The Susan May files

EARLY HISTORY

The earliest history of the area is as one of the many pre-Roman native settlements along the Cam valley, bearing no relation to present parish boundaries. Air photographs reveal an extensive network of enclosures, fields and tracks on the Manor Farm fields in the north of the parish two sectors of which are Scheduled Ancient Monuments. There are 'D' shaped and oval enclosures, a rectangular one with opposed but slightly offset entrances, and what appears to be a trackway leading to the river. A double ditch feature can also be seen between Hauxton and Newton Roads which, although of the right size to be a track, has unusually sharp angles and may mark a boundary.

Slightly further south again, behind White Farm are two distinct 'D' shaped enclosures, and even further south, on the east side of the M11, near Well Head Springs, are more signs of settlement. A Bronze Age palstave was found at Rectory Farm (1). It seems likely, therefore, that much of the land was settled and farmed from prehistoric times, which would fit in with the general picture of early settlements on the lighter, more easily worked soils.

Roman coins and pottery are reputed to have been found on the meadows and fields. An Anglo-Saxon burial was found in the north-east of the parish, near the river, and at least one of the grave slabs found in the Church in the 19th century restorations and built into the porch walls is Anglo-Saxon (3). None of these prove settlement, but the Domesday Book entries believed to refer to Little Shelford mention a total of 22 sokemen (but some may be counted twice) holding land under five landlords in King Edward's time. The landlords included the Church of Ely, which had a monasterium besides land but which was largely ousted by Hardwin de Scalers by 1086 (4).

The village we know must have started as a settlement by a river crossing: the ford which gave both Shelfords their names. Possibly they began as a single settlement since the first recorded reference to Shelford Parva was in 1228 in the Feet of Fines (5) but since the meadows have always been subject to flooding and the road over the bridges was reputed to flood quite regularly during the last century (6), it seems more logical that they should have always been two settlements, and combined in the Domesday survey because before 1066 the Abbot of Ely had held most of the land as one estate.

Whatever the origin, the settlement grew up on a west-east alignment along the access to the river, now Church Street, which was probably part of a track from Foxton (7). The track probably ran across what are now the Manor House grounds, being pushed over to the present line of Bridge Lane when the wall was built in the 18th century.

The river is still fordable near the bridges, the older of which (the eastern one) was built by 1630 to replace a wooden one, and rebuilt in 1782 (8), and there is another ford in the Manor House grounds. The Manor House and the Church remain in the vicinity of this old settlement, the first Norman Church being built about 1080, and a Manor House being recorded from the late 13th century (8) but settlement crept further west along Church Street and into High Street.

Of the inhabitants recorded in 'E Scalford' in 1086, probably about 25 were in Little Shelford, the number of tenants growing to about 60 by 1279, in 62 messuages. The number of households in 1563 was about 32, growing to 40 in 1666, reverting to 32 in 1727 and growing again to 61 in 1801 (8). Even allowing for discrepancies in the methods of collecting figures, this points to quite a stable population over a long period, increasing in the second half of the 18th century in line with the general trend.

Until 1700 the largest landowner was the Lord of the Manor, the title passing from the de Scales family to the de Frevilles in the 13th century and to Sir Toby Palavicino in the 15th century. Sir Toby built a new moated Manor House and had a new section of river dug to feed it. The Lordship then passed through the Wigmores and Gillinghams until William Finch, a Cambridge ironmonger, bought it in 1745. He demolished Sir Toby's Manor House, filled in much of the moat, and built a new house in the style of Inigo Jones (local tradition has it that Jones designed the house, but this seems unlikely), but retaining one of the old side wings, for which a balancing wing was later added. Manor Farmhouse was built at or about the same time as the house.

The estate may well have been enclosed early, since by 1521 there was apparently much enclosed meadow (10). In about 1700 Gregory Wale bought a mansion house in Little Shelford from Gilbert Wigmore, then Lord of the Manor. The estate included gardens, orchard and pasture of something over 16 acres and was already enclosed. This formed the base from which the Wale family bought much of the land in the parish over the next two centuries.

