WILBURTON
Wilburton lies on the southern border of the Isle,
6½ miles south-west from Ely. The village, which
extends along the important cross-country road from
Earith Bridge to Stretham, is rather small, but more
substantial in appearance than most isle villages. It is
still as true as it was a hundred years ago that the
village 'is very neat and contains some excellent
houses'. (fn. 1) Among the more noteworthy of these houses
are the Burystead (the former manor house), the post
office, one of the few surviving half-timbered houses in
this part of the country, and Victoria Place, a substantial
row of cottages. In the Pell family Wilburton is fortunate in having had for more than a century a succession
of resident lords of the manor, many of whom have been
keenly interested in agricultural and social questions.
As at Haddenham there are many market-gardens and
orchards, producing an attractive wooded appearance.
Minor roads lead north and south from the village to
Wentworth and to Witchford and to Cottenham via
Twenty Pence Bridge, which, some 2½ miles downstream from the former Aldreth High Bridge, has to
some extent supplanted it. There is a railway station,
since 1931 open for goods traffic only, on the Ely-
Sutton branch (1866) of the former L.N.E.R. St.
Peter's Hall, a village assembly room, was built by
O. C. Pell in 1891. It contains panelling formerly in
Stretham Church. (fn. 2)
An area of 807 acres in Wilburton was inclosed under
the general Act of 1845, the award being made in 1855.
At that date there were six open fields in the parish:
Little (north-west of the village), Flexon (north-east),
Mill (east), Towns End (south-east), Dog House
(south-west), and New Ditch (on the southern edge
of the parish). In all sixty-five proprietors participated
in the award, but over half of the inclosed land went
to the Pell and Camps families. Lady Pell received
203½ acres, 2½ as lady of the manor, 131 as a freeholder
and 70 as lessee of the Archdeacon of Ely. Four
members of the Camps family-Edward, Read Tansley,
Sarah, and William-accounted for 262½ acres between
them. The only other allottees on a large scale were
Alexander Simson (70 acres) and William Martin
senior (39 acres). Two acres were allotted for the poor,
1 for a public recreation ground and 1 for a sandpit to
provide road-mending material, all on the east side of
the road to Twenty Pence Bridge. (fn. 3)
The Burystead, about ½ mile to the east of the church,
is a late Elizabethan house of brick erected about 1600.
In plan it consists of a central block with north and
south wings projecting towards the east and large stair
turrets in the angles. The front of the house is on the
east. At the back are four gables in a line, but the two
in the centre are probably later additions. The house is
now divided into two residences. The principal gables
have moulded brick copings with finials at the springs
and apex. There is a string-course of moulded brick
dividing the two stories, which is carried over some of
the windows to form a hood-mould. Most of the
windows have modern wooden casements, but several
have late 17th-century casements. There are massive
brick chimney-stacks with octagonal tops in groups of
two and three. The roofs are tiled. It seems probable
that the central portion was originally the hall and open
to the roof, and this would explain the two staircases,
since the upper stories in the wings would be isolated
completely from each other. There is spacious attic
accommodation in the roofs. While the exterior has
been but little altered the interior has undergone great
changes and the original size and appearance of the
rooms is difficult to visualize. Even the main entrance,
though probably occupying approximately its original
position, is now quite modern. Some chamfered beams
are visible and one original fireplace of clunch is exposed,
with conventional flowers carved in relief on the lintel.
Some of the original oak floors remain, but they are
covered with modern deal boarding. The brick garden
walls and a barn, also of brick, are of 17th-century date.
The Burystead was replaced as the manor house of
Wilburton by 'a very gentlemanlike brick house' by
Alice (Towers), wife of Sir John Thompson and lady
of the manor c. 1632-50. (fn. 4) Wilburton Manor was
again rebuilt in 1851 to the designs of Pugin. (fn. 5)
The Grange, to the north-west of the church, is
a timber-framed house with brick filling and tiled roofs.
