WENTWORTH
Wentworth, a very small village, is situated just
south of the high road from Ely to Chatteris, 4½ miles
west of the city. The parish, which is almost in the
centre of the Isle proper, is mainly on the south side
of this road, which forms part of the boundary. This
boundary, 'however, encloses a 'tongue' of land about
a mile long to the north-east, which consists of a section
of the fen north of Witchford. Wentworth Sedge Fen
(mainly in Witchford parish) shows by its name the
purpose of this irregularity. There were formerly two
detached parts of Wentworth, owing their origin to the
same cause, which were amalgamated with Coveney
and Grunty Fen in 1884 and 1886 respectively. The
Domesday entry for Wentworth suggests that the village was then a fairly large one. Later, however, it
declined in size. In 1428 it. was recorded that there
were only 9 resident parishioners. (fn. 1) The returns of
1563 (fn. 2) and 1676 (fn. 3) show only 12 householders and 78
communicants respectively. In 1639-40 Wentworth
was assessed for ship-money at only £14. (fn. 4) The depopulation that had been occurring at least from the
15th century may have been partly due to inclosure,
which was a feature in Wentworth earlier than in many
Isle parishes, and to a long succession of lay tenants of
the manor. An area of 177 acres of land and pasture
round the manor house seems to have been inclosed by
1649, (fn. 5) and a further 1,004 acres by Act of Parliament
in 1830. (fn. 6) By the later inclosure 32 proprietors benefited. The chief of these were Henry Francis (362
acres), the Dean and Chapter of Ely (118 acres in
respect of the Rectory and Wold Farms), the Revd.
H. J. Sperling (57 acres) and Anne Vipan (64 acres).
The costs of the Act were £2,544 9s., of which
£1,424 2s. was borne by Francis. (fn. 7) The proportion
inclosed (about 70 per cent. of the total area of the
parish) was the highest in the Isle. Though so small,
Wentworth has two public houses, but there is no post
office. Burwell House is a late Georgian building of
some merit: it was the rectory until the union of the
benefice with Witchford in 1938. (fn. 8)
MANOR
It is not known when the church of Ely
obtained Wentworth. In 1086 the vill was
rated at 3½ hides, one of which was in
demesne. This demesne had I plough 'and there might
be another'. There were 3 sokemen, 2 sharing 1 hide
and the other holding a virgate, who neither then nor
formerly could sell their land without the abbot's leave.
There were 9 villeins with 10 acres each. These sokemen and villeins had 5 ploughs. There were also 17
cottars. There was woodland for 20 pigs. The value
was, and had been when received, £10 10s.: in 1066
it was £12. The vill had always formed part of the
demesne of the church of Ely. (fn. 9)
The manor was left with the convent in 1109, and
has continued in possession of the chapter of Ely (now
represented by the Church Commissioners) to the
present day.
Bentham (fn. 10) mentions that after the death (1072) of
Thurstan, the last Saxon Abbot of Ely, 'the King's
officers took away a considerable sum of Gold and Silver
that the monks'had laid up' at Wentworth. This might
imply that it was then either a very obscure or a very
considerable place. In 1291 Wentworth was assessed
at £30 10s
(fn. 11) -a sum which corresponds with the
average value of the convent's manors. From 1252 the
priors had enjoyed free warren. (fn. 12) This right, with
the other usual manorial privileges, and the wastes and
marshes within the manor as parcel thereof, were confirmed in 1417 when the respective rights of the
bishop and prior were more clearly defined. (fn. 13)
In 1381 an unsuccessful attempt was made by the
men of Sutton to seize the Sacrist of Ely, who was at
Wentworth when the Peasants' Revolt broke out. (fn. 14) He
was perhaps supervising the collection of rents, which
had long been appropriated to his office. (fn. 15)
Wentworth was let out to farm earlier than the other
manors in the Isle belonging to the convent, and so does
not appear in the set of account rolls of the mid-15th
century. (fn. 16) The tenants were the Scrope family of
Bolton (Yorks.), whose connexion with Wentworth is
first detected in a family settlement of 1445. (fn. 17) John
Lord Scrope of Bolton, who died in 1498, held Wentworth manor of the Prior of Ely by service of 5s.
yearly; it was then extended as a capital messuage and
100 acres of land and 20 of meadow, and was valued
at £6 with 13s. 4d. in rents. (fn. 18) A good deal was, however, kept in hand by the convent for the benefit of the
sacrist, who received from Wentworth £18 12s. in
1522-3 and £19 16s. 2½d. in 1541. (fn. 19) In the latter
year the chief lordship of the manor was formally
transferred to the newly constituted Dean and Chapter
of Ely. (fn. 20) During the reign of Elizabeth the manor
appears in the tenancy of a junior branch of the Scrope
family, of Hambleden (Bucks.). (fn. 21) The alternative
name SCROOPES continued to be attached to Wentworth manor for a century later. (fn. 22)
A survey by the Parliamentary Commissioners in
1649 (fn. 23) showed rents of £13 17s. 1½d. In 1650 the
manor was sold to John Smyth of Wentworth for
£1,069 11s. 8d. (fn. 24) It was then more fully surveyed.