There were three other farms during the period up to enclosure : Hall Farm, the present farmhouse of which was first built in the earlier 16th century, extended to an L-shape in the 17th century and completed to a square in the 18th century was probably the biggest. White Farmhouse, also on the west side of High Street, dates from the 17th century, and Kings Farmhouse began life as a two-bay cottage in the 16th century. These all had some enclosed land, but also strips in the open fields. There were certainly three open fields in 1521, then called Wheat, South and Home fields (10), but known as White, Middle and Danford Fields by 1615. Barley appears to have been the main crop in both the 14th and 16th centuries (10), but the more unusual crops of cinquefoil (Manor Farm) (11) and saffron (Wale Estate) (12) were both grown in the 18th century, saffron in the open fields - although "we are obliged to fence them, as hogs and sheep are exceedingly fond of them".

Some land was also intercommonable with Harston, Hauxton and Newton, and with Whittlesford, so the boundaries in the north west and south east were not fixed until Parliamentary enclosure. The sheep walks appear to have been on the intercommon land, where the Wales had the right to feed some 300 sheep (13). A few other people had a right of common for great cattle, but in 1714 cattle kept other than in the common herd were subject to a penalty payable to the Lord of the Manor (14).

Church Street and High Street must have existed on much the same line as today for several centuries, with closes to the rear of High Street properties extending to a back lane. This lane was turnpiked by an Act of Parliament of 1727, as part of the road from Great Shelford Pound to Whittlesford. It was part of the Stump Cross Turnpike, and although it was never a major route, it by-passed the village and did not apparently attract building to it. The pre-enclosure buildings were also pre-Turnpike since it is obvious that the grounds of Shelford Hall, and what is now No 14 (see over) on the west side of the road prevented the whole stretch from being laid out to the usual Turnpike standards with wide verges. No 14 is alternatively known as Milestone Cottage, and an early 19th century cast-iron milestone is still in place.

A few other premises from before the 18th century still exist, No 7 Church Street (C17), Carriers, 67 High Street (C17) and the Plough Public House, but the majority are 18th century or later. Older buildings were of course vulnerable to fire, and the disastrous blaze of 6th March 1743-4 (15) is unlikely to have been the only one. On that occasion ten houses on and around Church Street were burnt down after Mr Burling burnt the malt at his malthouse on the west side of town, with straw in a high wind. Several entries in the Manor Court minutes also refer to cottages 'lately burnt down'.

The Church at least remained, added to at various times up to the 16th century. Sir John de Freville, when Lord of the Manor in the early 12th century is believed to have built the Chancel and founded the tower, and a descendant in the early 15th century added the south chapel (10, and Church History). There is little obvious evidence of what the de Frevilles may have done for the village, but their contribution to the Church was considerable, and there are a number of monuments to members of the family inside. But in 1643 Will Dowsing destroyed much Church property, and the building fell into some decline for the next two centuries.

Ropemaking was established in the 18th century, an advertisement appearing in the Cambridge Chronicle of the 31st August 1782 for a tenement to let, new built, for carrying on the business of rope making and sack weaving. Manor Court records also refer to carpenters, cordwainers and brick makers, and hurdle makers. We also know that at least one of the public houses, the Three Horse Shoes, was in business as an ale-house by 1787 as Thomas Wale then certified that Amy Gunner merited a renewal of her licence (12). Thomas also built the Wale family mausoleum on Camping Close in 1775 (12).

The general picture of the village, at least from the Mediaeval period until enclosure, is of a small settlement of 30 to 40 houses clustered along Church Street and the eastern side of High Street with the farms opposite. Many of the houses had closes attached or adjoining, usually used as orchard or pasture, but occasionally for arable (Manor Court records), but they also had common rights attached to them for growing crops in the three common fields and for grazing animals on the meadows, moors and fallow land. The open fields occupied the southern half of the parish, with common meadows along the eastern boundary by the river and at the southern tip of the village, and moors to its west (Plan 2). These moors, together with adjoining fields were used in common with Harston, Hauxton and Newton. Much of the northern part of the parish was enclosed, quite probably some centuries before the parliamentary enclosure.

