold is a similar doorway to the rood-loft stair. The S. windows of four lights are uniform with those on the N.; below the first, in the plinth, is a square-headed window lacking its central mullion, lighting the crypt; the internal embrasure of the main window is continued down to incorporate sedilia. Below the second is a doorway with moulded four-centred head and plain jambs. Inside, flanking the E. window and between the side windows, are tall much-restored semi-octagonal niches with sidebuttresses and miniature vaulting, crocketed tabernacle heads terminating with finials and entirely modern demi-angel corbels; the form of the miniature vaulting varies between niches. The niche on the N. of the E. window is larger than that on the S. The finials of the side niches rise to small corbels which carry the roof wall-posts as part of the same design. The intermediate tie beams are carried on corbels mostly in the form of keystones to the side windows; these corbels are carved as demi-angels holding, on the N.—a heart, a mitre, a small organ; on the S.—a book, a shield with arms of Higham (a fesse checky between three nags' heads), a cithern. The chancel arch is moulded similarly on the E. and W. with a continuous hollow chamfer between shafts which have miniature octagonal caps and bases.

The Crypt (8½ ft. by 21 ft.) is approached by a flight of steps on the N. of the chancel (Fig. 27). The lower doorway has chamfered rebated jambs, four-centred head and hinge-pin. The crypt has a four-centred barrel vault in clunch with modern partition and modern passage on the W. The floor has been lowered. In the E. wall is a recess into which is set an altar or podium of stone and other material. In the S. wall is a contemporary fireplace with hood carried on corbels and a flue in the thickness of the wall (Plate 75). The compartment may be identified as a vestry or perhaps an anchorage, although no reference to an anchorite has been traced.

The Nave (69¼ ft. by 21¾ ft.) has similar N. and S. arcades of five bays with continuous hollow-chamfered mouldings separated at the cardinal points by single and triple rollmouldings each with miniature octagonal caps and bases. The E. wall of the clearstorey (Plate 25) is panelled with blind arcading above the haunches of the chancel arch and below the arch braces of the roof. The panelling is in three tiers: the lower has cinquefoil-headed arcading; the middle, flanked by ogee-headed niches with miniature vaulting, is in five square bays, the central bay containing an indented cusped quatrefoil which encloses a shield carved with the Royal Arms of 1816– 1837, the two outer ones being similar but with blank shields, and the two intermediate ones being filled with radiating tracery within a circle; the upper tier has a central circular window with radiating mouchettes flanked by cinque-foiled arcading below which is an incised black-letter inscription, 'Orate p~ aīabs Johīs Benet Johaāne t~ Alicie ux' ej' parentūq~ suor~ qui fieri fecert~ hunc parietē ac carpentariā navis ecclīē a^o dī m^occc^o lx iiij^o'. The N. and S. battlemented clearstoreys have string-courses decorated with paterae; each contains ten windows of three cinque-foiled lights, with sex-foiled tracery in a depressed triangular head; the external label is continuous but between the sixth and seventh windows on the N. it butts against large but mutilated carved stop. Internally the clear storey is unified with the arcades by continuing vertically the roll-mouldings from the piers and from the apices of the arches; the shafts terminate with moulded capitals that carry the wall-posts of the tie beams. The spandrels are filled with two tiers of blind cinque-foiled panelling.

The N. Aisle (15½ ft. wide) has side and diagonal buttresses and battlemented parapet, stepped on the E. with a string-course decorated with paterae. The E. window with external label has four cinque-foiled-headed lights with a transom, below which the lights have ogee heads and cinque-foiled cusping; in the four-centred head is curvilinear and ogee tracery. In the S.E. angle is a second doorway to the rood-stair; it has chamfered jambs and moulded four-centred head. In the N. wall are uniform windows each with three transomed lights and tracery of twin-circle design in a depressed head with a label. The N. doorway has continuous moulded jambs, four-centred inner and square outer head, sunkquatrefoiled spandrels and moulded label, and side shafts. The W. window of four cinque-foiled lights with a transom has vertical tracery in a four-centred head, and an external label. The E. and S. windows in the S. Aisle are uniform with those in the N. aisle. The S. doorway has continuous jambs consisting of two chamfered orders with semicircular hollow between, and broach-stops, 14th-century. The aisle extends westward on the S. of the tower at a lower level and has a two-stage lateral buttress on the S. Across the W. end of the aisle and springing off the S. wall is a large half-arch of two chamfered orders, probably of the 14th century; above it is a mid 15th-century window of four cinque-foiled lights with tracery in a four-centred head and a label. In the S. wall a window with three uncusped lights and quatrefoils in the tracery is 14th-century but the sill has been raised. The 15th-century compartment on the W., now a vestry but originally a treasury (Plate 19), is separated from the S. aisle by a formerly external cross wall with a chamfered plinth on the W.; a rough scar in the S. wall is probably due to the removal of an aisle buttress; the 15th-century doorway, inserted in the cross wall, has moulded jambs four-centred inner and square outer head, and spandrels carved with foliage and a rose. On the S., is a narrow single-light rebated window whose internal sill has been raised; below, is a blocked opening of unknown date or purpose. On the W. is a narrow cinque-foiled-headed rebated window with ogee and cusped head, spandrels with carved shields, and heavy external iron grille.

The West Tower (18 ft. by 14¼ ft.) is in five external stages. The embattled parapet, which has gargoyles on the N. and S. and crocketed pinnacles at each corner and in the centre of each wall, is surmounted by a lead-covered octagonal spirelet in three heights the second being open with plain angle-posts and a central post inscribed in cast-lead, 'By order of R. H. Turner 1799'. The two lowest stages of the tower are of the 12th century (Fig. 28) and the three upper are 15th-century additions, as are the buttresses and the S.W. part-octagonal stair turret. The two upper stages are octagonal, the lower being irregular; the junction between stages is partly masked by three-stage diagonal buttresses and the S.W. stair turret.

The 15th-century tower arch has hollow chamfers between shafts with caps and bases; on the W. a wave-moulded rear-arch dies into the side walls. A blocked opening in the S. wall may be of post-medieval date and inserted to provide access to the tower when the tower arch was blocked; the blocking, which had been added in 1754 and made from wainscot formerly under the chancel arch (Visitation Book, Fordham Deanery, West Suffolk Record Office E14/2/200), was removed in 1861 (C.U. Archives, newspaper cuttings). The much-restored 15th-century W. doorway has chamfered jambs and label; above, is a blocked quatre-foiled circle. The W. window of four cinquefoil lights with vertical tracery in a four-centred head with label is mid 15th-century and largely obliterates the lowest string-course of the 12th-century tower. Against the centre of the lowest stage of the N. wall is a 12th-century pilaster buttress of three stages with gabled head, in limestone ashlar; in the second stage is a narrow blocked light with semicircular head; to the E. of the pilaster and at a higher level is a similar blocked light. The 15th-century angle-buttresses supporting the N.W. corner of the tower are in four heights with moulded plinths. They partly overlap the 12th-century N.W. angle-buttresses which repeat the design of the pilaster of the N. wall but with shafted arrises having capitals carved with leaves and man's head respectively, and moulded bases. At the N.W. angle the lowest string-course, chamfered above and below, has a head corbel between the gabled tops of the angle-buttresses. Above the string-course (Fig. 28) are a number of 12th-century windows: on the E., now internal over the tower arch, are two narrow round-headed widelyspaced windows, with splayed reveals on the W.; above, is a length of 12th-century chamfered string at the same level as the second external string which is 15th-century and marks the limit of the earlier building. At the same level on the N. are two blocked round-headed lights sharing an unmoulded central support with shafted jambs and single rear-arch; also on the N., and on the S. and W., are blocked reveals of windows with twin lights uniform with the last-mentioned, making originally an arrangement of two windows in each external wall (Fig. 29). The third stage has no openings; the fourth stage has in each wall a 15th-century window of two ogee-trefoiled lights with a central quatrefoil and external label which is carried round as a string. Internally, to the N. of the tower arch, on the nave side, is a slight projection, perhaps a hacked-back pilaster buttress of the 12th century. The 15th-century vice has a ground-floor four-centred doorway with continuous chamfered jambs, and two similar doorways now blocked, one at the level of the sill of the W. window and another entering the former ringing-chamber, and a fourth at roof level; the present ringing-chamber, at a higher level than previously, is entered by a doorway inserted in 1861 C.U.L., Ely Faculty Reg. 1834–63).

The North Porch, coeval with the nave, has been much restored. It has a moulded plinth, embattled parapet and twostage diagonal buttresses. At the apex of the N. gable is a figure of St. George and the dragon. The buttresses are surmounted by finials, the W. of which terminates with a carved figure, perhaps a woodwose; the W. figure is missing. A string-course below the parapet is enriched with carved heads and foliated bosses. The moulded and shafted jambs of the archway are restored but the label is original. Between the archway and the parapet are five symmetrically-placed niches. The central and side semi-octagonal niches have side buttresses, crocketed tabernacle-heads, miniature vaulting and statue-bases; the intermediate niches are simpler, having plain-chamfered jambs, cinque-foiled heads and statue-bases. In the side walls are two-light windows, much restored. In each internal angle is an attached shaft from which spring moulded diagonal, intermediate and wall ribs forming fan-vaulting with cinquefoil-headed panels which meet at a central curvilinear octofoil panel embellished with small bosses.

The South Porch, which was almost entirely rebuilt in the late 19th century, has moulded plinth, diagonal two-stage buttresses and restored archway with shafted jambs and four-centred head. In the side walls are restored windows of two cinquefoil-headed lights in a square surround. The steeplypitched roof has plain eaves and gable parapet.

The Roofs of the chancel, nave, aisles and S. porch are coeval; the inscription over the chancel arch stating that the nave roof was completed in 1464 may be taken as applicable to the other roofs, which follow a uniform design. The roofs have been repeatedly repaired and some carving, particularly on the plank-cornices (Fig. 30), may have been replaced; the apparently late form of the crown and lions (67) and shields (70) (71), for example, may be due to repair. Different standards of craftsmanship may be detected in the cornice-carvings. Broadly, those which have a religious significance are more competently executed than those with secular and grotesque subjects, and are placed in the eastern bays of the nave ((13) (14) (23) (24)). The remainder allude to heraldic or allegoric morality subjects (e.g. (29) (39) (48)). The skilful carvings in the chancel seem to be by the same hand but only two panels are ostensibly religious in subject matter ((2) (8)). The roof of the chancel is divided into three main bays by cambered tie beams with curved braces enriched with foliar carving. In the spandrels are pierced quatrefoils. The tie beams are low-pitched and support roll-moulded purlins and ridge-pieces. The braces rise off wall-posts, each is carved with a figure of bearded man holding a book; the wall-posts rest on the finials of the niches or on stone corbels carved as demi-angels holding, in two instances, a crown, and in a third, a gabled reliquary. Each bay is sub-divided into two by intermediate tie beams rising off carved keystones (see Chancel). At the junctions of the tie beams with the purlins and with the ridge are bosses carved with foliage, birds, flowers and a man's head. At the wall-head, between the tie beams are crested plank-cornices carved from the solid, or applied, in low relief: N. side—(1) squirrel between crocodile and chained lion; (2) censing angel and hand of God (Plate 27); (3) hare between hounds; (4) crown between hound and hyena (?) (Plate 27); (5) nest of fledglings between birds (Plate 27); (6) crown between leopard and lion; S. side—(7) crown between hounds; (8) phoenix between angels; (9) crown between lions; (10) hare between lion and stag (Plate 27); (11) hare between hounds; (12) mirror between tigers (Plate 27).

The low-pitched roof of the nave is divided into ten bays by cambered tie beams with wall-posts and arch braces, the spandrels being filled with cusped window-forms (Plate 25). The wall-posts rise off stone shafts with moulded capitals already described. At the junctions of the tie beams with the purlins and ridge-pieces are bosses, the former carved with conventional foliage, the latter with an angel holding crown, swan, pot of lilies, pelican in piety, head with triple crown, crowned heads, bearded head, conventional foliage and flowers (Plate 26). At the wall-head between the tie beams are crested cornices carved or applied in relief: N. side—(13) The Assumption between censing angels (Plate 28); (14) chalice with Host between emblems of St. Matthew and St. Mark (Plate 28); (15) vine between tigers with mirrors (Plate 28); (16) mitre between chained antelopes; (17) castle between elephants with castles; (18) hare between hounds; (19) lopped tree between dragons; (20) lopped tree between chained bears; (21) blank shield between stag and hind; (22) crowned head between lions; S. side—(23) pot with lilies between Virgin and Gabriel (Plate 28); (24) chalice with Host between emblems of St. John and St. Luke; (25) blank shield between griffins; (26) flower between cows; (27) crown between camels; (28) flowering bush between yales; (29) tree between foxes carrying geese (Plate 29); (30) flower between unicorns; (31) tree between animals; (32) blank shield between ram and goat.