The ground stage is of old brick, while the filling in the
upper stage is modern, replacing reed and clay. The
south wall and gable are entirely of brick. The original
house was L-shaped and must have been erected about
1500. A century later a wing was added to the east,
making the plan roughly T-shaped, and a large chimneystack was inserted where the new addition joined the
original work. This wing has an overhang in the upper
story supported on brackets. In the ground-floor wing
of the later wing the moulded uprights which supported
the medieval front can be seen. The oak joists are exposed in the ceiling of this room and in the kitchen, which
lies to the west in the original portion. There is a large
open fireplace of early 17th-century date in the kitchen.
To the north of the church is Bell Gable House,
a late 17th-century farmhouse of brick with curved
gables and tiled roof. The windows and doorway are
of later date, probably mid-18th century. The only
internal feature of interest is a good staircase with
turned balusters.
North-east of Wilburton parish, and amalgamated
with it under the Isle of Ely Review Order of 1933, (fn. 6)
lies the former extra-parochial tract of Grunty Fen-
1,793 acres of low-lying ground that was formerly
common pasture for the inhabitants of Ely, Witchford,
Wentworth, Haddenham, Wilburton, Stretham, and
Thetford. (fn. 7) This area was inclosed in 1861 under the
general Inclosure Act of 1845. Eight acres were sold
for £240 to defray costs, 24 acres were allotted as
recreation gounds, and 249 allotted to the poor of the
adjacent parishes. The several lords of the manors
received 22½ acres. The remainder, in 670 pieces, was
divided amongst the 396 persons or corporations who
had held common rights in the Fen. The existing road
system was fenced and stabilized at this time. (fn. 8)
MANOR
Five hides in WILBURTON were
among the benefactions of Ethelwold and
Brithnoth to the church of Ely. (fn. 9) In 1086
they contained 7 plough-lands, 3 of which, assessed at
3 hides 1 virgate, were in demesne. There were 4 soke
men (not mentioned in the Inquisitio Eliensis) bound
to the land, 9 villeins, 9 cottars, and 8 serfs, and there
was sufficient meadow and pasture for all the ploughteams and cattle. The sum of 1s. 4d. was received from
the sale of reeds (Juncis). The vill had been worth £4
when received, £10 T.R.E. and £7 only in 1086. It
was and had always been part of the demesne of the
church of Ely. (fn. 10)
Like its neighbours Haddenham and Stretham on
the southern rim of the Isle, Wilburton was allotted
to the bishops of Ely in 1109. In 1221 the demesne, in
the three fields of Estfeld, Sudfeld, and Oswenhoue,
amounted to 246½ acres, with 40 acres of meadow,
10 for hay. (fn. 11) The survey of 1251 (fn. 12) shows a rather
larger demesne of 276 acres, rated at 2 carucates:
Oswenhoue was now merged in a larger field known as
Northfeld cum pertinenciis. The meadow, in five pieces
known as 'Brok,' 'Springuuelle', 'Lytlemed', 'Radeys'
and 'le Hee', was about the same (38 a. 3 r.). The
demesne was stocked with a bull and 10 cows, a boar
and 16 pigs, and 200 sheep. The human population
consisted of 9 hundredarii and free tenants, 21 customaries and virgaters and 11 cottars; they paid 31s. in
rents, including 'witep" and 'seggeselver'.
The gross income from this manor during the episcopal vacancies of 1286, 1298-9, 1302, and 1316 was
£8 6s. 8d., £9 18s. 9d., £10 3s. 4d., and £11 14s. 7d.
respectively. (fn. 13) No specially interesting items of revenue
are recorded. The two later accounts record the commutation of 834 (1302) and 423 (1316) 'works'. It is
noteworthy that no mill is mentioned. The general
upward trend in value shown by these accounts was
in Wilburton as elsewhere reversed during the next
generation, and the survey made in 1356, (fn. 14) during
Bishop Lisle's troubled episcopate, shows a gloomy
picture. The manor house was ruinous and of no value,
and the demesne, producing £3 11s. 2d., had shrunk
to 214 acres. Twenty acres were worthless owing to
floods, as were 8 acres of meadow: the unflooded
meadow, of which there was also 8 acres, brought in 8s.