EARLY HISTORY NOTES

1. C.A.S. vol XXXIV p112

2. V.C.H. i p316

3. C.A.S. L 90.1

4. V.C.H. i pp 375, 385

Feudal Cambridgeshire - W. Farrer (1920)

5. Concise Oxford Dictionary of Place Names (1970)

6. Miss F.L. Wale - 'In Memory of the Sounds of Shelford Parva'

7. C.C. Taylor - Roads and Tracks of Britain (1979)

C.C. Taylor - 'Our neighbours' in 'Whither Whittlesford' No 20

8. V.C.H. viii pp 220-1

9. C.A.S. LV p59

10. V.C.H. viii pp222-4

11. Survey of the Manor Estate 1748 CRO R73/67 305/p

12. Rev. H.J. Wale - My Grandfather's Pocket Book (1883)

13. Harston and Hauxton Inclosure - claims CUL ADD 6011

14. Shelford Parva Manor Court Book 1714 CRO R 67/68

15. East Anglia Notes and Queries 1897.

PARLIAMENTARY ENCLOSURE

Little Shelford was first affected by Parliamentary Enclosure with the Act of Parliament passed in 1798 for the enclosure of the common fields of Harston and Hauxton, including those which were intercommonable with Little Shelford and Newton. The landowners in Little Shelford and Newton would derive little benefit, but had agreed to enclosure at the request of the landowners of Harston and Hauxton. It may, however, be significant that Charles Wale, largest landowner in Little Shelford, was Lord of the Manor of Tiptofts in Harston.

The intercommonable fields, Mount Field, Red Dean Field and Pessills Field, together with Little Shelford Moor, were divided amongst the four parishes, and for the first time the boundaries between them were fixed. The boundary between Little Shelford and Whittlesford across the intercommonable Moor was also set out, half of the Moor falling within each parish (1) after a request from Whittlesford for a re-examination of the original proposals (2). The boundaries then set out are shown on Plan 3 and have remained the same to this day.

Ten of the 25 proprietors of Little Shelford with rights over the intercommonable land objected to the Bill for Enclosure, notably all smaller property holders, although others with no more property either assented or were neutral (3). All 25 entered claims under the Act (4) but the 86 acres finally allotted to Little Shelford in the Award after complaints about deficiencies were divided amongst sixteen individuals with two allotments awarded in common to the Parish. However, the Act specified that the lands allotted in Little Shelford were to be enjoyed as common land and they were all re-allocated in the Little Shelford Award.

The roads running into Little Shelford seem to have existed already, even if only as tracks between fields, but the Number 6 and Number 8 Public Drains, which define the boundary between Little Shelford and Hauxton, and part of the boundary with Harston, were newly cut for draining land on Little Shelford Moor.

The Whittlesford Inclosure Award of August 1815 spelled out in more detail the boundary between that parish and Little Shelford and awarded small amounts of land in Whittlesford between the Turnpike Road and the river to William Finch Finch (Lord of the Manor) 0a 1r 30p and Rev. Henry Finch (Rector) 1a 0r 10p in lieu of their rights in the intercommon. This must have been with the agreement of the Little Shelford Commissioners since their Award, dated February of the same year, refers to the boundaries "as set out by the Commissioners on the Whittlesford Inclosure".

The Little Shelford Inclosure Act of 1813 was sought for the usual reasons of inconvenience of land holdings and their incapacity for considerable improvement, so that division and inclosure would be advantageous. The Act also exonerated the Rector from providing a bull or boar for the use of the inhabitants, and gave him land in exchange for tithes, while not affecting his rights to Easter offerings and similar fees. Of the total acreage of 1,177a 1r 34p, some 857a  2r 11p was land to be allotted, exclusive of roads and drains; and land already enclosed, with homesteads, amounted to 291a 0r 31p. The majority of the enclosed land belonged to William Finch Finch, Lord of the Manor in the self-contained Manor Estate of about 146 acres, with the Wale family a close second with about 111 acres in all. As Thomas Wale had died in 1796 this land was divided between his three remaining children, but during the 19th century changed hands between various members of the family.

On enclosure William Finch Finch was allotted only 6a 3r 28p, for right of soil of the waste lands, so he obviously did not have land in the open fields. Sir Charles Wale, on the other hand, was awarded 215a 2r 34p, including two very large allotments - 158a 0r 4p in White Field and Back Moor, and 128a 1r 35p in Danford Field and The Meadows. His sister, Miss M.P. Wale, was awarded 105a 0r 37p, including 63a 2r 31p in Danford Field and The Meadows. The other sister, Mrs M. Pemberton, was allotted 13a 1r 30p. This meant that the Wale family was the largest landowner in the Parish, followed by the Rector, with allotments of 224a 2r 32p for tithes (the value of 1/5 arable and 1/8 other land liable to tithes) and 28a 0r 0p for glebe.