The lean-to roof of the N. aisle is divided into five main bays by low-pitched principal rafters with pairs of arch braces, the spandrels being filled with pierced and cusped window-forms. On the N. the principals rise off stone corbels carved with demiangels, robed or feathered, and carrying scrolls or a book; on the S. the principals rest on attached shafts extending from the pier-capitals. Each bay is sub-divided by intermediate principals supported on wooden corbels carved as demi-angels holding books or a shield. At the junction of the purlins and the principals are bosses carved with foliage or a man's head. The crested plank-cornices are carved, or applied, in relief: N. side—(33) castle between elephants with castles (Plate 29); (34) patera between unicorns; (35) tree between griffins; (36) crown between angels; (37) vine between griffins; (38) patera between unicorns; (39) monkey with urine flask between mermaid and fox carrying cock (Plate 29); (40) mitre between dragons; (41) castle between elephants with castles; (42) crown between chained antelopes; S. side—(43) and (44) plain; (45) oak sprig between chained antelopes; (46) crown between angels; (47) floral sprig between hind and hound; (48) floral sprig between tigers with mirrors; (49) floral sprig between eagles; (50) sprig with bird between yales; (51) foliated sprig with squirrel between goats; (52) human head between wyverns. The S. aisle roof is uniform with that on the N. and except for (53) (54) (55) (59) (60) (61) and (62) the cornices are carved: N. side—(56) foliated sprig between leopards (?); (57) tree between eagles; (58) head of woodwose between unicorns; S. side—(63) mirror between tigers; (64) mitre between chained antelopes; (65) crown supported by lion; (66) woodwose or monkey holding antelope by rope (Plate 29); (67) crown between lions, probably 19th-century; (68) sunflower between griffins; (69) foliated sprig between yales; (70) blank shield between animals; (71) unidentified shield (two bars gemel a crescent in chief), probably 19th-century, between eagles; (72) hare between hounds. The roof of the S. porch is in two bays with cambered and embattled tie beams against the N. and S. walls, moulded purlins and ridge-piece, and a central truss with short wall-posts and hammer beams with arch braces; each end-truss has curved braces above the tie beams and an infilling below the ridge; similar braces over the hammer beams terminate with wooden demi-angels holding blank shields. Ashlar-pieces rise behind the plankcornices which are carved: on the E.—(73) a mirror between two tigers; (74) foliated tree between chained antelope and yale; on the W.—(75) floral bush between lions; (76) crowned and bearded head between dogs.

Fittings— Altar: see Crypt. Bells: 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th inscribed '1703'; 8th, by Thomas Newman, 1725; small bell in spirelet, by Pack and Chapman, 1776. Bell frame: old and reconstructed. Benefactors' Tables: in W. tower, 18th-century painted boards recording gift for repair of church by William Sigers and Thomas Catlyn in 1716, gift of 'Guildhall' to poor by Sir Edward Chestor, gift for repair of church by John Wosson, gifts to poor by Lee Cotton and Thomas Bates. Brass: in chancel, set in grey marble slab (10 ft. 2 ins. by 4 ft. 6 ins.) with some areas of the brass sunk for infilling. The existing brass is partly a palimpsest made from different originals. The obverse (Plate 43) represents a priest in cassock, surplice and almuce, with head on cushion, of the mid 16th century; above is a triple canopy of the early 16th century, partly missing, the outer bays having indents for standing figures as finials and the centre bay incorporating a representation of the Resurrection (Plate 44). The marginal inscription with corner-roundels is missing. The reverse of the figure (Plate 43) which is in two pieces, shows the lower part of a figure in abbatical or episcopal vestments; the upper part is plain but a triangular indent above the head may have been to receive a mitre. The reverse of the centre section of the canopy shows part of an ecclesiastic with a maniple and possibly a dalmatic; the figure has been identified as a deacon, perhaps of the early 14th century. The reverse of the upper part of the canopy shows the head of a priest with amice, and is possibly foreign. The figure may represent John Lawrence de Wardeboys, last Abbot of Ramsey, whose will requested that '. . . my body be buryed in the church of Sainte Mary at Burwell . . .'. He was abbot from 1508 till his resignation in 1539 and it has been advanced that the slab and the fully-vested figure had been prepared during his abbacy and altered and partly reused between 1539 and 1542, the year of his death (A. W. Franks, C.A.S. 4to. Publ. (1848), 2). Brass Indent: in W. tower, stone slab with indent for lower part of figure with inscription plate and plates for children, perhaps 16th-century. Clock: with brass setting-dial engraved 'Jn° Rowning, Newmarkett', mid 18th-century (Plate 64). Coffin lid: in churchyard, fragmentary, with omega ornament, early 13th-century. Door: to S. W. vestry, oak, with four-centred head, keel-shaped planks and hollow-chamfered stiles, with heavy iron hinge-strap, 15th-century. Dial: scratched on 1st buttress of S. aisle, with hole for gnomon, medieval. Font: octagonal lead-lined stone bowl with quatrefoil panels, stem with trefoil-headed panels in each face, and moulded base; 15th-century.

Monuments and Floor slabs. Monuments: in nave—on W. wall (1), of Rev. James Johnson Baines, 1854, and Eliza his wife, 1842, stone tablet with shaped overthrow and apron, by Swinton, Cambridge; (2), of Rev. Henry Turner, 1808, and Elizabeth his wife, 1820, stone tablet with reeded pilasters, fluted overthrow and shaped apron. In N. aisle—on E. wall (3), of John Isaacson, 1830, simple marble tablet, by Parkinson, Newmarket; on N. wall (4), of Elizabeth Isaacson, 1825, and Wootton her husband, 1840, white marble tablet with stone pediment and shaped apron; (5), of Hannah Sandiver (Isaacson), 1743, painted stone cartouche with scroll and drapery border, urn finial and cherub corbel, early 19th-century; (6), of Diana Isaacson, 1803, similar to (5); (7), of Frances Adlard (Isaacson), 1769, similar to (4) but with portrait bust on apron; (8), of Thomas Gerard (Plate 48), n.d. (d. 1613), and Alice (Elliot) his wife, 'February 1608', formerly in chancel (Palmer, Inscriptions and Arms from Cambs., 18), painted clunch composition with male and female kneeling figures beneath double arches supported on Corinthian columns; the entablature is enriched with obelisks and strapwork enclosing achievement of arms for Gerard, quarterly, impaling Elliot; the base with inscription tablet rests on corbels carved with heads and acanthus; the man is in Greenwich armour. (9), of Sir William Russell, 1663, and infant Elizabeth, formerly in chancel, oval black-marble tablet in scrolled surround of alabaster, with Latin epitaph and shields of arms for Russell impaling Bendish (twice), Russell, and lozenge for Russell (Plate 49). In S. aisle—on S. wall (10), of Lady Russell, 1717, black marble tablet against white marble composition with cornice and apron, enriched with six lozenges of arms for Russell impaling Bendish; (11), of Ann Turner, 1843, white marble sarcophagus-tablet with scroll entablature against black background, by Denman, 83 Regent Street, London. In S.W. vestry (12), of Lee Cotton (Plate 48), [1613], formerly in chancel, canopied tomb chest with effigy in Greenwich armour; the chest has panelled sides, moulded top and base, on which stand three columns with enriched entablature, and frieze painted with inscription now much obliterated but recorded by Cole (Palmer, op. cit., 17). In churchyard, monuments include twenty-two headstones of the 17th and early 18th centuries and six later tomb chests; most headstones are decorated with emblems of mortality and one, recording the deaths of 73 people in a barn-fire in 1727, is embellished by a single large heart with flaming wings (Plate 53(a)). Floor slabs: in nave (1), of Ann Turner, 1843. In N. aisle—(2), of Wootton Isaacson, 1840; (3), of Rev. J. J. Baines, 1854. In S. aisle—(4), of Rev. Henry Turner, 1808; (5), of Elizabeth Turner, 1820. In W. tower—(6), of William Pamplin, [1598], recording benefaction; (7), of Stephen Isaacson, 1736.

Niches: see under Chancel, Nave (E. wall) and N. Porch. Painting: in N. aisle, on N. wall, of St. Christopher carrying Christ child, largely obliterated, 15th-century. Panelling: in chancel, against side walls, incorporating old material including stiles with miniature buttresses, end posts, and pierced trefoil and quatrefoil tracery with foliage or a bird in the spandrels; in the tracery are unidentified shields of arms (two chevrons, a bar in chief); the modern stalls incorporate panelled fronts uniform with the wall panelling, 15th-century. Piscinae: in chancel, in S. wall (1), against E. jamb of first window, moulded stone corbel with sex-foiled sinking, mid 15th-century; above, in splay of window, shallow recess in two stages with cusped head, much restored but probably a 15th-century credence. In N. aisle, in E. wall (2), two-stage recess each with cinque-foiled four-centred heads in square surrounds, the lower with modern wooden shelf, the upper probably a credence, 15th-century. In S. aisle, in S. wall (3), recess with cinque-foiled head in square surround with buttressed sides and battlemented top and plain sill, probably a piscina, 15th-century. Plate: cup (Plate 62) (ht. 7¹/8 ins.), silver gilt with engraved design round lip, later sacred monogram, London 1567; flagon (Plate 63) with later spout, and alms dish, both silver gilt, engraved with sacred monogram in a glory, London 1739; stand paten, silver gilt, engraved with sacred monogram, n.d. probably early 18th-century. Royal Arms: over chancel arch, carved on 15th-century masonry shield, 1816–37. Screen: under chancel arch, in five bays, the upper part modern, lower part with 15th-century traceried and embattled panels having cusped roundels; heavily restored by A.W. Blomfield in 1877 (C.U.L., Ely Faculty Reg.). The blocked fixings for the rood-beam survive on the N. and S. arcade responds. Sedilia: in chancel within embrasure of first window on S., the low sill forming a long seat. Weathercock: gilded, probably 18th-century.

^b(2) Methodist Chapel, with white brick front wall and clunch side walls, and slated hipped roof, was built in 1835 on a rectangular plan with a three-bay front having central door and side windows, now altered to have rounded heads. It was extended on the E. and S., and heightened, in the present century.

^b(3) Graveyard, of Congregational church, contains a number of memorials, the earliest dated '1773'. The former church, built in 1797, was totally rebuilt in 1866.

^b(4) Baptist Chapel, with white brick front wall and clunch side and back walls, and slated hipped roof, is said to have been built after 1842 but before 1849 when William Pratt who laid the foundation stone died. In the middle of the century a school room was added at the rear. The main front is in three bays with two tiers of identical windows and a central doorway, all with segmental heads. Original box pews remained until recently.

Secular

^b(5) House (Figs. 31, 32, 33), of two storeys, cellar and attics, clunch walls with some later brick, limestone plinth-weathering, tiled roof with gable parapets, is probably early to mid 14th-century in origin. Direct documentary references to the site or its buildings have not been found, but the surviving range can be identified as lodgings probably forming part of a large domestic group which stood to the N. and E. The range included three ground-floor and three first-floor apartments, each provided with a garderobe; the two N. rooms had fireplaces. The S. ground-floor room, and possibly that above it, appears to have had a different use from the others. Accommodation extended to the attics which had dormer windows.

In the 18th century, buttresses were removed from the main, or W., elevation, and the building generally received new windows and dormers; inside, the N. ground-floor room was panelled. The central and S. chimney stacks in their present form are 18th-century as is an extension to the garderobe turret. The modern conversion of the house into two dwellings resulted in the addition of new doorways and internal partitions. During the 18th and 19th centuries the house was known as 'The Old Manor House', or 'Isaacson's' during its ownership by the family of that name.

The main elevation (Fig. 32) on the W. was originally in four bays, the three northern being defined by buttresses now removed; the S. corner was apparently not buttressed. The lower part of the N. buttress survives; its chamfered plinth with limestone weathering continues as a wall-plinth except for breaks at door-openings and patchings in the positions of the other three former buttresses. The scars of the buttresses stop short of the wall-head which is finished with a chamfered clunch cornice. In each of the three N. bays are remains of upper and lower blocked window openings indicated by clunch quoins, sills and horizontal heads; later sash windows have damaged these features in varying degrees but parts of the upper and lower windows in the third bay remain inside. In the S. bay, an original window and doorway are traceable internally, the latter having a depressed two-centred rear-arch.

Against the N. gable, a wide chimney stack rises in weathered stages; the upper part, in brick, is 18th-century. On the E. of the stack, and partly overlapping it, is a two-storey garderobe turret (Plate 73) with a small rectangular window opening facing E. on each floor. The E. elevation is in four bays with a projecting two-storey garderobe turret in the centre (Fig. 33). E. of the turret is a lower extension in clunch of the 18th century, formerly of one storey, since heightened. The wall, except for the S. bay, has a chamfered plinth and chamfered cornice which extend round the garderobe turret. A two-stage weathered buttress is lateral with the N. gable. In each bay, except the S. which is without old openings, is a rectangular blocked window originally of four lights on each floor; the trefoil heads with sunk spandrels in two upper windows alone remain. Surviving features suggest the lower windows had internal hinged shutters; the upper windows had double sliding shutters on either side of the thicker central mullion (Fig. 34). Between the N. and second bay are two ground-floor doorways; the N. now with rectangular head doubtless originally matched the S. doorway which has a two-centred head. Above, are two blocked doorways with stop-chamfered jambs, flat ogee heads and horizontal inner lintels; at threshold-level is a rough projecting block, probably a broken-off corbel for a timber staging with stairway serving the upper rooms. In the third bay from the N. is a doorway with a depressed two-centred rear-arch. In the S. bay at first-floor level is a small clunch corbel, possibly carved as a head; it is perhaps associated with a former, and probably earlier, timber structure standing at right angles to the range. Reddened clunch in the S. bay suggests that this timber structure was destroyed by fire. The two-storey garderobe turret originally contained four compartments each with a small rectangular window, the lower ones facing N. and S. and the upper facing E.

