CHURCH.
Fen Ditton church, built in the 12th
century, is first recorded in 1217. (fn. 61) The patronage has belonged to the bishop of Ely since 1251,
but the Crown appointed during episcopal vacancies in 1590 and 1753. (fn. 62) The living, which
always remained a rectory, was valued c. 1217
at £18 6s. 8d.; in 1254 at £20; and in 1276 at
£36 13s. 4d., although in 1291 it was only worth
£26 13s. 4d. (fn. 63) It was worth £26 11s. 2d. in 1535,
and £120 in 1650. (fn. 64) In 1728 it was worth £160.
The gross income was £404 in 1832, £580 in
1873, £500 in 1885, and £692 in 1939. (fn. 65)
In 1279 there was 24 a. of glebe, and in 1639
c. 22½ a. (fn. 66) It was then divided into 28 blocks,
the largest of which was 1 a. in Leadenhall field,
and the smallest of which were 1-r. strips in
Abbots Ditch field. In 1807 the rector was allotted 14 a. in lieu of glebe. (fn. 67)
The rector was entitled to the revenues from
both the small and the great tithes in the Middle
Ages. There was a long dispute between the
rector of Fen Ditton and St. John's hospital,
Cambridge, which possessed Horningsea
church, over tithes from cattle, which was
resolved in 1412. Tithes from cattle belonging
to the parishioners of Fen Ditton were assigned
to their rector, even though the cattle had been
pastured in Horningsea; in return St. John's
hospital received the tithes from Horningsea
cattle even when grazed on Fen Ditton pastures. (fn. 68) In 1807 the allotment for tithes comprised c. 274 a., divided into nine sections,
ranging in size from 104 a.; three ranged from
34 a. to 13 p. (fn. 69) In 1894 Glebe farm was sold to
T. M. Francis of Quy Hall, and some smaller
pieces of glebe were sold to Cambridge borough
council in the late 1890s. (fn. 70) In 1919 Quy Water
farm was sold along with its farmland, comprising c. 176 a., and in 1946 Jesus College purchased the glebe meadow bordering the Cam. (fn. 71)
After 1945 further portions of the glebe were
sold off intermittently, leaving by 1976 only
13 a. on Horningsea Road. (fn. 72)
The rectory house was enlarged in 1386 by
the rector Simon Remyn. (fn. 73) In the 16th century
a new rectory was built on Church Street north
of the parish church. (fn. 74) Part of that house survives as the south wing of the Old Rectory. Four
hearths were reported in 1662 and six in 1664. (fn. 75)
The central range, probably a single room in the
17th century, was refronted in brick and widened in the early 18th century. In both 1775 and
1782 the rectory was in good repair, with a scullery added to the kitchen. (fn. 76) In the 19th century
the south wing was extended eastwards, and the
north cross wing and kitchen were encased in
white brick. It was set in a 2-a. garden with a
paddock. (fn. 77) The house remained in good repair
during the early 19th century. In 1851, besides
the rector, his wife, and two young children,
four servants lived there. (fn. 78) By 1929 the house
was in poor condition. (fn. 79) In 1939 it was exchanged for Flendish House. (fn. 80) Flendish House,
of two storeys, had three reception rooms on the
ground floor, four bedrooms on the second floor,
and a number of attic rooms on the third floor. (fn. 81)
It served as the rectory house from 1939 until
1976, when a new one was built on the opposite
side of the High Street.
Between the 1230s and c. 1400 thirteen rectors
were recorded, and a further four parish clergy
were styled priests or chaplains; two were graduates. (fn. 82) One rector was licensed to be absent;
another held the living in plurality with
Stretham (I. Ely); at least one, however, Simon
Remyn (1382-94), was resident. (fn. 83) During the
15th and 16th centuries there were twenty-one
rectors, some of whom also served the Crown
and the bishops of Ely, or held office in
Cambridge university, including two successive
masters of Jesus College in the late 1550s. (fn. 84)
Four of the incumbents held other livings in
Cambridgeshire or in neighbouring counties,
and five curates were named. In the early 17th
century two of the rectors also served at other
times as heads of Cambridge colleges; one of
them was regarded as an Arminian. (fn. 85) In the late
17th and 18th centuries incumbents often also
held prominent positions in the church and the
university, and between 1680 and 1711 the
parish was served by six curates, each being in
office between three and twelve years. (fn. 86) John
Gooch, son of Thomas, bishop of Ely (d. 1754),
was the last pluralist rector, holding the living
from 1753 until his death in 1804. (fn. 87)
In the 19th and 20th centuries there were
eleven rectors, all resident, and only in 1844 was
there evidence for a curate. (fn. 88) The rector W. B.