The effect on the fields was dramatic. Danford Field, together with The Meadows, was now in only three ownerships - Charles Wale, Miss M.P. Wale, and the Rector (44a 3r 1p for tithes, 20a 3r 8p for glebe) plus a small triangular piece of land awarded for a gravel pit. One large holding of 179a 3r 31p for the Rector, for tithes, spanned parts of Middle Field and White Field, and one of 158a 0r 4p (Charles Wale) spanned Back Moor and White Field.

The smaller allotments were grouped in four main areas: on the Moor, around the Hauxton and Newton roads; on May Common, either side of the private road later known as Clay Pit Road; on Middle Field either side of the private road from the Turnpike Road heading towards Newton; and on White Field at the South West corner of the Parish by the boundary with Newton. The last area, part of the intercommon allotted to Little Shelford in the Harston and Hauxton Award, was the only one any distance from the village centre, but the allottees appear to have had more connection with Newton and Harston than with Little Shelford. The small enclosures around what is now the Bridlepath to Newton were, perhaps, just too far from the village to be convenient since they were taken into the Sainsfoins Estate before long, and the field boundaries now existing, although largely of enclosure date, are of the larger fields. However, a little further north, around Clay Pit Road, the same small fields can still be seen. Many of the boundaries of the enclosures on Hog Moor still exist, but this has been built over to a much greater extent, being immediately adjacent to the existing settlement.

Allotments were made to 41 persons, of whom 26 received land of less than four acres. By and large these were the people with the smaller properties in the village who may well have been worse off, having lost their rights over the commons for grazing animals, collecting fuel etc. The only acknowledgements of these losses were in the award of a public watering place to the south of Clay Pit Road and three pits to be used in common - gravel pits on Hog Moor and to the west of the Turnpike Road near the Whittlesford boundary to be used on private premises and for repairing the public and private roads; and a clay pit at the end of Clay Pit Road for use for buildings and fence walls.

No horses, asses, cows, sheep, lambs or cattle were to be kept on the public roads for the first seven years, but whether the practice was taken up after that period I do not know.

As laid down in the Act, public carriage roads were set out at 40' wide. The Hauxton and Harston (now Newton) roads already existed, even if only as tracks, as they were set out "in (their) present course" and joined up with the roads set out in the Harston and Hauxton Award. The old village roads are not mentioned (this is normal) but Thames Street Road was set out "in its present course" to link High Street and the Turnpike Road. What is odd is that one tiny part of May Common (1 rood 10 perches) was cut off by this road, the boundary of the old enclosure still being visible in the triangular shaped meadow, but whether the track had had already formed exactly along this line is not clear. The Newton Road, in the extreme south west of the parish was set out at only 30' wide, but was only a small section of the road between Whittlesford and Newton and can have had virtually no effect on the parish, except as an alternative access to one field. The Turnpike Road was not altered, but was confirmed at 60' wide.

One public footway was set out, from the Turnpike Road towards Danford (*Dernford)  Mills, which provided employment for some of the villagers, but four, across old inclosures, were stopped up. Five private roads were, however, created for access to the new inclosures. Two have already been mentioned: Clay Pit Road, and what is now the Bridleway to Newton, although at that time and for long afterwards it did not reach that far. These were both 30' wide. Two others were near the end of the last road; one 15' wide branching off to the north to reach the smaller enclosures which, although it no longer actually exists, currently forms the dividing line between two crops; the other, 12' wide, was part of a field track in Newton, of which no trace has been seen. The last, a roadway 20' wide, led eastwards from the Turnpike Road to the old inclosure of Charles Martindale on the east side of the river, and also formed the boundary with Whittlesford. This road has been made up and forms part of Spicers' property.

Five public drains were dug, all of which are still in use. The first stretches from the Whittlesford boundary to the river Cam by Sir Charles Wale's old inclosure boundary, between the Turnpike Road and the river, partly along the boundary between Danford Field and the Meadows. The second was from May Common, along the edge of the old enclosures, under the Newton and Hauxton Roads, and into the Cam at the north west point of the Parish, part of which, by the Hauxton boundary, had already been set out in the Harston and Hauxton Award. The other three all drained parts of May Common and ultimately led into Drain No 2.