The S. gable (Plate 73), without buttresses, has ground- and first-floor rectangular windows of the 14th century; the lower has two lights with trefoil heads and sunk spandrels; the upper is wider and blocked, and perhaps originally of four lights. In the apex is a quatrefoil with sunk spandrels. The chimney stack of the 18th century is internal and blocks the upper window.

Inside, the range consists of three rooms in line, but the cross walls do not correspond with the buttresses. The large two-sided stack between the second and third rooms is not medieval in its present form. The N. room, which originally included the adjacent passage, has a large stop-chamfered axial beam whose S. end rests on a stone corbel set in the S. wall of the passage; the mid 18th-century panelling of the N. room is in two heights with moulded cornice and eared fireplace-architrave. A doorway with two-centred head and pointedsegmental rear-arch leading to the garderobe is concealed by panelling. The second room from the N. has a cased axial beam; the third room has a largely-hidden cross beam, possibly over a former partition, and axial beams at a higher level. The E. garderobe turret lacks its dividing wall but the pointedsegmental rear-arch to the lower S. compartment, and a flat ogee-headed doorway to the upper N. compartment, remain. The turret now houses a plain 18th-century stair. On the first floor, the N. room (Plate 74) has an original fireplace with rectangular opening, projecting jambs and unplastered relieving arch below a shallow hood with moulded string; the garderobe doorway in the N. room has chamfered clunch jambs, flat ogee head, door-rebate on the garderobe side and hinge pins. The room at the S. end has 18th-century moulded cornices. The three lodgings have attics with floors, apparently original. The roof, consisting of coupled rafters with collars placed near the ridge, is probably 14th-century (Plate 74); on the E. and W. some rafters have original horizontal trimmers for dormers which rose off the wall-face.

^b(6) Manor House, of two storeys, attics and cellar, timber-framed, cased in modern brick, with tiled gabled roof, has a Class-I origin of the first half of the 17th century. The central stack has been rebuilt to provide a cross passage between two fireplaces. Inside, one room has an ovolo-moulded cross beam with wave-stops, the other a cased axial beam; on the first floor are intersecting chamfered ceiling beams. High-quality importations include two pine fireplace surrounds from Chester Square, London, and softwood panelling in two heights from Arlington Street, Piccadilly, London, all of the 18th century, and scenic wallpaper, 'Vues de l' Amérique du Nord' by Zuber, first issued c. 1834.

Outbuildings include a Pigeon house, of clunch, late 18th- or early 19th-century; an aisled Barn of four bays, with clunch walls and thatched gabled roof, has building-date inscribed on stone panel, '1.1 1751'; a 12-bay Granary, of two storeys and attics, clunch walls and thatched gabled roof with braced tie beams, integral with a Malt-kiln which has a tiled roof, late 18th-century.

^b(7) House, Class I, of two storeys and cellar, timber-framed cased in brick, tiled roof, was built c. 1700; an addition of one storey and attics, with clunch walls and tiled roof, producing a Class-G plan, is 18th-century. Also 18th-century is a twostorey single-room extension at the side. Inside, 18th-century fittings include moulded wooden cornices, and eared architraves to fireplaces which are flanked by cupboards.

^b(8) House, Class T, of one storey, attics and cellar, clunch walls with brick dentil eaves course, tiled roof with gable parapets, is mid 18th-century. The central of three hipped dormers lights the stairwell. Inside, 18th-century fittings include moulded wooden cornices, round-backed cupboard with semicircular head, key-block and shaped shelves flanking the fireplace, and fielded-panelled doors; a fireplace of c. 1800 with reeded half-columns is reset. (Plate 112).

^b(9) House, Class G or J, of one storey and attics, timber-framed partly replaced by clunch and brick, and gabled roof, is 17th-century. The end containing the parlour is canted to the street but is contemporary with the other two rooms. Inside, the centre room has two parallel ceiling beams. 17th-century tie beams, over the main room-division and enclosing the chimney-stack, remain.

^b(10) House, of one storey and attics, has a clunch rubble S. gable wall with a blocked two-light window with chamfered reveals and mullion of the 17th century. The remainder of the house was probably timber-framed, but is now largely of brick, and incorporates, in a partition wall parallel to the gable wall, a cambered tie beam with slots for braces to former posts. A stop-chamfered axial beam is in an unexplained position in the centre of the range. By the 19th century the building had become a pair of Class-S dwellings with end chimneys.

^b(11) Terrace, of one storey and attics, clunch walls, thatched roofs, consisted of four Class-S dwellings of the early 19th century; conversion to two tenements necessitated the blocking of two entrances.

^b(12) House, of one storey and attics, clunch walls, gabled roof with parapets formerly thatched, originated as a Class-G or J dwelling of the 17th century; in the 19th century the E. end room, perhaps the parlour, was rebuilt as part of a cross wing parallel to the street. Inside, the two early rooms each have two parallel axial beams; the W. end room has a large stack in the gable, presumably original; the centre room has 18th-century wooden eared fireplace surround. The later range, perhaps 1830–40, has sash windows and mouldedstone door surround.

^b(13) Vicarage, Class U with later wing, of two storeys, white brick and slated roof, was built in 1826 at a cost of £1350 (Cooper, Annals, V, 551); the main part of the house has a hipped roof, the rest gabled. In 1868–9 part was 'substantially rebuilt' (C.U.L., Registrar's terriers, H/17); this refers to the refitting of the earlier house and the addition of the service wing. Inside, an early 19th-century fireplace with angle-roundels and a ceiling cornice survive. In grounds are fragments of carved medieval masonry and tracery.

^b(14) Pembroke Farm consists of a Class-U house of two storeys, with clunch walls, white brick dressings, slated hipped roof, and a group of Outbuildings of similar date and materials. The farm was rebuilt between 1844 and 1853 (Pembroke College Archives C/14, C/16), except for the chaff-house. It represents the medieval manor of Castle St. Martin.

^b(15) House, Class G, of one storey and attics, timber-framed partly cased in brick, pantiled gabled roof, is late 18thor early 19th-century. Inside, the rooms flanking the stack have axial beams; the narrow service end now houses a stair.

^b(16) House, of two storeys, clunch walls, tiled roof, is a 17th-century remnant of a larger building which ran E. and W. The stack on the gable wall, perhaps originally internal, of red and yellow brick on a clunch base, has grouped diagonal shafts with facets between. The roof has been raised to two full storeys. Inside, an axial beam is cyma-moulded.

^b(17) House, Class J, of two storeys, timber-framed, tiled gabled roof, is late 18th-century. (Access refused)

^b(18) Houses, three, of clunch with gabled roof formerly thatched, are contrived within an early 19th-century barn, the narrow wind-eyes of which survive in the gables.

^b(19) House, of one storey and attics, clunch walls, pantiled roof, has a Class-G or J origin of the 16th century; the end room, furthest from the stack, has been replaced by a modern cross wing. The early house has a small hipped-roofed service room and a central room with stop-chamfered axial beam and a reset cambered and embattled bressummer, the centre ornamented with conventional foliage (Plate 87).

^b(20) House, of one storey and attics, timber-framed with pantiled gabled roof, is a fragment of a 17th-century structure. The W. gable has a first-floor jetty with exposed joists carried on curved end-brackets; the gable rises off shortened corner posts supporting a reset wall plate about 6 ins. above the jetty. A rebuilding of the roof at a lower level is implied.

^b(21) House, of two storeys, clunch walls and pantiled roof, probably originated as a Class-J house of the 17th century. Inside, the rooms flanking the stack have ovolo-moulded or chamfered axial beams. (Access refused)

^b(22) House (Plate 113), Class U, of two storeys and former cellar, clunch walls faced with white brick, and slated hipped roof, was built in 1830 for £200 by Stephen Gardiner, builder. The four-bay front has sash windows. Inside, the main room has round-headed alcoves flanking the fireplace. Pigeon house, with clunch walls, tiled roof and gablets, is early 19th-century. The nesting boxes, originally amounting to about 690, are constructed of clunch slabs with rubble divisions (Plate 115).

^b(23) House, of one storey, attics and cellar, clunch walls with pantiled gabled roof originated as a three-cell dwelling in the 17th century; in the late 18th century the room nearest the road was replaced by a cross wing. Inside, the end fireplace of the earlier range has a roll-moulded bressummer, shortened and reused. The later cross wing, originally with a stair and two rooms, is now undivided on the ground floor.

^b(24) House, of two storeys, timber-framed and clunch walls, with slated gabled roofs, is 17th-century. The T-shaped plan contains three rooms each apparently of varying dates. Inside, the N. front room, incorporating the hall and stairway, has intersecting stop-chamfered ceiling beams and chamfered joists; in the rear wall is a semicircular-backed fireplace. The S. room is wider than the N. room, has thicker walls, and is later; 18th-century fittings include a corner fireplace and corresponding corner cupboard with shaped shelves. The rear room has two parallel cyma-moulded beams and is probably early 18th-century.

^b(25) Five Bells (Plate 112), inn, of two storeys and attics, red brick with tiled roofs and gable parapets, sash windows, was built in the mid 18th century as a Class-T structure; early in the 19th century a single-storey assembly room in white brick, with slated hipped roof and large sash window, was added on the N. Later widening has led to the rear wall of the house being removed. The window sills of the threebay front have been lowered. Inside, a ground-floor room has, adjacent to the fireplace, an 18th-century cupboard with round head, curved back and shaped shelves. The original staircase has closed string and turned balusters; at attic level the balustrade consists of wave-moulded splat balusters.

^b(26) House, Class T with rear wing, of two storeys, attics and cellars, clunch side and rear walls, dark red brick front wall with brighter quoins, tiled roof with gable parapets, was built in the first half of the 18th century. The three-bay front has a first-floor platband stopping short of the angle, eaves course laid diagonally, and two hipped-roofed dormers. On the S. gable are wall-anchors in the form of letters S and G. The wide rear wing of one storey and attics is flush with the N. gable and has an original axial partition. Inside, the S. room has 18th-century semicircular recesses flanking the fireplace, and a wooden cornice. The staircase, oddly placed in the rear wing, is approached from the N. room through a fielded-panelled door with semicircular fanlight. The main room in the rear wing has an axial stop-chamfered beam and a corner cupboard and a round-headed recess, all of the 18th century.

^b(27) White Horse, inn, of two storeys, clunch and white brick walls, with slated roof, has been much altered. It possibly originated as a Class-T structure of the 18th century although an ovolo-moulded cross beam of the 17th century exists in one room. In c. 1830 the building was widened towards the street by the addition of a three-bay range in white brick with a parapet; the central double doors are set in a frame beneath an elliptical head; soon afterwards the inn was extended at one side in the same style to provide a first-floor assembly room.

^b(28) House, of one storey and attics, clunch walls and pantiled gabled roofs, has a non-domestic origin; it was converted into a house in the late 19th century. Interior fittings include an 18th-century corner cupboard with fielded panels, and two semicircular cupboards with reeded pilasters, semicircular heads with key-blocks and shaped shelves, flanking the fireplace.

^b(29) House, Class T with rear wing, of two storeys, attics and cellar, white brick and clunch walls, slated gabled roof, is late 18th-century; on the W. are a number of 19th-century additions including a widening of the S. room. The three-bay front has sash windows, those flanking the central door being wider with side-sashes. Inside, is a plain 19th-century stair.

^b(30) House, of one storey and attics, rendered clunch walls, with pantiled gabled and hipped roof, is a structure of Class-J plan standing at right angles to the street, perhaps 18th-century; later in the same century a room was added on the N. Of the earlier house only the central room has a datable feature: an axial beam with ovolo- and cyma-moulding having stops at the S. end. The added room has 18th-century overmantel and fielded-panelled door.

^b(31) Ramsey Manor (Plate 112), Class T, of two storeys and attics, brown brick front wall, clunch gable walls, timber-framed rear wall where external, with tiled roofs and gable parapets, is mid 18th-century. The rear wall may be a survival of an earlier building. The modern rear wing is a replacement. The five-bay front has sash windows with segmental heads, hipped dormers with leaded-paned casements and central doorway with fluted pilasters, entablature and pediment. Inside, the contemporary staircase (Plate 96) with cut string, carved scroll brackets to risers, turned newels, balusters with square knot, and moulded handrail, rises to the first floor; it continues to the attics with a closed string. The N. room has plain ovolo-moulded panelling in two heights with chair-rail and moulded cornice; the fireplace with eared architrave and scroll-bracketed shelf is flanked by semicircular recesses with arched heads and shaped shelves. The S. room has a fireplace with eared architrave. On the first floor is an 18th-century fireplace with delft tiles and tall iron surround to the grate.