The stock and other movables were worth £20 9s. 5d.
'Seggesilver' (8s. 6d.) and 'wychselver' (1s. 6d.), mentioned amongst the rents, recall the payments of 1251.
The rents totalled £2 11s. 6d. There were no fisheries,
Wilburton being on the landward side of the Isle, and
again no mill. During the latter part of the 14th century conditions seem to have improved; fifteen accounts
of the reign of Richard II show an average net profit of
about £37. (fn. 15)
A long series of court and account rolls of the 14th
and 15th centuries, in possession of the Pell family as
lords of the manor at the end of last century, was
examined by Maitland. (fn. 16) They show the extreme conservatism that prevailed in a manor held by an absentee
ecclesiastical lord. Money commutation of services had
hardly begun before about 1350, and was not completed
for another two generations. In or about 1426 the
demesne, consisting 246 acres of arable and 42 of
meadow, was let for £8 a year to one of the customary
tenants, then acting as reeve. This rent remained constant up to the alienation of the manor in 1600, but the
rent charged to the customary or copyhold tenants
gradually sank. In the early 15th century it had been 1s.
an acre with the messuage thrown in, i.e. £1 4s. for
a full virgate, and brought in about £22 a year; by the
beginning of the 16th century, when some of the
demesne was let to the customaries at £1 6s. 10d.
a year, the gross rental had become fixed at £1716s. 1d.
The manor as a whole brought in between £25 and
£30 a year. The profit gradually decreased at first, but
at the end of the 16th century it remained fairly constant at about £29. (fn. 17)
Wilburton was left in Crown hands rather longer
than the other manors alienated by Bishop Heton. (fn. 18)
In 1609 it was granted in socage to Sir John Jolles,
alderman of London, who paid the large sum of
£1,261 18s. 4d.-about thirty-eight years' purchase at
its then value. (fn. 19) Jolles, who died in 1621, also possessed the neighbouring manor of Hinton in Haddenham. By a settlement of 1616 he bequeathed Wilburton
to his nephew Danett Poyntell, with remainder to his
niece Alice Towers and her sons and daughters living
at her decease. Poyntell was 59 years of age at Jolles's
death. (fn. 20) Some litigation seems to have resulted from
Jolles's settlement, as his nephew did not obtain livery
of the manor until 1624. (fn. 21) He must have died soon
after, for in 1650 we find Alice Towers, now the wife
of Sir John Thompson, bt., of Husborne Crawley
(Beds.), involved with her husband in a lawsuit against
a tenant, William Patrick. (fn. 22) It was stated that the
manor was settled on her for life in 1632. (fn. 23) Some time
before 1656 Francis Towers her son sold the manor
to Haynes Barlee of Clavering (Essex) for £1,000. (fn. 24)
This family remained in possession for over a century
until in 1778 the manor was passed by Charles Barlee
to Catherine Buckle, (fn. 25) who was lady of the manor at the
time that Lysons wrote (1808). (fn. 26) She in turn passed it
to Sir Albert Pell in 1817, (fn. 27) in whose family the manor
has since remained. Sir Albert died in 1832, and his
relict the Hon. Lady Margaret Letitia Matilda Pell
held it in dower until her death in 1868. (fn. 28) In 1900
Sir Albert's two surviving sons were joint lords. Albert
Pell the elder, a noted agriculturalist and authority on
the poor law, (fn. 29) died in 1907 and was succeeded by his
nephew Albert Julian, who had been acting as steward.
Oliver Claude Pell, the third of Sir Albert's sons, was
chairman of the Isle of Ely County Council from 1889
until his death in 1891. On the death of Albert Julian
Pell in 1916 his nephew, Beauchamp Stewart Pell, succeeded. (fn. 30)
CHURCH
The church was appropriated (annexata) to the archdeaconry of Ely before
1291, when it was valued at £14 13s. 4d. (fn. 31)
Earlier valuations had been £10 (1217) and £13 6s. 8d.