The inclosure was the greatest change the parish had witnessed both in terms of landscape and of lifestyle, and the general outline of the parish and its fields has changed remarkably little since then. Hog Moor, Back Moor and May Common were rendered suitable for arable farming through drainage and have remained so farmed, although there is some pasture on May Common. The Meadows by the river, however, have never apparently been cultivated.

Nevertheless, parliamentary enclosure cannot have had the same impact on Little Shelford as on many parishes, partly because much of the northern part of the parish was already enclosed, and partly because most of the land was owned by a very small number of people. This latter factor created large fields, two of them not dissimilar in size to the old open fields.

PARLIAMENTARY ENCLOSURE – NOTES

1. Harston and Hauxton Inclosure Award CRO R54/17/1.2

2. Harston and Hauxton Inclosure Commissioners' Minutes CUL ADD 6013

3. Statement of Property Assenting Neuter and Dissenting to Inclosure Bill CUL Doc 639(2)

4. Harston and Hauxton Inclosure - Claims CUL ADD 6011

POST ENCLOSURE DEVELOPMENTS - 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURIES

The enclosure of the open fields and commons meant that for the first time building could take place outside the village centre. In fact only two farms were built out in the fields, both of them within about fifteen years of enclosure. Sainsfoins was built on the west side of the Turnpike Road, on land allotted to Charles Finch and sold to the Rev. Francis Henson in 1823 (1) but with only 49 acres in 1843 (2) this was more of a gentleman's residence and the land was frequently farmed with Rectory Farm. The Glebe Farm, known in 1833 as Frog Hall Farm, (3) and now as Rectory Farm was built almost opposite, on the Glebe land.

Ley Grove Cottages, presumably taking their name from the nearby 'Largrove', built over the Gravel Pit as a terrace of seven with two later additions, completed the development along the road to Whittlesford. These were built by Mr Hamer Towgood of Sainsfoins (4), either for farm workers or for employees at his Sawston Paper Mills. Two cottages were built just over the river on Charles Martindale's old enclosure and known early this century as 'The Splash' (4) but of those there is no longer any trace.

The only other house built on the southern edge of the village was Westfield, a square brick building, built probably around 1830, with an estate if (of?) 18 acres in 1881 (5), which looks likely to have replaced an older house immediately to the north in an old enclosure, the out-buildings of which were retained. The remainder of the extension of the village was to its immediate northwest, along Newton Road. On the north side West End House was built by Daniel Austin in 1818 (4), at which time it would have been the most westerly house in the village, and Arthur Austin later built a brewery in the grounds, fronting Hauxton Road. The next house was Woodville Lodge, built towards the middle of the century, beyond which there were market gardens and arable fields. Both of these were (and are) sizeable houses. On the opposite side of the road was Whitegates (much enlarged over the years) and next door was reputedly a foundry owned by Arthur Austin (4). It was not until 1890 that The Red House was built (4). New cottages were also few: four on Hauxton Road immediately beyond the brewery, and four on Newton Road built between 1894 and 1907 (4).

Most of the building was within the old village, but on a very limited scale until the later 19th century, Ingleside on Church Street being the only house of note of the earlier part of the century. The west side of the High Street remained almost unchanged, with the two farms, White and Hall, a few cottages at each end and what appears from the maps to be the original part of Kirby Lodge (later enlarged and now looking thoroughly Victorian). In the early years of this century eight small houses were built on the north side of Garden Fields. The east side was already more built up at Enclosure, but this was intensified between Kings Farm and The Plough Public House by a terrace of nine cottages, built in two sections between about 1870 and 1890, a semi-detached pair of about the same period, and a detached house. This must have entailed the demolition of some earlier houses. Kings Farmhouse itself was much enlarged. On the north side of Church Street most of the building, except for Church House, immediately to the west of the Church, was in replacement of cottages which had had to be demolished or had burnt down, witness The Chequers Public House and the adjacent cottage, which were rebuilt in the late 1860s after fire had demolished the ale-house and surrounding cottages (4). Cintra Lodge was built on the south side before 1885 on land belonging to Charles Finch, and St. Andrews (no 16) was built in 1908 on the site of the Three Horse Shoes Public House, which had had its licence taken away in 1907 as superfluous. The only other major change was the demolition, in 1845, of the Wale Mausoleum on the corner of Church Street and Whittlesford Road, when the bodies were transferred to a crypt under the Church.