^b(32) House, of one storey and attics, probably clunch heavily-rendered, pantiled roof with one gable parapet, has the end room with chimney stack in the gable, possibly of the 17th century. After alterations in the 19th century it now approximates to Class J.

^b(33) House, Class T, of two storeys, white brick walls, slated gabled roofs, was built c. 1830 and enlarged c. 1840. It was probably the manse for the nearby Congregational church. The heavily-moulded door-case has angle-roundels and the windows have bold wooden surrounds.

^b(34) House, of two storeys and cellar, white brick and clunch walls with slated hipped roofs, is early 19th-century and approximates to Class T with a rear wing which is canted at an angle. The shop front, in the rear wing, has a reeded architrave and angle-roundels.

^b(35) House, of two storeys, clunch walls and pantiled gabled roof, is early 19th-century. It consists of two ground-floor rooms, arranged in depth and separated by a stair. The gable end is to the street.

^b(36) The Crown, inn, of two storeys, clunch walls with brick dentil eaves course, pantiled gabled roof and sash windows, was built after 1842; it originally had a three-room plan but one partition has been removed.

^b(37) House, of one storey and attics, clunch walls, pantiled gabled roofs, is perhaps late 18th-century. It may have originated as a Class-G house, but was later converted to three Class-S dwellings.

^b(38) House, Class T with rear kitchen wing, of two storeys, white brick walls, slated gabled roof and sash windows, was built c. 1830.

^b(39) Hall Farm, of two storeys, with clunch and timber-framed walls and thatched gabled roofs, includes a medieval fragment of a large house of which the S. cross-wing is the N. range of the present building. In the 16th century a large external chimney stack was added on the S. of the cross wing; the present S. range was added at right angles, probably in the 17th century; it was reduced in height and the E. wall rebuilt in clunch in the 19th century, but it is now two-storey. The frame of the N. range consists of substantial timbers arranged in large squares; braces are lap-jointed to wall plates which have splayed scarf joints. The ceiling beams have constructional features suggesting re-use.

The house stands in the E. enclosure of a Moat (Class A2(a)). The site originally consisted of two rectangular islands, each surrounded by wet ditches up to 40 ft. wide. The W. enclosure remains largely intact. The ditch on the E. side of the E. enclosure has been almost totally destroyed; two later rectangular fishponds have been constructed in the S. side near the S.E. corner. Both interiors are flat, and level with the adjacent land.

^b(40) Parsonage Farm (Fig. 35; Plate 108), consists of house of c. 1600, late medieval barn adjoining on the W., and range of outbuildings of the 16th century. Non-domestic buildings in the group indicate an industrial activity of some importance particularly during the 16th century. For Basin and Canal associated with the site, see (137).

The House, of two storeys partly with attics, clunch walls and tiled gabled roofs, incorporates at the W. end the gable of a pre-existing barn and some thick walls at the E. end, which are presumably medieval but are beyond interpretation. The plan of c. 1600 approximates to Class J but the slight difference of alignment in the E. room may be due to the presence of an earlier building at that end; also of c. 1600 is a projecting stair turret incorporating a porch. In the mid 17th century a compartment, apparently a small 'hall' with an upper storey, was added on the N. between the stair turret and the thick medieval walls on the E.; by adding a N.-S. wall between these parallel early walls, service rooms were provided for the new 'hall'. Extensive refitting took place in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when sash windows were inserted in the main rooms on the S., and a tunnel was cut through the chimney stack to give access from a new S. door.

The S. elevation comprises a straight front with, at the E. end, two tall parapeted gables with kneelers, rising off the wall face; these gables take two parallel cross-roofs over the E. part of the range. In each gable is an attic window with clunch jambs and modern wood mullions; the remaining openings are 18th- or 19th-century. The E. elevation is largely masked by single-storey projections with lean-to roofs, the larger, in the centre, having thick clunch side-walls; in the S. side-wall is one splay of a pointed-headed window. Above this central projection the wall is plastered, whereas the area on the S. is clunch rubble, perhaps indicating that the early side-walls of the projection reached a higher level when incorporated in the 17th-century house. Only the unplastered clunch walls contain early openings; the upper and lower two-light windows have clunch jambs and mullions. The single-storey N. section has a thick wall, probably medieval, containing a doorway with four-centred head of uncertain date. The N. elevation has a number of projections, the largest being the stair turret of c. 1600, having staggered two-light windows with clunch jambs and mullions; the gable of the turret is wider than the stair-well and encroaches on the roof of the main range. On the first floor of the main range is a 17th-century three-light window with clunch jambs and mullions.

Inside, the W. room of the main range has a wide fireplace with stop-chamfered bressummer built against the gable wall of the late medieval barn; the middle room has a contemporary passage along its N. side and an eccentrically-placed axial beam. The E. doorway to the stair turret, originally external, has a four-centred plastered head; the stairs have been rearranged around the original framework. The S.E. room has a doorway with a plastered four-centred head. In the small 17th-century 'hall' the screen to the passage is timber-framed in two heights, the upper containing turned balusters; at the S. end the original door is blocked and the area above it filled in. The cross beam is stop-chamfered. Upstairs, each room has one cross and two axial beams.

The Barn (Fig. 36), of which much of the upper part and the W. wall collapsed in 1955, is of two storeys with clunch walls. The ground-floor walls are 6 ins. thicker than the upper and are medieval; the upper walls, floor beams and roof are perhaps early 16th-century. The former W. wall was probably a 17th-century replacement. The 16th-century alteration, incorporating high-standard carpentry, was perhaps to provide a warehouse for merchandise of special quality. One of two original ground-floor openings with internal splays is obscured by a later wall post; the remaining ground-floor openings are later. On the first floor, on the N., are four 16th-century three-light windows with wooden diamond mullions, and a blocked doorway; on the S. are two similar windows. An upper doorway with chamfered clunch jambs and square head is recorded in the W. wall. Inside, chamfered wall posts carrying chamfered cross beams rest on a projecting clunch plinth; chamfered arch braces continue as fillets on the soffit of the beam and on the face of the wall posts which have enlarged heads. The roof consisted of tie beams, short wall posts and arch braces, crown posts, collar purlins with arch braces to the crown posts, and collared rafters.

Range of Outbuildings (Figs. 37, 38; Plate 80), to E. of house, form a continuous row in three sections, the end sections being of the early 16th century and the centre of the late 18th century. The earlier sections originally had jettied first floors on the N., but the eastern is now of one storey. The ground-floor S. wall of the row, in clunch rubble with a straight joint between middle and E. sections, is perhaps an earlier boundary wall; it has no original openings. The W. section has a timber-framed N. front with later brick nogging. It has a low, narrow, two-centred doorway, and two other similar doorways are inferred; a number of three-light windows with diamond mullions with shutter-grooves remain or are inferred. The first floor, which has a moulded jetty bressummer and brackets, has, or had, an almost continuous row of three-light windows without shutters. On the S., the first-floor windows, likewise continuous, were of three or four lights, but many are now blocked. Inside, original partitions divide the ground floor into three compartments each with an axial beam resting on chamfered posts with enlarged heads and clunch footings. Three tie beams with arch braces and enlarged-headed posts, do not align with the main ground-floor cross beams; the roof is modern but central mortices in the tie beams imply crown posts. The W. wall, originally timber-framed, is brick-faced; the E. wall is clunch and contemporary with the range.

The central section, of one storey and clunch walls, has a late 18th-century roof with cross beams and arch braces to short wall posts. The E. section is now of one storey but the jetty, with brackets, of the former upper floor remains. On the N. a wide four-centred doorway survives at the E. end and a similar doorway is implied at the W. end; originally there were no window openings on the ground floor. The timber-framed W. wall is original. Inside, three cross beams, morticed for partitions, indicate two narrow end bays, aligned with the doorways, and two unequal central compartments; there is an axial beam.

A high-quality industrial use such as weaving may be conjectured for the well-lit upper floor of the W. section; on the ground floor were possibly offices; the E. section, with its wider doorways, may have been for storage. The original position of the stairs is uncertain.

^b(41) Tunbridge Farm, of two storeys, consists of a clunchbuilt range of the early 17th century and a brick range at right angles, possibly of the late 17th century; the latter was heightened in the 19th century. The roofs, much renewed, have parapeted gables. The clunch range on the N. is probably the cross wing of a larger house; the brick S. range may be a replacement of a former building containing the hall. It is the manor house of the manor of St. Omers (Camb. Chron. 27 Sep. 1845).

The N. range has on the E., N., and W., clunch ovolo-moulded mullioned and transomed windows of two, three or four lights, on both floors; some are blocked, others have later casements inserted. On the S., and within the S. range, is a large chimney stack. The long S. range has a first-floor platband on the E. but all openings have later fittings. In the angle of the two ranges is a timber-framed and plastered stair turret possibly of the 17th century. Inside, the N. range has intersecting chamfered beams with wave-stops. Originally undivided, it was probably the parlour. The 16th-century clunch fireplace has moulded jambs, urn stops, square outer and 'Tudor' inner head, reset beneath a timber bressummer. The S. range may have contained a cross passage with butteries beyond.

The house stands near the E. side of a small square Moat (Class AI(a)) with sides 130 ft. long. This has been almost completely destroyed except in the N.W. corner where the ditch remains, 35 ft. wide and 4 ft. deep. Elsewhere only a shallow depression indicates the original outline.

^b(42) House, of two storeys and attics, timber-framed with pantiled gabled roof, is 17th-century, extensively refitted in the 18th century. It has an L-shaped plan with a flush gable on the long E. side. The internal stack has square base and two diagonal shafts, probably rebuilt; the rear wing, containing the kitchen, has a large stack at the gable end. Inside, 18th-century fittings in the two main rooms include ovolo-moulded panelling in two heights with chair-rail and cornice returned along the axial beam, eared panel over fireplace with landscape painting, and a corner cupboard in two heights.

^b(43) House, Class T, of two storeys, clunch walls, white brick front, slated hipped roof, and sash windows, is early 19th-century. The chimneys are on the back wall against which is a contemporary outshut.

^b(44) King William iv, Class T, of two storeys, clunch walls, white brick front, and slated hipped roof, was built c. 1830 as an inn. The central entrance has recessed round-headed doorway with fanlight. At the rear is a contemporary continuous two-storey outshut.

^b(45) House, Class I, of two storeys, white brick walls, partly clunch rear wall, slated roof with gable parapets and sash windows, is early 19th-century.

^b(46) Terrace, of two storeys, clunch walls, white brick front, slated hipped roof, was built after 1842. It consists of three dwellings each with two ground-floor rooms arranged in depth.

^b(47) House, Class T with outshut, both of two storeys, clunch walls, white brick front, slated gabled roof, was built after 1842. The three-bay front has sash windows. The chimneys are on the end walls and the eaves have shaped brackets in pairs. Later in the century, the service rooms at the rear were extended. Inside, two original fireplaces have angle-roundels.

^b(48) House, of two storeys, clunch walls with pantiled gabled roof, was built after 1842. It was extended to the N. from the former service end later in the century. (Fig. 39; Plate 110).

^b(49) House, similar to (48) but slightly later. Inside are two reused doors with fielded panelling (Fig. 39; Plate 110).

^b(50) House, of two storeys, clunch walls, white brick front, and gabled roof with semi-octagonal slates, was built after 1842. The plan is L-shaped. The three-bay front has sash windows and a recess with elliptical head enclosing the central bay on both floors (see House (65)).

^b(51) Panel from former school, reset in boundary wall of village college, inscribed 'British School 1846'.

^b(52) Lock-up, now fire-engine house, of white brick with dentil eaves course, tiled hipped roof, is early 19th-century. It originally consisted of two cells entered by separate doors; over each was a shallow grille of closely-spaced diamond mullions.

^b(53) House, Class T, of two storeys, rendered clunch walls on brick plinth, slated gabled roof and sash windows, is early 19th-century. Outbuildings in clunch are associated with a smithy.

^b(54) House, of one storey and attics, timber-framed with thatched roof, was built in the early 17th century to a Class-I plan; in the 18th century an addition with cellar, clunch gable wall, brick platband and tiled roof was built on the S. Inside, the early house has ovolo-moulded and stopped axial beams and chamfered joists with jewel and hollow stops; the N. end room has a stone fireplace with moulded four-centred head and chamfered jambs of the early 17th century, and reused 18th-century panelling of plain character, apparently made from church pews. The 18th-century addition consists of a room of semi-octagonal shape, possibly a parlour of the former White Hart Inn which survived until 1827.

^b(55) House, Class T, of one storey and attics, walls of carefully-cut clunch blocks, red brick dressings, thatched parapeted-gabled roofs with eaves-level platband, is 18th-century.

^b(56) House, of one storey and attics, clunch walls, pantiled gabled roof may be a Class-J house of the early 19th century. Two wall-anchors are in the form of letters S and P.

^b(57) House, Class I, of one storey and attics, timber-framed, brick-cased, with thatched gabled roof, is early 17th-century; an extension containing the kitchen on the W. is slightly later. The internal stack has square base and two diagonal shafts. Inside, the room W. of the stack has double roll-moulded axial beam. The E. room has 18th-century fielded panelling, chair-rail and eared surround to fireplace. A loft over the kitchen was reached by a ladder, hooks for which remain.