(1254). (fn. 32) No vicarage was ever ordained. In 1851
the perpetual curate received a stipend of £68 only and
was obliged to augment his income by acting as headmaster of Huntingdon Grammar School. (fn. 33) With
effect from 1864 his stipend was increased by £55 out
of the Common Fund (fn. 34) and in 1874 by a further
£71. (fn. 35)
In 1870, £1,400 was granted out of the Common
Fund for the erection of a vicarage house. (fn. 36) A further
£100 was granted in 1871. (fn. 37)
The rectorial tithes were from time to time leased
by the archdeacons; to Sir Miles Sandys in 1608 for
the lives of himself and his three sons at £24 yearly, (fn. 38)
and later to the Malabar and Pell families. They were
commuted in 1844 for a rent charge of £570 (fn. 39) and
transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in
1865. (fn. 40)
Plan of St. Peter's Church
There was a guild of Our Lady in Wilburton in
1534. Its hall was sold in 1572 to Richard Hill and his
heirs. (fn. 41) An acre of land held by John Tyllynghame,
given to anniversaries in the church, was in 1553 sold
to Sir John Butler and Thomas Chaworthe. (fn. 42)
The church of ST. PETER consists of chancel, north
vestry and organ chamber, nave, north chapel, south
porch, and west tower. The material is rubble and
Barnack stone, partly plastered, and the roofs are
covered with lead. The chancel arch and the tower are
of the 13th century. There was an extensive rebuilding
in the second half of the 15th century, and the chancel,
vestry, nave, and porch are of this period. The organ
chamber and north chapel were added in the second
half of the 19th century.
The chancel has a large east window of five cinquefoiled main lights with small trefoiled lights above and
a four-centred arch with an external hood-moulding
terminating in heads. There are diagonal buttresses
with two set-offs. The lateral windows, which are all
of uniform design, are inserted under lofty blind arches
with moulded caps and bases; they are of three cinquefoiled lights with rectilinear tracery and hood-moulds;
the easternmost on both sides is curtailed to accommodate a doorway and the westernmost on the north now
looks into the organ chamber. There is a string-course
beneath the windows. The south doorway has continuous mouldings and a hood-mould. There is a
coped parapet with gargoyles, and the uniform lateral
buttresses have two set-offs. The chancel arch is of
the 13th century and has deep mouldings and responds
consisting of clustered shafts with moulded caps and
bases. Internally there is a canopied niche on either
side of the east window, in the angles, each with a
shield, that on the north having the arms of Alcock,
Bishop of Ely and lord of the manor, 1486-1500. A
stone bench serves as a sedile. The doorway communicating with the vestry has continuous mouldings, and
there is a good contemporary door with applied tracery.
The vestry has a plain rectangular east window without a mullion; there is also a small rectangular opening
through the north-east buttress of the chancel, and in
the north wall is a small two-light window under a
square head. There is an aumbry in the east wall. The
organ chamber has a modern two-light window in the
north wall and a diagonal buttress with two set-offs; it
communicates with the nave by a plain modern doorway and modern two-light window above. It has a
plain coped parapet.
The nave has three windows on the south and three
on the north, all uniform with those in the lateral walls
of the chancel; the westernmost on the north is curtailed to accommodate a doorway, which has mouldings
dying into the chamfered responds and an external
hood-mould. All the tracery has been renewed. The
transeptal north chapel opens to the nave by a modern
arch of 15th-century character with clustered responds
having moulded caps and bases. It has a 15th-century
north window of three lights moved out from the north
wall of the nave when the arch was made. There is
a string-course beneath the windows of the nave and
lateral buttresses with two set-offs, all uniform in
design. There is a coped parapet with gargoyles. The
13th-century tower arch is two-centred and of two
orders, the outer with continuous mouldings and the
inner springing from shafts with moulded caps and
bases. A portion of rough walling in the north-west
angle of the nave and tower is probably a relic of the
earlier church.