James attracted attention in 1849 when he
sought to impose public penance for the slander
of his wife. (fn. 89) The proceedings drew a crowd of
3,000, whose intervention caused some damage
to the rectory, and prevented the sentence from
being carried out. That was reputedly the last
occasion when public penance was imposed in
England. F. H. Cox, rector 1877-83, was president of the Church of England Temperance
Society. (fn. 90)
In the 19th century rectors preached twice on
Sundays. (fn. 91) The number of communicants fluctuated between 12 and 18 in the early 19th century, rising to between 50 and 80 in the 1880s
and 1890s. By then there were four communions
a month. Since the 1930s an oarsmens' service
has been held in the last week of July each year.
By 1836 there was a Sunday school, attended by
some 60 to 100 boys and girls throughout the
19th century.
The church of ST. MARY, so named by
1515, (fn. 92) is built of rubble with Barnack stone with
clunch and limestone dressings, and leadcovered roofs. (fn. 93) The building, which consists of
a chancel, a nave with a clerestory, north and
south aisles, a south porch, and west tower,
includes some 12th-century masonry. The tower
was built in the early 13th century, and comprised three stages with a plain parapet and angle
buttresses. The north aisle, and one of the windows in its north wall dates from c. 1300. The
remaining three windows in the north aisle wall
date from the later 14th century, each having
two cinquefoiled lights. The chancel was built
shortly afterwards. The east window has cinquefoiled lights with flowing tracery, and the three
windows on the south side each have cinquefoiled lights. In the 15th century the chancel
arch and the nave were rebuilt, and a clerestory,
south aisle, south porch, and north vestry were
also added. A screen divided off the nave from
the chancel during the later Middle Ages.
In 1775 the chancel was restored, and given
new stained glass windows and an altar rail
brought from Ely cathedral. (fn. 94) In 1807 the
church was in good repair. (fn. 95) Restoration in the
mid 1840s was inadequate, and in 1853 cracks
appeared in the new plaster, leading to further
repairs in 1858. (fn. 96) In the 1870s the church floor
was lowered. (fn. 97) A major programme of works in
1880-1 involved the rebuilding of the walls of
the tower, north aisle, and chancel, and the restoration of the south aisle, porch, and clerestory. (fn. 98) The work was completed in 1881. (fn. 99) In
1955 coal-fired heating was installed, replaced
in 1962 by an oil-fired system. In 1968 the roof
was re-leaded, and in the late 1980s a major restoration of the church included the installation
of a drainage system. (fn. 1)
The church's octagonal font dates from the
14th century. All the church's jewels and plate
were allegedly stolen shortly before 1552. The
oldest pieces of the unremarkable plate that it
had in the 20th century were a cup and patens
of 1690. (fn. 2) Four bells were recorded in 1549 and
1552, and in 1623 Thomas and Richard Willys
agreed to pay for casting two bells, one of which
survived in the 1960s. (fn. 3) In 1881 four of the six
bells were damaged in a fire. (fn. 4) In 1982 they were
sold, and replaced by Gillet and Johnson bells. (fn. 5)
Monuments of the 1620s and 1685-1725 were
erected on the north wall of the chancel to seven
members of the Willys family, as well as a floor
slab in the chancel to William Willys (d. 1676). (fn. 6)
In 1920 a war memorial was installed on the
south wall, and in 1977 oarsmens' shields and
oars were put up alongside it.
The parish registers, beginning in 1538, are
substantially complete. (fn. 7) The church had a
graveyard by 1356, and the present churchyard
walls include medieval moulded stonework. (fn. 8)
From 1897 it was closed to new burials. (fn. 9) A
church hall, built in the 1920s, was later used
for storage. In 1962 it was replaced by a new
parish hall on the northern side of the High
Street, which remained in use during the late
20th century. (fn. 10)