^b(58) House, of one storey and attics, clunch walls with thatched gabled roofs, originated as a pair of Class-S dwellings in the early 19th century. They are now unified, but inside, the two stairs against the gable walls survive from the time of its dual occupation. A single entrance replaces the former doorways, now blocked.

^b(59) House, of one storey and attics, is timber-framed with clunch gable walls and gabled roof. It probably originated as a Class-S dwelling of the late 18th century, later to be enlarged to Class T. In the 19th century it was sub-divided to form two Class-S tenements.

^b(60) Fox, inn, one storey and attics, clunch replacing timber frame, tiled gabled roof, is early 17th-century but only two rooms of this date survive; the house was extended on the W. in the 18th century, but this addition was largely rebuilt c. 1850. Inside, each room has axial beams with double ovolo mouldings, one with urn stops. On the first floor are 18th-century fielded-panelled doors and a short length of turned balusters and a rail. The Fox is recorded as an alehouse in 1764 (C.R.O., QS 4.7).

^b(61) Terrace of six two-storeyed dwellings, with white brick front wall, clunch side and rear walls, slated hipped roofs, has clunch tablet on gable inscribed 'T^pM 1842' for Thomas Powell (Tithe Map). Each dwelling consists of two ground-floor rooms arranged in depth. Original casement windows survive.

^b(62) House, originated as a dwelling (Class G or J) of two storeys, with clunch walls and gabled roofs, of the early 17th century; in c. 1820 a Class-T building with clunch and brick walls was added across the E. end, so engulfing the former, possibly service, compartment. Inside, the formerly central room of the early range has double ovolo-moulded cross beam intersecting with similarly moulded axial beams, each having double bar-and-hollow stops. In the room beyond the internal stack is a chamfered cross beam, adjacent to the stack, which swells in the centre to form a shaped housing to take an axial beam, now replaced by modern timber; the cross beam has triple-jewel stops.

^b(63) House, perhaps Class G, of one storey and attics, timber-framed, partly replaced in white brick, pantiled gabled roofs, is 17th-century.

^b(64) House, Class J, of one storey and attics, timber-framed mostly replaced in brick and clunch, with gabled roof, is probably early 17th-century. Inside, each room has a stop chamfered axial beam taking a floor about 2 ft. below the eaves. At the ends of the centre room are closed trusses with cambered tie beams and arch braces across which cuts the upper floor; this floor is apparently an original feature. The former service room, at the E. end, retains oak shelves resting on wooden pegs in the studs.

^b(65) House, with L-shaped plan, has a rear wing of one storey and attics, and clunch walls, which is a survival of an earlier house reported to have been damaged by fire in the early 19th century; a clunch wall, continuing to the E. with blocked openings, is a further relic of this structure. The present front wing of Class-T form, of two storeys, clunch walls with white brick facings on the E., and slated hipped roof, was built after 1842. The three-bay E. front has sash windows and central door with semicircular fanlight below a blind window set in a segmentally-headed recess (see House (50)). (Access refused)

^b(66) House, of one storey and attics, with clunch walls partly replaced and cased in brick, and thatched gabled roof, originated as a Class-I building of the 17th century. It was extended by two rooms on the E., also in clunch, in the 18th century. Inside, the two axial beams flanking the chimney stack are ovolo-moulded with jewel-and-hollow stops.

^b(67) Farm Buildings, include: a three-bay Stable of one storey and dormered attics, clunch walls with yellow and red brick dressings, has a stone panel on the gable inscribed 'JC 1777'; a Barn, of six bays, clunch walls with brick dressings, thatched gabled roof, has a stone panel on the gable inscribed '1780'; flanking the E. entrance are groups of rectangular pigeon-holes with brick alighting-ledge.

^b(68) House, Class J, of two storeys with attics and cellar, timber-framed now largely brick-cased, with metal-covered thatched gabled roof, is 17th-century. In c. 1800 two symmetrical bay windows and a porch were added on the S. and an entrance hall and staircase constructed on the site of the former internal chimney stack. Further rooms were added on the S. and W. in c. 1830. The bay windows have reeded pilasters, fret-patterned architraves, corner-roundels and gothic glazing bars; the porch has semicircular canopy supported on slender clustered columns. Inside, each room has an axial ceiling beam, but that in the E. room is at a higher level owing to late 18th-century alterations. Above the former service end are the enlarged heads of wall posts and a chamfered tie beam.

^b(69) House, Class J, of one storey and attics, clunch walls with tiled gabled roof, is 17th-century; at the parlour end a room with an internal chimney was added at right angles soon afterwards. Inside, the service end has an original axial partition. Part of the roof, with rafters laid flat and with collars clasping purlins, survives.

Barn, of five bays, clunch walls and pink brick dressings and pantiled gabled roof, is early 19th-century. Reset in an adjacent granary is a clunch block inscribed 'I C 1744 S'.

^b(70) House, of two storeys and attics, clunch walls with red brick front wall, plinths and gable apices, pantiled gabled roof, now Class-S, was built in the early 18th century. Inside, an axial beam is encased in boards moulded at the edges, otherwise the internal features are 19th-century or modern. The present entrance is an insertion. The house extended further to the N. in 1842 (Tithe Map).

^b(71) Queen's Arms, inn, Class G or J, of one storey and semi-attics, timber-framed, pantiled gabled roof, was built in 1587 as inscribed on a beam. Although the W. room has a higher roof and the N. exterior wall breaks forward, the house is generally of one date; this room has an axial beam with roll-and-hollow mouldings. The central and E. end rooms each have two parallel axial beams moulded as that in the W. room; the cross beam, similarly moulded and enclosing the chimney bay, is carved 'R R 1587' (Fig. 40). The parallel beams are encased in the E. room. The roof, and possibly the N. wall, of the E. room and the central bay have been rebuilt at a lower level; that over the W. room has collars which clasp the purlins, wind-braces, and a lower collar with shaped brackets. A closed truss, adjacent to the stack, has arch braces and a central post rising from the cambered tie beam.

Barn, W. of house and on bank of cut, of two storeys, clunch walls and pantiled gabled roof, is in four bays; early 19th-century.

^b(72) Houses, a pair, of two storeys, white brick front wall and dressings, otherwise flint, slated and gabled roof, were built as two Class-S dwellings in the mid 19th century. Centrally on the first floor is a blind window recess.

^b(73) House, of two storeys, clunch walls and pantiled roofs with parapeted gables, has a 17th-century origin but a slab in the N. wall inscribed 'W^RR 1831' for William Ridgell, waterman, may indicate much rebuilding at that date. The plan approximates to Classes G or J. Inside, the room W. of the stack has an ovolo-moulded axial beam, and fireplace with clunch jambs with cambered timber bressummer, and above, a moulded clunch cornice; these features are 17th-century. A similar fireplace without the cornice survives in the centre room, but except for a late 18th-century round-headed cupboard in the E. room all other features are c. 1831.

Barn, W. of house, with clunch walls, pantiled gabled roof, has three bays, opposed entrances and narrow wind-eyes, and is early 19th-century.

^b(74) Burwell House, incorporates a range of two rooms with gable-end chimneys, of white brick and clunch, dating from c. 1822. Reset in the E. gable are two date-slabs: 'SD 1787' and 'E^BA 1822' for Edward and Ann Ball. On the S. some clunch is bastard-tucked to imitate brick jointing.

In c. 1900 alterations included the resetting of a staircase of c. 1822 elsewhere in the house. In garden are medieval masonry fragments including a lion gargoyle and cinque-foiled tracery head of a window.

^b(75) House, Class G, of one storey and attics, timber-framed, thatched gabled roof now metal-covered, is 17th-century. The house was extended at the service end in the 19th century. Inside, the axial beams are cased. In a first-floor room is an early 18th-century cast-iron fire grate with medallions.

^b(76) House, of one storey and attics, clunch walls largely cased in red brick, tiled roof with gable parapets, is 17th-century and approximates to a Class-J plan; on the W. gable is a platband at eaves level and wall-anchors in the form of initials 'I' and 'P'. In the early 18th century a taller two-storey wing with cellars and attics was added on the S.; the walls of variegated red and yellow bricks have platbands at first-floor level and, on the S. parapeted gable, a second at eaves level. The casing of the 17th-century range may be consequent on the building of this wing, the roof of which extends as far as the earlier ridge. Openings in both ranges have been enlarged, probably in the 19th century. A late 18th-century kitchen in clunch was added on the E. of the first range.

Inside, the early range has axial beams, those in the centre and W. rooms, flanking the stack, having cyma-mouldings and stops. The staircase in the early 18th-century wing has contemporary closed string, square newel and heavy moulded handrail but the small balusters are 19th-century.

^b(77) Inn, of two storeys, clunch walls with gabled roofs formerly pantiled, is 17th-century with a plan approximating to Class J. In the early 19th century the room next to the street was rebuilt as part of a cross wing which is now undivided internally but was probably of Class-T form; its roof, which returns as a hip on the N.E., has a higher ridge than that of the earlier range. Inside, the two rooms of the 17th century are now united but their axial stop-chamfered beams remain.

^b(78) House, Class J, of one storey and attics, timber-framed, E. gable cased in brick and parapeted, is early 17th-century. Inside, each room has an axial beam, that in the centre room having double ovolo mouldings and leaf stops on the E. and jewelled stops on the W.

Barn, to N. of house, of clunch, originally in five bays, now re-roofed, with opposed entrances and narrow wind-eyes, is early 19th-century.

^b(79) House, of two storeys, white brick with slated hipped roof, is a mid 19th-century variant of Class T in that the chimneys are on the rear walls.

^b(80) House, now Class I, of one storey and attics, red brick walls and pantiled roof with gable parapets, was built in the 18th century. It was originally associated with water-borne trade and stands immediately N. of a basin. In 1842 it formed part of a coal wharf operated by Edward Ball and Richard Bailey. The central stack and most windows are 19th-century; earlier openings which include a tall opening in the E. gable have dark red brick dressings. On each gable is a platband.

^b(81) House, Class G or J, of one storey and attics, brick walls, tiled mansard roof with parapeted gables, was built in the second half of the 18th century. The S. wall was rebuilt later in the 18th century when the house was converted for dual occupation; two staircases flanking the stack date from this alteration. (Access refused)

^b(82) Terrace of four tenements, of two storeys, clunch with white brick front wall, slated gabled roof, was built after 1842. The W. gable is symmetrically designed in three bays with central door, unrelated to the planning of the terrace.

^b(83) House, originally of one storey and attics, now of two storeys, timber-framed with modern roof, is 17th-century and approximates to a Class-J plan. In the 18th century, a wing was added at right angles and parallel to the street; it incorporates the end room of the earlier house. This wing has a Class-T plan, is of brick except for the timber-framed rear wall, and is now of two storeys. On the S. a brick platband is at the level of the former eaves. Inside, an 18th-century chamfered beam survives in the N. room of the E. wing.

^b(84) House, of one storey and attics, timber-framed and clunch, with tiled gabled roof, is 17th-century with a plan approximating to Class J. On the S. gable is a panel inscribed '1776'; at this date the end room next to the street was rebuilt as part of a two-room cross wing consisting of two storeys and attics, slated gabled roof with walls of brick and clunch; each gable is parapeted and incorporates a chimney stack. On the ground floor is a reused 19th-century shop front. Inside, the early building as a cyma-moulded axial beam with end stops, and a chamfered cross beam enclosing a chimney bay. The interior of the later wing is featureless.

^b(85) Barn, of clunch with white brick dressings, pantiled gabled roof, is early 19th-century. It is in three bays with opposed entrances, and contemporary outshut with continuous lean-to roof. The wind-eyes are either slits or diamond-shaped areas of open brickwork. The roof has straight-braced tie beams, wall-posts bolted to the wall, and seven collars and principal rafters unrelated to the tie beams. Reset in a 19th-century granary is a clunch panel inscribed 'W^SM 1780', the M having been altered from an A at an early date.

^b(86) House (Fig. 41), Class T, of one storey and attics, with clunch walls and brick dressings, and dentilled eaves course, is early 18th-century. Inside, contemporary wave-profile splat uprights form a grille above a cupboard.

^b(87) House (Fig. 41), of one storey and attics, with clunch walls and pantiled gabled roof, is early 18th-century but slightly later than (86). It approximates to Class S but has on the W. a slightly off-centre stair turret with gabled roof; it is a marginally later addition. Inside, the beams are axial, that on the N. being chamfered. The stair turret has a moulded plaster cornice, and houses a contemporary stair with closed string and turned balusters, in two flights; it is approached through a round-headed opening with panelled pilasters. In a first-floor room a miniature stone fireplace surround with eared architrave and bracket-moulded key-block is early 18th century.

^b(88) Pigeon house, has clunch walls, brick dentil eaves course, and is perhaps 18th-century. It was converted to a two-storey dwelling before 1842, and later extended. One gablet survives.

^b(89) House, of two storeys, white brick with hipped roof, is mid 19th-century. It has a three-bay elevation with sash windows, central door with circular head and blind window-recess above, and a central stack. The house may have been built as public rooms of an inn replacing an earlier timber-framed structure of one storey with attic, parts of which survive to the W.