The porch has an outer doorway with a two-centred
arch of two orders, the outer dying into the chamfered
jambs and the inner springing from semi-octagonal
shafts with embattled caps and moulded bases. Above
is a cinquefoil-headed niche under a square label terminating in demi-figures. The inner doorway has an
arch of two orders, which die into the chamfered jambs.
There is a parvise above, which is approached from the
tower stair turret; it has a two-light cinquefoiled
window on the east and west under a square label, the
former being now blocked. An early 13th-century
shaft with carved caps and moulded base, and part of
another cap, are preserved in the porch.
The tower is of three stages and dates from the
middle of the 13th century. There are angle buttresses
with two set-offs reaching to the top of the first stage,
while the second stage has clamped buttresses rising
from the string-course. The tower was refashioned in
the second half of the 15th century. The west doorway
has an arch of two orders with mouldings dying into
the chamfered jambs and a hood terminating in heads.
The west window is of three lights similar to those in
the nave, with a hood terminating in heads. There is
a blocked rectangular opening in the north and south
walls with a slightly pointed inner arch. The second
stage has a rectangular opening on the south. The
belfry windows consist of two plain lancets under a
plain containing arch. There is an embattled parapet
and a small leaded spire, and a hexagonal stair turret
to the belfry at the south-east corner with an embattled
parapet.
The chancel has a cambered beam roof with wall
posts resting on embattled stone corbels; the principals,
purlins and intermediates are moulded and the intermediates have demi-angels at the feet holding shields.
The vestry has a plain lean-to roof. The nave has a
very fine cambered beam roof, almost flat, with wall
posts and braces with pierced spandrels rising from
wooden corbels, which consist of demi-figures, crowned
and holding shields; the principals, purlins, intermediates, and wall plates are moulded and there is
vertical boarding between the rafters; there are large
bosses at the intersection of the principals and ridge
purlins with the arms of Alcock, and cocks standing on
globes are carved in the spandrels; the principals have
a delicate cresting and a cock on a globe in carved wood
is suspended from one of them. The porch roof is of
cambered beam construction with wall posts and embattled wall plate; there is modern deal boarding but
no rafters. The tower ceiling retains some plain old
timbers. The roofs of the organ chamber and chapel
are modern and plain.
The font is modern. The chancel screen of arched
type is of six bays, the two in the centre being occupied
by the doorway. The uprights are buttressed and
terminate in shafts with embattled caps; the main
openings have feathered cusping and tracery above, at
the apex of the doorway is a demi-angel with three cocks
on each side, all much renewed; the middle rail is
moulded and the wainscot has tracery with carved
spandrels; the base beam and the vaulting are modern,
but part of the cornice on the east side is original. The
altar rails are of early 18th-century date with turned
balusters. There are four poupée heads in the chancel
of 15th-century date. On the north wall of the nave
are remains of 15th-century paintings, which represent
St. Christopher, St. Blaise, and St. Leger. The two
latter are fairly distinct but very little now remains of
the St. Christopher, and all three have greatly deteriorated since their discovery in 1851. A portion of
17th-century panelling from Stretham church is fixed
to the west wall of the nave.
Three panels of an altar tomb are now fixed against
the north wall of the sanctuary; they have sunk quatrefoils in diamond-shaped frames enclosing shields, to
which were formerly attached metal shields. The
following brasses remain: (1) Richard Bole, Archdeacon of Ely, 1477, an effigy in a cope under a mutilated canopy, with a marginal inscription; this brass is
attached to its matrix but the latter is now fixed to the
north wall of the chancel; it is probable that originally
it formed part of the above-mentioned altar tomb; (2)
John Hyll and Margaret his wife, 1506, with five
sons and two daughters beneath, and the Evangelistic
symbols at the corners of the matrix; (3) William Byrd
and Margaret his wife, 1516, with three sons and five
daughters beneath. Both these brasses are now on the
east wall of the nave to the south of the chancel arch.