The west side of Whittlesford Road (or Back Lane) remained virtually undeveloped. except for a house built in 1838 (4) on the corner of The Thoroughfare (later The Terrace) and a terrace of cottages on the north side of The Thoroughfare. However, Pound Yard, opposite the grounds of Shelford Hall, was bought by Col. R.G. Wale in about 1850, when it consisted of several "wretched over-crowded hovels" (4). The worst were demolished and those remaining were repaired and in some cases extended.

The pair of cottages at the innermost end of the Yard and later known as Studio Cottage were converted and extended in 1862 to make a reading room for the labouring men and a school room for boys, and were used for classes of various kinds until 1909. The animal pound, next to No 14, from which the Yard derived its name, was removed about 1859, and the stocks earlier (4). Across the road a new Shelford Hall was built in

about 1851 by Col. R.G. Wale, in the grand Victorian Gothic style, as the old hall was considered too dilapidated for his new wife to live in (4). The stable and coach house block remains and gives an indication.

Much of the old hall was demolished, leaving the north front and wing to form a lodge to the new hall. The long white brick boundary wall was built at about the same time. Rebuilding was also proceeding at the Rectory, but in this case the old house was demolished and a new Rectory built on the same site in 1858.

So there was no great expansion of the village, merely, on the one hand, an affirmation of their position by the wealthier families in the form of building or extending 'suitable' houses, although many of them, including the Manor House and Old Shelford Hall, seem to have been let for considerable periods. On the other hand, a handful of cottages were built over a century for the labouring people. It is clear, however, from descriptions given by Miss Wale and from Manor Court entries, that many of the older cottages were divided into two or more dwellings at various times. This would, no doubt, have been necessary in the earlier half of the 19th century, when the population grew dramatically: 220 in 1801; 357 in 1811; 438 in 1821; to a high of 580 in 1851 (6). Lyson's Magna Brittania records that all the 47 houses were inhabited in 1801, occupied by 61 families, so there must already have been a sharing of houses, and there is no evidence of any considerable building during this period.

In common with other rural areas, Little Shelford suffered from the agricultural depression of the second half of the 19th century, the population falling from 580 in 1851 to 474 in 1861, then more slowly to 441 in 1901. In the mid-1850s, between 50 and 60 people left Little Shelford and Stapleford for Sydney, Australia (7), and the depression made Hall Farm, the largest farm in the village and owned by the Wales, difficult to let, so that the farmhouse had to be let separately as a residence (4).

The main farms throughout this period were Hall Farm (owned by the Wales) at about 400 acres; Rectory Farm at about 250 acres; Manor Farm with about 150 acres; White Farm (owned by the Wales) about 70 acres; Sainsfoins (also briefly Wale property) about 50 acres; and Westfield with 18 acres. Kings Farm, although one of the old farms of the village, was probably by this time no longer a farm proper, but a gentleman's residence with paddocks. This estate also belonged to the Wale family. The amount of land under crop varied little, 840 acres at the middle of the 19th century to 900 acres in 1905, the main crops being barley, wheat and oats. However the composition of the livestock herds supported by the permanent grassland varied considerably: in 1866 there were about 80 cattle, 240 pigs and over 1,000 sheep, whereas in 1905 there were approximately 106 dairy cattle, 124 beef cattle, no recorded pigs, and 700 sheep (8).

In 1830 there were about 70 labouring men and boys, whom the farmers agreed to employ according to an assessment of the value of the farm (9), but not all the villagers were totally dependent on agriculture for a livelihood. Post Office and Kelly's Directories describe about twenty people as traders, including a butcher, baker, bootmakers, wheelwright, blacksmith, carpenter, bricklayers, several shopkeepers, alehouse keepers, and the ropemaker. These would have made it quite a busy little village, more industrialised than it is today. Several houses still bear their shop window fronts, including 6 Church Street, the village shop until 1962; 15 High Street which was the bakery for many years, and 65 High Street, once a sweet shop. The wheelwright's shop has gone, but the final remains of the blacksmith's forge can be seen still in the form of a collapsed clay bat wall along the northern edge of Garden Fields. Of the ale houses which lasted throughout most of the period The Chequers, The Prince Regent and The Plough remain. The Three Horse Shoes in Church Street was de-licenced in 1907 and demolished, and the King William IV at the southern end of High Street lasted until 1910, when it too lost its licence as superfluous to the needs of the village, and was converted by the owners, the Misses Wale, to a private dwelling.