^b(90) House, Class J, of one storey and attics, timber-framed and later brick gable wall, is 17th-century; on the W. is a later single-storey addition. Inside, the E. room, next to the street, has a stop-chamfered axial beam.

^b(91) House, Class G, of one storey and attics, timber-framed partly brick-cased, with pantiled gabled roof, is 17th-century. Inside, each room has axial beams, that in the centre room having double stops. The stair is in an early, if not original, position in a corner of the centre room opposite the entrance.

^b(92) House, Class T, of two storeys and attics, clunch side walls and yellow brick gable walls, slated roof with parapeted gables, was built in the first half of the 18th century. The house, which is placed at right angles to the road, has red brick platbands at first-floor level and eaves level on both the side and gable walls, stopping short of the corners. The sash windows have red brick dressings. Inside, the axial beams are cased; both fireplace positions appear original, including one in the S.E. corner. The stair retains some 18th-century waveprofile splat balusters. A later, possibly early 19th-century, extension to the house on the W. has clunch walls with pantiled roof, and has axial beam with run-out stops.

^b(93) House, Class I, of two storeys, timber-framed, with pantiled gabled roof, is 17th-century. External plaster retains some chevron ornament and was said to be formerly inscribed '1786'. Inside, the lower rooms have axial ovolo-moulded and stopped beams.

^b(94) House, Class J, of one storey and attics, timber-framed with gabled roof, is probably early 19th-century. It is a late example of a traditional arrangement of rooms with the parlour next to the street, but it has been much altered.

^b(95) House, of one storey and attics, timber-framed, with thatched and gabled roof, has a 17th-century origin, possibly with a Class-J plan. An extension in clunch was built on the W. in the 18th century, probably as a separate tenement. Of the early house only that part E. of the stack survives, and this may have been originally sub-divided into two rooms. W. of the stack the house has been mainly rebuilt. In the E. room are two cross beams, one stop-chamfered, the other cased, perhaps indicating a partition; the axial beam in the W. room is 19th-century. Later features include external scoring of plaster to imitate ashlar and inscription 'J C 1817' within a lozenge.

^b(96) House, Class T with rear wing, of two storeys, attics and cellar, brick-faced clunch walls, tiled parapeted-gabled roofs, is early 19th-century. The main E. front, of yellow brick in Flemish bond, with red brick dressings, has first-floor platband in yellow stretchers and red headers. The dormers are hipped. The gable walls have eaves-level platbands and iron wall-ties forming the letters S and P. Inside, the staircase has square newels and turned balusters, 18th-century. On the first floor cupboards flanking the fireplaces have 18th-century doors and hinges.

^b(97) House, of one storey and attics, clunch walls, thatched and pantiled gabled roof, is mainly early 19th-century. The plan consists of four rooms in line with two internal chimney stacks; the E. room, which has a chamfered axial beam, may be an earlier survival.

^b(98) House, Class J, of one storey and attics, timber-framed with casing of brick and clunch, thatched roof with gabled parapets, is 17th-century. In the 18th century an extension in clunch, consisting of a room and a granary, was added on the W. Inside, the three 17th-century rooms have axial chamfered beams, that in the parlour having stops.

^b(99) House (Fig. 42), Class J, of two storeys, timber-framed, with gabled and thatched roof, is 17th-century. The stack is in brick above the roof and clunch below. Inside, the axial beams in the parlour and central room have ovolo mouldings with jewelled and run-out stops respectively; the service end has a chamfered axial beam with run-out stops. The stair is in its original position in the entrance lobby but the flights have been altered.

^b(100) House (Plate 105), now in dual occupation but a single unit originally, of two storeys with attics, timber-framed and plastered, partly rebuilt in clunch, with gabled pantiled roofs, is early 17th-century. It consists of two ranges at right angles, that parallel to the street probably being the hall range; a further range may have existed on the S. The suggested hall range incorporates early 17th-century timber-framing but other features, including the white brick chimney stack, are 19th-century. The cross wing on the N., originally of two rooms, was later extended by a single-storey addition on the W.; in the process the lower part of the former W. gable wall was removed, so allowing the room to be increased towards the W., it having been curtailed on the E. by an inserted chimney stack. The extension included a service room at the far end. Inside, the axial beams are stop-chamfered.

^b(101) House, Class G or J, of one storey and attics, timber-framed partly cased in brick, with gabled roof originally thatched, is 17th-century. In the first half of the 18th century a room was added on the W. at the former parlour end. Inside, the original centre room and the parlour have chamfered axial beams, one with jewelled stop; the additional room has stop-chamfered axial beam at a lower level than the earlier ones.

^b(102) House, Class J, of two storeys and attics, timber-framed, plastered on the long sides but with brick-cased or weather-boarded gable walls, has a pantiled roof. It was built in the 17th century but was considerably altered in the 18th century when the entrance, originally opposite the stack, was moved to serve the centre room; internally, the cross partition dividing the service end was moved to the E. at the expense of the centre room. Each room has chamfered axial beams, stopped at the point of the former partition. At first-floor level is an 18th-century landing-balustrade of wave-profile splat balusters (Fig. 43).

^b(103) Windmill, of clunch, plastered and tarred, is early 19th-century. The domed cap has a finial. The contemporary wooden and iron machinery (Plate 117) drives three pairs of stones on the first floor. The second floor contains bins and the third has no fittings.

^c(104) Warbraham Farm (TL 59756387), includes an aisled Barn of three bays, timber-framed on brick and clunch plinth, probably 18th-century. The barn is said to have been moved from the centre of Burwell in the early 19th century.

^d(105) Ness Farm (TL 60786954), Class T with outshut, of two storeys and cellar, white brick walls with slated hipped roof, is early 19th-century. The three-bay front has sash windows articulated by four shallow brick pilasters with stone capitals, the centre two linked by an arched recess springing from plain imposts; the door has a semicircular fanlight, now blocked. Inside, the front range and the outshut are served by separate staircases.

^b(106), ^b(107) Houses, Class G, of two storeys, clunch walls with pantiled gabled roofs, are early 19th-century. (107) was converted to two dwellings in the 19th century and extended at one end.

^b(108), ^b(109), ^b(110) Houses, Class I, of one storey and attics, timber-framed, have pantiled gabled roofs; (110) is mid 18th-century, (109) is late 18th-century and (108) early 19th-century. Original staircases are against the gable wall in (110) and opposite the stack in (109).

^b(111), ^b(112), ^b(113) Houses, Class S, singly or in pairs, of timber framing or clunch, with gabled roofs, are late 18th-century or early 19th-century.

^b(114), ^b(115), ^b(116), ^b(117) Houses, Class T, of one storey and attics, clunch walls with gabled roofs, are late 18th- or early 19th-century.

^b(118), ^b(119), ^b(120) Houses, Class T, of two storeys, white brick front walls with slated roofs. (118) and (120) have round-headed doorways and blind window recesses above.

Earthworks

Prehistoric and Roman

^b(121) Probable Neolithic and early Bronze Age settlement (centred TL 570675), lies in Hallard's Fen on chalk marl and gault clay at 5–10 ft. above O.D. Large numbers of flint and stone implements have been found on the fenland of the parish (Fox, A.C.R., Map I). Recent finds, whose location is more accurately recorded, show a concentration in Hallard's Fen indicating a settlement site. Quantities of flint cores, waste flakes, flint axes, scrapers, burins and leaf-shaped or barbed-and-tanged arrow-heads have been found, as well as a number of polished stone axes. (C.M. and private owners)

(122–125) Round barrows. The sites of four barrows are known but only one has records of excavation. There were once a number of others on the part of Newmarket Heath which lies within the parish, and 'several' were destroyed in 1883 (Fox, A.C.R., 326, note I). Finds are recorded from two barrows: one (Fox, A.C.R., 326, No. 16), described as being on 'the Exercise Ground', was destroyed in 1827, and contained a primary cremation; another (Fox, A.C.R., 326, No. 17) described as being on Newmarket Heath, but perhaps outside the parish, contained a cremation and a few sherds of unidentifiable type; some sherds of coarse Roman pottery, said to be from this barrow, are in the C.M.

^e(122) Barrow (TL 61226358) lies 730 yds. E. of Great Portland Farm on chalk at 80 ft. above O.D., on almost flat ground. Shown as a barrow on the O.S. 1-inch map of 1834, it is now visible on air photographs as a ploughed-out ring ditch 70 ft. in diam. (C.U.A.P.)

^e(123) Barrow (TL 61166352) lies 40 yds. S.W. of (122) and in a similar position. It is shown as a barrow on the O.S. I-inch map of 1834 and is now visible on air photographs as a ploughed-out ring ditch 75 ft. in diam. (C.U.A.P.)

^e(124) Barrow (TL 613633) lay about 300 yds. S.E. of (122). It is shown as a barrow on the O.S. 1-inch map of 1834 but no trace remains.

^e(125) Barrow (TL 60916304), known as Ninescore Hill Barrow, lies 700 yds. S.E. of Great Portland Farm on chalk at 90 ft. above O.D., on a slight N.E.-facing slope. Shown as a barrow on the O.S. 1-inch map of 1834, it is now traceable on air photographs as a ring ditch, 65 ft. in diam. It was almost destroyed in 1885 when two primary inhumations, perhaps associated with beakers and certainly with flint arrowheads, were discovered. A secondary inhumation, perhaps Saxon, was also found. (Fox, A.C.R., 326, No. 15)

Since field-investigation was completed, air photography (photographs in N.M.R.) has revealed the following ring ditches in the parish:

^d(125A) Ring ditch (TL 60116885), 200 yds. N.W. of Lark Hall, on chalk at 50 ft. above O.D. Diam. 100 ft., ploughed out.

^b(125B) Ring ditch (TL 59606561), 830 yds. S.E. of the church, on chalk at 60 ft. above O.D. Diam. 80 ft., ploughed out.

^b(125C) Ring ditch (TL 59675655), 100 yds. S.E. of above, in a similar situation. Diam. 80 ft., ploughed out.

^b(125D) Ring ditch (TL 58756539), 700 yds. S.S.W. of the church on chalk at 50 ft. above O.D. Diam. 100 ft., ploughed out.

^b(125E) Ring ditch (TL 58936535), 230 yds. S.E. of above in a similar position. Diam. 90 ft., ploughed out.

^b(125F) Ring ditch (TL 59376464), 200 yds. S.W. of Lower Portland Farm, on chalk at 60 ft. above O.D. Diam. 60 ft., ploughed out.

^b(125G) Ring Ditch (TL 58306468), 600 yds. N.W. of Ditch Farm on the N.E. end of a low chalk ridge at 100 ft. above O.D. Diam. 40 ft., ploughed out.

^b(126) Roman building (TL 58726605), was found under Burwell Castle (132) during excavations there in 1935. A building or buildings of considerable size are indicated by the excavator's report but the remains were not investigated in detail. A ditch, walling, cobbled floors, roof tiles, painted wall-plaster, animal bones and much Roman pottery were noted. (C.A.S. Procs., XXXVI (1939), 121–133)

^b(127) Roman Settlement (TL 58546595), lies 250 yds. W.S.W. of Burwell Castle, on chalk at 20 ft. above O.D. Deep ploughing has produced large quantities of Roman pottery, including Horningsea wares, box and roof tiles, within an area some 50 yds. square.

^b(128) Roman Settlement (TL 58066540), lies N.W. of Crownall Farm on chalk at 45 ft. above O.D. Roman pottery including Samian and Horningsea wares, roof tiles and fragments of a glass bowl have been found. Immediately to the E., a number of pits containing Roman pottery have been noted during ditch-cutting.

^b(129) Probable Roman Settlement (around TL 59016651), found during the excavation of the Saxon cemetery (131) in 1927 and 1928, is 500 yds. N. of Burwell church on chalk at 60 ft. above O.D. Below the Saxon graves was found a pit, 12 ft. deep and 22 ft. in diam., which was interpreted as a quarry. The upper part of the filling contained sherds of Roman pottery, box and roof tiles, burnt stone, animal bones and traces of wood and charcoal, suggesting a substantial Roman building nearby. (C.A.S. Procs., XXX (1929), 97–8)

^b(130) Possible Roman Settlement (TL 59896805), lies N.E. of the village and E. of Ness Road, on level ground on chalk at about 30 ft. above O.D. Evidence for a settlement comes from sherds of the 2nd-3rd century said to have been found (O.S. Record Cards). Roof tiles and sherds of Horningsea type were noted on the site in 1969.