(4) Inscription to Robert Wetheringset, Archdeacon
of Ely, 1444, now fixed to the south wall of the
sanctuary.
The plate includes a Communion cup with cover
of silver, 1569, inscribed 'For the Towne of Wilberton', a paten of silver, 1724, and a flagon of silver,
1714.
The tower contains five bells: 1st by Miles Graye
III, 1651, 2nd and 5th by John Taylor of Loughborough, 1850, 3rd, no inscription, 4th, 1661 (probably by Christopher or Miles Graye). The original
2nd was by Charles Newman of Lynn, 1695, the
original 5th (? by one of the Grayes) was the gift of
Thomas Towers, 1661. They were re-cast at the expense of Margaret Letitia Matilda, Dame Pell. (fn. 43)
The registers begin in 1735 and are complete.
NONCONFORMITY
At the end of the 18th
century prayer meetings were
being conducted in Wilburton
by Oliver Houlet. In 1802 a room was hired in Mr.
Camps's house and converted into a chapel. From 1808
a Mr. Langford was pastor. A regular society of about
20 members, with a congregation of 100 on Sundays,
existed about 1820. (fn. 44) This chapel and congregation
may have been the Baptist chapel mentioned in 1831, (fn. 45)
which was rebuilt in 1845 (fn. 46) and still exists. In 1851
there was a larger average attendance at chapel than at
church, though fewer Sunday scholars. (fn. 47)
SCHOOL
Bishop Yorke's inquirers found no school
in Wilburton in 1789. (fn. 48) In 1846-7 there
was a Sunday school for children of all
ages, and infants' school opened in 1839, and a 'School
of Industry' for girls, open during the six winter
months. Apart from parents' fees of 1d. a week, these
schools were supported by Lady Pell, who had endowed
them with 15 acres of land producing £30 a year and
by the Archdeacon of Ely as rector and impropriator.
At that time 188 children were being taught (rather
more than half on Sundays only), and a master and two
mistresses were employed at salaries amounting to
£36 15s. (fn. 49)
In 1855 the infants' school, which held 35, was
enlarged to provide 90 places for children of all ages.
The total cost was £687. Towards this sum the
National Society granted £30 and £471 was raised
locally. (fn. 50) The school was usually full or nearly so, and
to avoid overcrowding after the new scale of accommodation of 1910 had been imposed, an extra classroom was added. Thus 111 places were provided.
The children aged 13 and over were transferred to the
Cromwell School, Chatteris (q.v.), in 1948-9. (fn. 51)
CHARITIES
Thomas Buck, by his will proved
1566, left a rent charge of 40s. to be
paid through the Cutlers' Company,
of London, of which he had been warden, to the poor
of Wilburton, with preference to persons called Buck.
In 1692 Haynes Barlee, lord of the manor, bequeathed
a messuage at Berden (Essex) to the use of the poor of
six parishes, including Wilburton. The revenue, £10
yearly in 1837, was paid in rotation to the various
parishes; Wilburton's latest turn had been in 1834,
when it was used for premiums for three apprentices.
In 1714 Anne Wade left lands in Low Fen, the rents
of which, subject to a life interest of her old servant
Nathaniel Champions, were to be devoted to putting
children to school. The land seems never to have
come into possession of the parish, and was not identifiable in 1837.
In 1837 the Town Lands consisted of 24 acres in
Wilburton, Haddenham, and Stretham, 15 acres being
copyhold of the manor of Wilburton and paying 10d.
ground rent, and two tenements in Town Yard inhabited rent free by labourers and their families. The
rents of the Town Lands, then amounting to £29 6s.,
had customarily been given indiscriminately to about
100 poor persons in sums of 1s. to 3s. It was ordered
that in future they were to be used for the education
of poor children. The books were kept 'in a slovenly
and careless manner', and the treasurer owed £46 to
the charities. (fn. 52)