The estate appears divided into two parcels. The first
of these consisted of the remnant of the demesne,
containing 43½ acres of arable in 14 pieces in the fields,
and 2 acres of meadow. With the usual manorial perquisites, it was valued at £21 11s. 8d. yearly. The
other parcel consisted of the manor house itself, 133
acres of arable and 44 acres of pasture, and was worth,
with foldage for 400 sheep, £97 0s. 8d. The manor
house, which was said to have been formerly in the
occupation of Michael Barnard of Coveney, had been
let in 1621 to Jeremy Daveys of Cambridge for £8
and stock to the value of £2 18s. 8d. yearly. The distinction between demesne and manor-house lands is
not drawn in a terrier made in 1663. (fn. 25) This terrier
records 5 closes of pasture immediately surrounding the
manor house and totalling 22 acres, and other lands
totalling 194 acres, together with 14 poles of fen
ground in Staple Fen. Briery, Broadwater, Long Hey,
Maraway (cf. Mere Way in Witchford), and Staple
Fields are mentioned in one or both these surveys. At
the beginning of the 18th century Thomas Bacon held
the manor under the dean and chapter at a beneficial
rent of £8 a year together with a brawn, 4 wethers, and
a calf (in kind, value £4 10s.). The fine for the renewal of the lease was £45 in 1709 and £60 in 1718.
The estate comprised 172½ acres of arable, 26 of inclosed pasture, 8 of fen, 7 of meadow, a willow holt of
17 acres, and a sheepwalk for 400 sheep. (fn. 26) In Cole's
time (1744) the principal tenants in Wentworth were
Dr. Conyers Middleton, who is more closely associated
with Coveney (q.v.), 'Dr. Goddard's wives sister' and
Mr. Thompson of York. Dr. Middleton's farm had
'one of the largest barns I ever saw, except the Bishop's
barn at Ely'. (fn. 27) In 1814 the tenant of the manor house
under the dean and chapter was John Sanxter. The
lease was renewed, still at the mid-17th-century rent of
£8, to William Sanxter in 1822. In the same year he
assigned his lease (for £1,900) to Mrs. Diana Brown,
who reassigned to Henry Francis in 1825. The
manorial estate was divided in 1843 when 166 acres
were leased to (Sir) Samuel Bignold for £3 9s. 4d.
yearly. The lease was renewed to him in 1850 and
1858; he surrendered it in 1863. (fn. 28)
Lands in Wentworth called GRANSDENS can be
traced back to 1541, (fn. 29) when they accounted for £1 15s.
of the conventual receipts from this manor. In 1649
they had increased in value and were divided into
moieties, worth £3 15s. and £2 11s. 1d. respectively. (fn. 30)
About 1730 they provided £2 17s. 6d. in rents. (fn. 31)
The name presumably derives from the original tenant
from Great or Little Gransden on the Huntingdonshire border. It is preserved in a corrupted form in
Granny's End Road. (fn. 32)
Part of the Caius College Haddenham Estate
extended into Wentworth, amounting to about 7 acres.
It was leased to the Earl of Hardwicke until c. 1857,
and after that direct to the Earl's sub-tenant at £11 10s.
The tenant was responsible for payment of the tithe
apportionment of £2 3s. 3d. (fn. 33)
In 1830 the Dean and Chapter of Ely were leasing
Rectory Farm to William Sanxter and Wold Farm to
Needham's Charity, Ely. (fn. 34)
CHURCH
The church was valued at £10 in 1217. (fn. 35)
It was appropriated by Bishop Northwold
(1229-54) to the sacrist of the priory. (fn. 36)
In 1291, however, it was still being described as an
ecclesia and the value was still £10. (fn. 37) This suggests
that by that time no vicarage had been ordained.