Medieval and Later

^b(131) Saxon Cemetery (TL 59016651), lies 500 yds. N. of the church, on the crest of a low chalk ridge at 60 ft. above O.D. Between 1854 and 1929 at least 137 inhumations of both sexes and varying ages were found on the site. Most were discovered during excavations by T. C. Lethbridge between 1925 and 1929; the majority were in shallow graves, orientated E.-W. There were no traces of coffins. Lethbridge excavated 127 burials of which 52 had no grave goods: 12 had knives and only four were richly furnished. The grave goods mostly consisted of iron chains, bone or bronze pins, iron buckles and beads; one scramasax and a single plain pot were found. Noteworthy objects were a bronze drum-shaped workbox and a gold disc pendant set with garnets. The cemetery, probably dating from the late 6th and 7th centuries, seems to have been predominantly Christian. The excavator suggested that it lay near the site of St. Andrew's church, but the connection is unlikely as the church lay 400 yds. to the S. (A. Meaney, Gazetteer of Early Anglo-Saxon Burial Sites (1964), 61–2. C.A.S. Procs. XXVII (1926), 72–79; XXVIII (1927), 116–125; XXIX (1928), 84–104)

^b(132) Burwell Castle (TL 58756606; Fig. 44; Plates 2, 3), lies immediately W. of the church, on chalk at about 35 ft. above O.D. The castle stands on ground sloping gently W. to the fen edge; it overlooks open ground to the N., S., and W. but on the E. the church, on higher ground, must always have dominated the site.

In 1143 Earl Geoffrey de Mandeville, who had fallen from power, seized the Isle of Ely and from this base proceeded to devastate the countryside. In an attempt to contain him King Stephen fortified a number of posts on the edges of the fens; Burwell Castle was one. It was constructed partly on land already occupied by the village of Burwell. Traces of crofts and of two houses which were demolished to provide space for it remain N. and N.E. of the castle. Sherds of Stamford ware, found under the castle during the excavations in 1935, may have come from these earlier houses. In August 1144 Earl Geoffrey 'came with his army to attack a certain castle which had been newly built at Burwell' (Chronicon Abbatiae Ramseiensis (Rolls Series, LXXXIII, 331)). While reconnoitering the position de Mandeville was wounded by an arrow fired by one of the garrison and died a few days later. The siege ended and the castle was abandoned. The excavations of 1935 showed that the castle was unfinished with the moat only partly dug out and large spoil heaps still piled outside the ditch on the N. and W. The site was later occupied by buildings which can probably be identified as the manor house of the Abbots of Ramsey who in 1246 were licensed to erect an oratory (Cartularium monasterii de Ramseia (Rolls Series, LXXIX, II, 193)). The excavations in 1935 exposed a stone range running the full length of the E. side of the enclosure and returning along part of the S. side. The building projecting slightly E. near the centre of the range may be identified as the chapel, and the range on the N., with two latrine chutes in the thickness of the wall, probably contained the Abbot's camera on the first floor.

The castle consists of a generally rectangular enclosure, 260 ft. by 160 ft. and between 5 ft. and 15 ft. high above the bottom of the surrounding ditch. The interior of the enclosure is uneven; the E. and W. ends slope towards the centre. Field evidence and excavations indicate that this uneven nature is the result of spoil-dumping from the moat in order to construct a raised platform, a process which was never completed. A gap in the middle of the S. side of the enclosure is apparently where spoil from the moat was brought onto the platform until work was abandoned. On the E. side and along the E. part of the S. side of the enclosure, the excavators found clunch footings of an outer wall (k on plan) and a diagonal buttress at the N.E. corner. Slightly N. of the centre of the E. side the foundations of a small rectangular building (l on plan) were discovered; it measured 21 ft. by 15 ft. internally and had walls 5–6 ft. thick of clunch with an outer facing of flint nodules. It projected 3–4 ft. into the moat beyond the E. wall and terminated with diagonal buttresses. In this wall, partly screened by the northern buttress were outlets of two garderobe chutes. Until the early 1930s a length of curtain wall about 8 ft. high stood near the N.E. corner.

The enclosure is surrounded by a large moat, between 80 and 100 ft. wide across its flat bottom. Low terraces, 6 ins.–1 ft. high, exist in the ditch on the N. and S. sides of the enclosure and a larger and more irregular one along part of the W. side. Two of these were tested by excavation and proved to be of natural chalk, indicating that the moat was never completed or filled with water.

The area immediately W. of the moat is occupied by a large mound, 12 ft. high at its N. end, with an uneven surface sloping towards the S. This mound is a spoil heap of material which was dug from the moat and allowed to remain. Its uneven appearance is the result of dumping small loads which were brought from the moat by way of two shallow cuts or hod-runs in the side of the moat (a and b on plan). Further dumps were intended S. of this mound in order to form a dam and fill the moat, but this was not completed.

On the N. side of the moat is a larger spoil heap 8–10 ft. high in the centre and at its N. end, but 2–3 ft. high at its E. end. The scalloped appearance of its N. edge is the result of dumping spoil brought out of the moat along hod-runs which remain as shallow depressions across the sloping surface of the mound (c, d and e on plan).

Immediately N. of this spoil heap, and bounded on the N. by a low bank running E.-W. are four, perhaps five, rectangular closes delineated by low banks and shallow ditches. At their S. ends three of these are overlain by the spoil heaps and must therefore be earlier than the castle. They appear to be the outer ends of long closes, familiar in deserted sites of medieval settlements, and are probably the only visible remains of the houses removed to make way for the castle. E. and N.E. of the moat are slight earthworks which may be the sites of two buildings. N.E. of the moat (f on plan) is a raised platform, roughly U-shaped; a sunken platform on its E. side is bounded by low banks and sub-divided into two parts. E. of the moat (g on plan) are the damaged remains of what is probably a medieval long-house, 50 ft. by 30 ft. overall, with a sunken rectangular interior divided into two by a low cross bank.

Further E. (h on plan) are the remains of what may have been a small embanked enclosure, perhaps half of which has been cut away by a sloping trackway leading down into an old quarry.

In the N.W. corner of the site are two rectangular dry ponds (j on plan) linked by a narrow channel, while another channel links the W. pond to the modern stream. The relation between these ponds and the adjoining spoil heap to the S. is uncertain. Beyond the ponds to the N. is a series of indeterminate ditches, banks and ponds extending for about 100 yds. Their date and purpose are unknown.

The excavators in 1935 also found fragments of medieval stained glass and part of the leaded framework as well as two pieces of dressed clunch, one with a graffito ascribed to the 14th century, the other apparently part of a window jamb. (C.A.S. Procs., XXXVI (1936), 121–133; LI (1958), 37 and 42; V.C.H. Cambs. I, 19, 186–8; Arch. J., CXXIV (1968), 255; Antiquity, X (1936), 465.)

For Devil's Dyke see p. 139.

For Moats at Hall Farm see (39) and at Tunbridge Farm see (41).

^ab(133) Burwell Lode (Fig. 45; Plate 7), first recorded in 1604 (B. M. Harley MS. 5011, Vol. 1, f. 38 v), is an artificial watercourse 2½ miles long, extending in a N.W. direction across Burwell Fen from North Street (TL 58556780) to its junction with Reach Lode ¾ miles S. E. of Upware (TL 54756930). It is fed by water from a number of small fen-edge springs, which is now carried into the Lode along catchwater drains to the N. and S. of its S.E. end. Apart from a slight eastward deflection at the S.E. end, the Lode runs in a straight line for about 1½ miles in a N.W. direction. It then turns sharply almost due W., and after nearly 800 yds. turns W.N.W. and continues for a further 900 yds. before meeting Reach Lode. It is 40–45 ft. wide along its entire length. At its S.E. end the Lode flows at or slightly below the level of the adjacent fen and there are no retaining banks. About 300 yds. from this end a bank, on the N.E. side, gradually rises to 3 ft. above the water level and to 6–8 ft. above the fens. On the S.W. side the Lode has no retaining bank for the first 1500 yds. Thereafter a bank rises to a maximum of 10 ft. above the adjacent fen.

The character of the Lode is unlike that of other lodes in the area. Details are not clear, but it appears that until the mid 17th century the name Burwell Lode applied to a different and earlier watercourse, probably also artificial, which was still known as Old Lode in the mid 19th century (C.R.O., Map of Reach, Burwell and Wicken Lodes, 1841). This earlier lode ran from the fen edge S.W. of Goose Hall (TL 58826842), flowed W.N.W. along the line of the present sinuous ditch called Black Lake, and continued to a point 260 yds. S. of Poors' Fen Farm (TL 574692) where, in 1841, it turned S. towards the present Lode along Black Lake. An existing watercourse, also sinuous, continues the original alignment N.W. until it reaches the edge of Adventurers' Fen N.E. of Priory Farm (TL 56626945). From this point it probably passed into an older natural watercourse which flowed S.W. and then N.W. across Adventurers' Fen to a point approximately where the present Burwell Lode joins Reach Lode. The existing Burwell Lode had been cut by 1685 (C.R.O., Moore's Map of Fens); although there is no direct evidence, the work was probably carried out by the Bedford Level Commissioners in the 1650s at the same time as the new Reach Lode was cut (see C.R.O., R59/31/10/16 of 1727). The Bedford Level Commissioners carried out numerous repairs to the Lode during the 18th and early 19th centuries (e.g. C.R.O., R59/31/10/8), but no major alterations appear to have been made to it until the second half of the 19th century, when the N.W. part of the Lode across the Adventurers' Fen was recut to the existing two straight alignments, replacing the older, slightly curved, line. This was probably done by the Burwell Drainage Commission (cf. C.R.O., Map of Reach, Burwell and Wicken Lodes, 1841, and O.S. 25-inch map (1886)).

^ab(134) Wicken Lode (Fig. 45), first recorded in 1636 (Reaney, 'Place-names of Cambs.' 205), is an artificial watercourse nearly 1½ miles long, being the boundary between Wicken and Burwell parishes for most of its length. It extends from its junction with Reach Lode (TL 54206963) to a point 700 yds. S.W. of Wicken village on the fen edge (TL 56317048), where there was formerly a small basin or wharf. Water feeds it from Wicken Fen on its N. side and via Monk's Lode (see (135)). The Lode takes a sinuous course, roughly E. and W., for 500 yds. from its junction with Reach Lode, turns sharply E.N.E. and runs almost straight for 1000 yds.; it curves slightly to its junction with Monk's Lode (TL 56007018), and thereafter consists of two short straight lengths running E.N.E. and N.N.E. It is 25–35 ft. wide throughout its length and is bounded on the S.E. side by a continuous retaining bank now up to 12 ft. high above the adjacent Burwell Fen. Apart from a short length of bank near the junction with Reach Lode, there is no bank on the N.W. side adjoining the undrained Wicken Fen.

The date of the Lode is unknown but it may have a Roman origin. In common with other lodes in the area, there are records of constant work on clearing it out from the late 17th century onward (e.g. C.R.O., B.L.C., Petitions and Memorials before 1700).

^b(135) Monk's Lode and New River (Fig. 45), a continuous watercourse nearly 4 miles long, coincides with the N. boundary of Burwell parish. It extends from its junction with Wicken Lode (TL 56007018) to a point near Ness House in the N.E. corner of the parish (TL 61066925). At its W. end, where it is known as Monk's Lode, its course is within the fenland, skirting St. Edmund's Fen in Wicken parish; it then turns N. to reach the fen edge (at TL 57127015). Thereafter it runs E. and then S., close to, but not at, the fen edge, where it is called the New River.

Monk's Lode varies from 15 ft. to 25 ft. in width and on its S. side is bounded by a continuous retaining bank up to 10 ft. high, separating it from the lower Burwell Fen. At the point on the fen edge where it becomes the New River are the remains of a small wharf or basin (in Wicken parish). The New River is only 10–15 ft. wide and for 1500 yds. is bounded by a low retaining wall on both sides; thereafter there is a bank on the S. side only.

The different names, widths and siting of these two watercourses indicate a variety of origins and functions. Monk's Lode, known as Stake Lode up to the 18th century, may have originated as a navigable canal serving the E. end of Wicken parish; it is probably medieval or earlier in date. The New River carries the water of the Landwade Brook which, until the 18th century, flowed S.W. across Burwell Fen (Fig. 6); it is almost certainly an 18th-century cut to divert the brook from that part of the fens known as the Broads, and to drain the Adventurers' Lands to the S.W.

Both watercourses were frequently cleaned out by the Bedford Level Commissioners (C.R.O., R59/31/5/9/11).

^b(136) The Hythe (TL 58456728), a former public wharf, lies immediately W. of Newnham and extends from the fen edge at the Weirs to the N. end of Low Road. It stands on flat land 200 yds. long and up to 20 yds. wide; the present Hythe Lane runs along it. It was formerly bounded on its long sides by watercourses (20 ft. wide and 5 ft. or more deep) the W. ends of which joined the Weirs. At the E. end of the S. side a subsidiary basin 15 ft. wide projected S. for 30 yds. These basins have been partly filled in and act only as drains, but formerly the whole site was navigable for barges. The date of construction of the Hythe and the period of its use are unknown.

^b(137) Basins and Canals (TL 58816836–58126664), lie along the Weirs from the extreme N. end of North Street, S. of Goose Hall to a point 330 yds. W. of Parsonage Farm. There are or were at least 23 basins or canals of various sizes extending from the Weirs in an E. direction towards the houses on the W. side of North Street. Most of them have been partly filled in, and it is difficult to ascertain their original form. Their date is unknown. Those lying S. of the Hythe (136) (TL 58456728) were out of use by 1841; by that date there was no access for boats beyond this point (C.R.O., Map of Reach, Burwell and Wicken Lodes, 1841).