The ropeworks, situated behind the houses on the north side of Church Street, must have been a considerable feature of the village and has left us a drive to a modern bungalow, still called The Ropewalk (part of a path reaching almost to the Church, where ropes were laid out). and some of the buildings now used as private outhouses, but not the chimney. which was demolished in the 1960s. The firm, run by the Gall family, also made sacks and tarpaulin from the mid 19th century and distilled tar from its latter years.

Those men who were labourers or without regular employment were hired by the Parish Surveyor for road repairs and ditch scouring, the former of which seems to have been a fairly constant occupation. The introduction to the Surveyor's Accounts 1840-42 (10) reports that the extent of roads to be repaired by the Parish was 2.5 miles, and that about two miles had been repaired on Newton Road, New Road and Clay Pit Road and in the parish. New Road appears to be the (Bridle) path opposite Rectory Farm. Gravel and stones (probably flints) were used for filling up the ruts, collected from Lay Grove field (the public pit) and Mr. Baker's meadow and field - this would account for the apparent remains of excavations in the meadow to the north of Dernford Mill footpath and the meadow further north known to Miss F. L. Wale as 'The Stone diggings' (4). Other fields north-west of the village were also used. This method of road repair continued into the 20th century until the advent of the improved surface of tar with stones rolled in it (4).

The Turnpike Road was taken over by the County Council in 1871. Drainage was also an important factor in life and various of the Surveyor's accounts refer to cleansing out ditches. Problems must, however, have been fairly severe by 1855 since the Committee of Improvement commissioned a survey on the drainage from the Wellhead Springs to and along the High Street to the river. The Surveyor, R. Harwood, reported that all the culverts along the High Street were "undulating and obstructive" and recommended the re-cutting of virtually the whole drain (11).

The railway came to the parish in 1846, (*actually 1851) when Eastern Counties Railways planned the line from Cambridge to Royston and Ware, across Manor Farm, Hauxton Road, and the fields to the west. This cut through arable land and garden allotments, but caused the building of a cottage - the crossing-keeper's cottage - since there was no station in the village. The slow trains provided some amusement for the local children, but were otherwise noted only for the occasional fire caused by sparks from the engine (4). R.G. Baker's survey of Cambridgeshire, published in 1821, shows a proposed canal starting from Whaddon, crossing the parish west and south of the village, joining another proposed canal east of the river. This never materialised; perhaps it was overtaken by the railways.

The village was plentifully wooded, independent descriptions talking of the number of elms in the hedgerows (virtually all the large elms have gone, but suckers are regenerating). Both the Lord of the Manor and the Wale family started plantations, the whole of the tree belt along the east side of the Whittlesford Road and by the brook west of the river are due to the Wales. The family was also responsible for providing allotments on the south side of The Terrace for the cottages opposite, which lasted until the 1960s, and for the general allotments at Garden Fields which were first provided in 1880 and are still in use. The cricket club also had a ground, courtesy of the Wale estate, within the grounds of the Hall. There does not, however, seem to have been any area set aside for general recreation.

The Church, a focal point in any village, appears to have been quite dilapidated by the beginning of the 19th century, and two major feats of restoration were carried out, in 1854 and 1879 (12). The main work in 1854 was the opening up of a new Chancel arch, but in 1879 the soil of the churchyard, which had built up over the centuries, was lowered, the chancel and tower buttresses rebuilt, the nave and roofs restored, the tower and spire repaired, and a new porch built. Flint and pebble were used on the exterior walls and the restoration designed to harmonise as far as possible with the 1308 work. It was during these restorations that the grave covers, now incorporated in the walls of the porch, were discovered within the structure. The graveyard was extended in 1913 (14) and the old boundary can still be seen.

The Congregational Chapel, set back off the High Street, was probably rebuilt in 1881 (12) on the same site as the barn or meeting house used by the congregation since at least about 1823 (13) (14).

The parish was still being affected by enclosure in 1854, when the Newton Parish Award reallocated three of the enclosures originally allotted in Little Shelford in the Harston and Hauxton Award. But in 1907 it looked firmly into the twentieth century with the approval by the Parish Council of the first telephone wires.