Vicars are, however, mentioned in 1364 (fn. 38) and 1390. (fn. 39)
Bentham states, though without authority, that disappropriation took place between 1418 and 1446. (fn. 40)
In 1535 the living was a rectory valued at £10. (fn. 41) The
patronage has remained continuously with the prior
and convent or dean and chapter. Since 1938 the
living has been united with Witchford. (fn. 42)
The church of ST. PETER consists of chancel,
nave, south porch, and west tower. The material is
rubble with ashlar dressings. A drastic 'restoration' in
1868 involved the rebuilding of the nave and porch
and a complete reroofing. The existence of a church
on the site in the 12th century is proved by the reset
north and south doorways. The chancel was rebuilt,
probably on an extended scale, in the 13th century,
and the tower added a century later. It appears that a
chapel was added on the south side of the nave in the
14th century and subsequently destroyed; the blocked
arch remained until the 'restoration'.
The chancel has an east window consisting of three
plain lancets under a containing arch, all of 19thcentury date. There are angle buttresses with one setoff. In the lateral walls are three 13th-century lancets,
and there is a rectangular low-side window at the west
end of the south wall. There is a 13th-century doorway in the south wall with a continuous chamfer and
a hood-mould terminating in masks. An original
internal string-course runs round the north, south, and
east walls. The chancel arch is two-centred and of
two orders, and springs from large modern corbels
clumsily carved. There is a double piscina with a
central shaft having a moulded cap and base, and in the
north wall is a modern aumbry.
The nave has been rebuilt, and all the fenestration is
modern and of 14th-century character. On the north
and south are two windows of two cinquefoiled lights
with internal and external hood-moulds terminating
in heads. At the west end of the north wall is a single
light with trefoiled head. The north and south doorways are of 12th-century date, though much restored;
they have plain tympana and a roll moulding, and the
south has cable angle-shafts and cushion caps. The
tower arch is two-centred and of two orders with semioctagonal responds having moulded caps and bases.
There are four buttresses on the north and two on the
south, all with one set-off and modern. The porch,
which is entirely modern, has an outer doorway with
continuous mouldings and a hood-mould terminating
in heads. There is a two-light window with trefoiled
head on the east and west, and small angle-buttresses.
The tower is of three stages with diagonal buttresses
having four set-offs. The west window has two
cinquefoil-headed lights which have been renewed,
and an original hood-mould terminating in heads. In
the second stage is a modern single light on the north,
south, and west. The belfry windows have two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil above and a hood-mould;
the tracery has been renewed but the hoods are partly
original. There is an embattled parapet, and the tower
is crowned by a low pyramidal cap which is tiled.
Plan of St. Peter's Church
All the roofs are modern.
The 13th-century font has a plain octagonal bowl
resting on five shafts, and there is leaf foliage under the
bowl. The chancel screen is of 14th-century character,
the muntins consisting of turned shafts; it has been
completely renewed with the exception of the tracery
heads and part of the top beam. Attached to the north
wall of the sanctuary is part of a stone panel carved in
high relief and dating from the first half of the 12th
century. It portrays a figure in mass vestments and
pall, holding a book in the left hand and what appears
to be an asperorium in the right; there is an architectural canopy and a twisted shaft on the left; the right
side is missing and it is probable that there were originally more figures; when complete it may have served as
a reredos. The surviving portion is in a remarkably
good state of preservation.
The plate includes a silver chalice, paten and flagon
of 1869-70, presented by Robert Raynbird, rector
1859-87.
The tower contains one bell by C. and G. Mears,
1845.
The registers begin in 1684 (baptisms), 1685
(burials) and 1686 (marriages).
NONCONFORMITY
In 1672 the house of William
Birchall was licensed for Presbyterian worship, (fn. 43) but for at
least a hundred years there has been no Nonconformist
place of worship in the parish.
SCHOOL
Wentworth had a small dame-school in
1789. (fn. 44) In 1846-7 it was reported that a
Sunday-school, attended by 8 boys and 15
girls, was held in the chancel of the church. The parish
clerk taught the pupils, and also held classes on weekday evenings in summer. Shortly afterwards the rector
(George Peacock, Dean of Ely) built a school and had
it conducted at his own expense. In 1872-3 a new
school was built at a cost, with a teacher's house, of
about £500, to which the National Society granted
£30. (fn. 45) This school held about 50 children. In 1899
the average attendance was only 38 and in 1922 only
16. In the latter year the County Council, in the face
of much local protest, closed the school. Children now
attend school at Witchford. (fn. 46)
CHARITIES
In 1837 Wentworth Town Lands
consisted of 8¼ acres, which produced
£10 a year. The rents were received
and distributed by the poor of the parish themselves,
in sums of about 6s. (fn. 47)