Basins. A number of basins are situated along the E. side of the Weirs; they measure not more than 30 yds. long and 10–15 yds. wide. Only five can now be identified owing to modern destruction. They perhaps represent public and private basins for barges employed in long-distance trade. The two bestpreserved basins are both near the end of Burwell Lode. One (at TL 58586778), 25 yds. long and 10 yds. wide, now partly filled in, is adjacent to (80) with which it may be connected; known as 'The Slip' and traditionally associated with bargebuilding, it was at one time a wharf for a coalyard (Tithe Map, 1842). The second basin lies 100 yds. to the S. on the N. side of Anchor Bridge, now partly filled in, but still visible as a depression 30 yds. long, 12 yds. wide and 6 ft. deep on its S. side.

Canals. At least 18 canals survive but the original number was probably much larger. They consist of long narrow watercourses extending from the Weirs towards, or close up to, the barns and farm buildings on the W. side of the village. They vary from 50–200 yds. long and were probably not more than 4–6 yds. wide. At least two end in small basins 30 yds. long and 12 yds. wide at their W. ends. These canals were probably not used for long-distance fen trade, but rather as access ways for punts or small boats bringing sedge, rushes, turf, peat and arable crops from the fens to the village. (Tithe Map, 1842)

The northernmost canal immediately S. of Goose Hall seems to have had a different function. This canal, 15 yds. wide and 100 yds. long, is adjacent to a small pit or quarry covering about an acre. The pit was dug to provide material for strengthening and rebuilding the banks of the lodes and the River Cam, and the canal was a loading point for barges. The land was purchased for this purpose in 1845 by the Burwell Drainage Commissioners (C.R.O., Burwell I.D.B. Minutes, Jan. 1845).

^ab(138) Fen Drainage (Fig. 45). There is some evidence that parts of Burwell Fen close to the village were enclosed during the medieval period. A reference to ditches in Le Brunde Fen in 1294 (B.M. Add. Roll 39597) may refer to the Broads in the N.E. of the parish. The Broads are also mentioned in 1398–9 (P.R.O., S.C. 6/765/10) but their condition is not specified. In addition, the fact that certain fen-edge lands were apparently always titheable, unlike the rest of the fen in the parish, may indicate that they were drained and enclosed in the medieval period (Tithe Map, 1842).

The next area to be drained appears to have been the Adventurers' Lands in the mid 17th century. These were 640 acres of fen roughly triangular in shape, bounded by Reach and Wicken Lodes and the present Drainer's Ditch (centred TL 556694). This land, in three lots, was originally granted to the Adventurers in 1637 following the earliest drainage work in the Fens (C.R.O., R59/31/9/1A), but work was not started until 1651 and only completed in 1655–6 (C.R.O., R59/31/9/5 and 6). The boundaries and internal divisions of these allotments still survive. At this time these lands were probably drained by gravity into the adjacent lodes the levels of which would then have made this possible.

At the same time the present Burwell Lode (133) was cut and presumably soon afterwards all fenland S.W. of the Lode and some in the N. of the parish was enclosed and drained. Enclosure of land S.W. of Burwell Lode took place after the Lode's construction, as the arrangement of the drains demonstrates; documents show that this enclosure was completed by the early 18th century (e.g. Hallard Fen by 1693 (C.U.L. University Register 32/1) and Little Fen by 1719 (Norfolk R.O., C.C. Norwich Wills, No. 131)). Thus before 1720 the whole of Burwell Fen was enclosed and drained except for a large area of nearly 500 acres known as Burwell Poors' Fen, N.W. of Goose Hall (centred TL 580692). All but a third of this was subsequently enclosed between 1806 and 1840 (cf. P.R.O., Map of Manor of Burwell Ramseys, 1806, and C.R.O., Map of Burwell Fen, n.d. c. 1840). The remaining part was enclosed soon afterwards.

Until 1840 Burwell Fen was drained by gravity-flow into Reach Lode (at TL 557678) and pumping engines were considered unnecessary. The lowering of the fen surface gradually made natural drainage impossible and in 1841 the Burwell Drainage Commission was set up. It constructed a steamengine pump on the edge of the River Cam (in Wicken parish) and connected it to the fenland by an Engine Drain (139) which ran parallel to the N.W. part of Burwell Lode. The scheme was never satisfactory, the Adventurers' Lands being particularly difficult to drain. From the late 1840s a number of private windpumps (140–147) were erected but these too failed to drain the Adventurers' Lands. Much of the area remained derelict until 1940 when the system was reversed and connected to drains within the Swaffham Drainage District by means of a culvert under Reach Lode (at TL 548692) (A. Bloom, The Farm in the Fen (1944), 47–49, 60–69).

^a(139) Steam-Engine Pump House and Engine Drain. The Engine, Boiler and Scoop-wheel Houses of the Burwell Drainage Commissioners stand at the N.W. end of Reach Lode, close to the River Cam, in Wicken parish (TL 53756992) (Figs. 46, 120).

The building was erected in 1841 to house a rotative beam engine and its boilers constructed by William Fairbairn of Manchester (C.R.O., Burwell I.D.B. Minutes, 1841–2). No details of this engine have apparently survived but it was rated at about 35 h.p. some years later (ibid. Minutes, Sept. 1869). The lowering of the surface of the fens caused difficulties and in 1884 an 'assistant wheel' was added to the scoop wheel to increase its lift (ibid. Minutes, Feb.—May 1884; Procs. Inst. Civil Engineers, XCIV (1887–8), 282). The scoop-wheel house was extended at this time. The steam engine was scrapped in 1895 (ibid. Minutes, Sept.—Dec. 1895) and replaced by an oil engine. In 1897 the scoop wheel was removed and a centrifugal pump substituted. Subsequently replacement engines, either diesel or gas, were installed. The building was abandoned in 1940.

The building constructed of white bricks, many stamped with the word 'Drain', has walls divided into sections by double pilasters. The round-headed window openings have, or had, radiating metal glazing bars. The upper part of the engine house has been removed and the corners of the boiler house rebuilt. The extension to the scoop-wheel house is in the same character. Inside, the cast-iron framework for inspection platforms survives with elongated opening for the engine-beam. To the N.W. and under the present road is the brick barrel-vaulted outfall culvert with parapet and abutments on the river side.

The Engine Drain was constructed at the same time as the engine. It extends from the Engine House (TL 53756902) in a S.E. direction parallel to and 50 ft. from the N.E. side of Reach and Burwell Lodes, for a distance of nearly 1¾ miles to High Bridge (TL 56416906) where it met the internal drains of the fen. It is 30 ft. wide and up to 7 ft. deep along its entire length and passes under Wicken Lode near its junction with Reach Lode in an original brick barrel-vaulted culvert 135 ft. long, 4 ft. wide and 5½ ft. high, with end retaining walls rising to low parapets. The Drain was largely abandoned in 1940.

(140–147) Windpump Sites. The construction of the Steam Engine and Engine Drain (139) by the Burwell Drainage Commissioners in 1841–2 proved insufficient for draining the low-lying Adventurers' Lands in the angle between Reach and Wicken Lodes, much of this area being lower than the Engine Drain. As a result, individual farmers erected a series of small windpumps to drain single fields or groups of fields by lifting water into the Engine Drain or other main ditches. Many of the pumps were inadequate and survived only a short time. Little is known of them, but the sites of eight are listed below. They were apparently erected after 1841 and some may have been built in the late 19th century or even later. All were derelict or destroyed by 1940.

^a(140) Site of Windpump (TL 54736935), known as Josiah's Mill, is ¾ mile S.E. of the Engine House (139) on the edge of the Engine Drain near the junction of Reach and Burwell Lodes. The remains consist of a circular mound 20 ft. in diameter and 1 ft. high. The mill was in existence in 1886 (O.S. 25-inch map, Cambridgeshire XXXV, 6) and was still working in 1924 (O.S. 6–inch map (1927), Cambridgeshire XXXV N.W.). It was derelict by the 1930s; a photograph shows that it was then a small skeleton mill with an internal scoop wheel (Plate 11).

^a(141) Site of Windpump (TL 54926927), known as Ball's Mill, lies 270 yds. S.E. of (140) at the point where a field ditch meets the Engine Drain. Only a very slight mound now remains, but the foundations of this mill were discovered during the reclamation of Burwell Fen in 1943 (A. Bloom, The Farm in the Fen (1944), 94). This mill, with (142) and (143), had apparently been demolished by 1911 (C.R.O., Burwell, I.D.B. Minutes, Feb. 1911, map).

^b(142) Site of windpump (TL 55186922), lies 250 yds. S.E. of (141) at a point where three field drains meet the Engine Drain. Only a slight mound remains.

^b(143) Site of Windpump (TL 55406916), lies 230 yds. S.E. of (142) where a field drain meets the Engine Drain. A low mound remains.

^b(144) Site of Windpump (TL 55536962), lies on the N. side of Harrison's Drove, 1000 yds. W.N.W. of Priory Farm. Only a slight mound is now traceable. The mill was in existence in 1911 (C.R.O., Burwell I.D.B. Minutes, Feb. 1911, map) but had been replaced by a small oil engine by 1924 (O.S. 6–inch map, Cambridgeshire XXXV N.E. (1927)).

^b(145) Site of Windpump (TL 55676955), known as Norman's Mill, lies 180 yds. S.E. of (144) and in a similar position. A low mound survives. A mill stood on this site in 1886, but later a new skeleton mill was built in 1908 by Hunt of Soham. It was weather-boarded in 1910 (Plate 11). This mill stood derelict until 1955 when it was taken down and re-erected in Wicken Sedge Fen where it now stands (at TL 56217059). It is the property of the National Trust. (Inf. R. Wailes; see also Newcomen Soc. Trans., XXVII (1949–51), 116–17)

^b(146) Site of Windpump (TL 56096853), known as Dyson's Mill, lies 630 yds. S.W. of High Bridge at the point where the main drain of the S. part of the Adventurers' Lands meets the Drainer's Ditch. The pump was already in existence in 1886 and still stood as a skeleton mill in the 1930s (Photograph in C.A.S. collection). It was apparently rebuilt in the early 20th century but was removed in 1941 (Newcomen Soc. Trans., XXVII (1949–51), 117–18 f.n.). Only a slight rise in the ground now remains.

^b(147) Site of Windpump (TL 55386895), known as Dawson's Mill, lies just under ½ mile N.W. of (146) in the centre of the S. part of Adventurers' Fen. It certainly existed by 1886 but was derelict by 1924. Only a low mound now remains but the brick foundations were revealed in 1943.

^b(148) Quarries of various dates exist in and around Burwell village, all situated on or near the outcrop of Tottenhoe Stone, a relatively hard stratum of rock within the Lower Chalk. The stone, known as clunch, was used widely from the Roman period until the late 19th century for building purposes.

The more important quarries are: immediately W. of Burwell church and E. of the Castle (TL 58856604), probably a source of stone for the Castle; E. of the church (TL 59156012) covering some 8 acres, of which the E. third was not opened until after 1817; N. and S. of Berkeley House (TL 59006670 and 59006650), of one and two acres respectively, probably medieval, reworked in the 19th century.

^b(149) The Causeway (TL 58716709–58896663) lies between High Town and North Street. It consists of a low ridge or bank 530 yds. long, 25 ft. to 35 ft. wide and up to 3 ft. high, parallel to the existing road of the same name. The N.W. length of 400 yds. is straight, orientated N.W.-S.E., after which there is a sharp angle and it runs S. for the last 130 yds.

Until 1817, when the common fields of the parish were enclosed, it appears to have been a road crossing a corner of these fields. On enclosure the present road was laid out alongside it. It probably originated as a headland within the common fields and became a road when North Street developed, perhaps in late medieval times. (C.R.O., Enclosure Map, c. 1817)

^bcd(150) Cultivation Remains. The common fields of the parish were enclosed in 1817 by Act of Parliament. Before that date much of the parish, with the exception of the fens, heathland in the S. and a small area of common and old enclosures round Breach Farm, was divided into three large common fields, North Field, Hill Field and Ditch Field, and a smaller field, South Field (P.R.O., Map of the Manor of Burwell Ramseys, 1806). Of these fields only long sinuous ridges up to 400 yds. long, 30 yds. wide and up to 2 ft. high are the visible remains. The map of 1806 shows a headland, orientated S.W.—N.E., between two adjacent furlongs in North Field, E. of Klondyke Farm (TL 597688). In Ditch Field were headlands, orientated N.W.—S.E., between two furlongs: two lay S.E. of Crownall Farm (TL 588653) and five S.E. of Reach village (TL 575658). A headland, orientated N.E.—S.W., lay between Mill Field and North Field, S.W. of Slade Farm (TL 597671). (See also (149); air photographs in N.M.R.; C.R.O., Enclosure Map, c. 1817)

Undated

^b(151) Enclosure (TL 59506576) lies 700 yds. S.E. of the church in the bottom of a small dry valley on chalk at 50 ft. above O.D. The site is ploughed out but visible on air photographs. It consists of a rectangular area 100 yds. long and 50 yds. wide, orientated E.-W. and bounded by a ditch about 20 ft. wide. No entrances or internal features are traceable. It may be connected with the large Roman settlement to the N.E. in Exning parish (C.A.S. Procs., LXII (1969) 32–4; air photographs in N.M.R.).