LITTLE GRANSDEN
The ancient parish of Little Gransden, which
covers 1,920 a. (fn. 1) lies on the borders of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, the county boundary
extending along its northern and western sides. To
the north it is bounded by the line of a disused road
between Great Gransden and Longstowe, formerly
called Deadwomen's Way after Deadwomen's Cross
at the north-east corner of the parish. (fn. 2) To the west
it is bounded by Great Gransden and Waresley
woods and to the south by ground descending
towards the Millbridge brook. The land mostly
slopes gently downhill from east and west, between
the 250 and 200 foot contours, towards the edges
of the narrow and uneven valley of the Gransden
brook, which probably gave the village its ancient
name of 'Granta's dene'. (fn. 3) The stream rises on the
high ground to the east, and runs northwards into
Great Gransden, along the sometimes steep-sided
channel that it has cut, and beside which the
village stands. The parish lies on boulder clay, over
a bed of the Lower Greensand, exposed in the
valley by the stream. Despite its heaviness most of
the land has long been used mainly for arable
farming. Until parliamentary inclosure in 1814 it
was cultivated in three open fields. The high flat
land along the eastern border, being hard to drain,
was usually devoted to pasture, and was formerly the
village common. In 1940 that area was requisitioned
for an airfield, called Gransden Lodge Airfield, which
was in operational use from 1941 to 1946. The site
was unoccupied after 1948, and was sold between
1962 and 1964. (fn. 4)
Like neighbouring villages on the uplands, Little
Gransden has always been comparatively well
wooded for Cambridgeshire. In 1086 there was
wood enough for 60 pigs. (fn. 5) By 1251 a large wood in
the south-east corner of the parish had been separated, probably by assarting since the field in between
was called Graves, into Hayley wood of 40 a. and
Littlehound wood of 32 a. (fn. 6) The woods increased
again with the retreat of cultivation after 1350. By
1650 Hayley wood covered 120 a. and Littlehound
wood 40 a. (fn. 7) The latter, however, was c. 1655 'new
stubbed' and let for farming. Its shape has survived
in modern field boundaries. Hayley wood, covering
121 a. in 1816, (fn. 8) was bought in 1962 by the Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely Naturalists' Trust, for preservation as an undamaged example of the coppice
woodland, with standards, formerly typical of the
area. It is notable, too, for its oxlips and orchids
and several rare mosses, and also contains a herd
of fallow deer. (fn. 9)
Little Gransden developed as an offshoot of the
larger settlement of Great Gransden (Hunts.) to
the north. The two are separated by the low-lying
ground where the Gransden and Home Dole
brooks meet, across which the church and the manorhouse of the abbey of Ely, to which a third of the
land of the ancient settlement was granted c. 1000, (fn. 10)
faced Great Gransden from a knoll. The village
grew southward from them, along a street running
beside the brook, which is crossed by small sandstone bridges to the closes on the far side. (fn. 11) At its
greatest extent the village stretched almost to the
site of the modern Model Farm, a footpath to
which may represent the line of the old high street
south of its later diversion. The former access
ways, bounding the closes, can be traced as far
south as the farm on early-19th-century maps. (fn. 12)
The southern half of the village, called in 1841
Crow's End, (fn. 13) has decayed since 1660. The village's
56 houses of 1666 (fn. 14) had been reduced to 38 inhabited ones by 1801; (fn. 15) the last dwellings at the
south end disappeared in the 19th century, and the
village shrank to a line of houses between the street
and the brook, with a cluster round the church. It
has since grown again. In 1851 there were 61
houses (fn. 16) and in 1961 84. (fn. 17) Modern developments
have been concentrated at its north-eastern corner,
along side-roads leading to Great Gransden, where
council houses and a new village hall were built
in the 1960s.
Little Gransden's population usually varied with
its extent. In 1086 the manor contained 11 peasant
households. (fn. 18) Until 1300 there was a steep growth
in numbers. Of the 28 virgates established by 1222
11 were already then divided. In 1279 there were
about 75 tenants: and the village had to furnish
almost 150 persons to reap the lord's harvest. (fn. 19)
Population fell again from the 14th century. In
1377 only 126 adults paid the poll tax, (fn. 20) and in
1525 only 44 persons were assessed to the subsidy. (fn. 21)
In 1563 26 households were noted. (fn. 22) Thereafter
numbers gradually increased. In 1666 there were
56 houses, making Little Gransden the third largest
village in the hundred, though it had proportionately fewer hearths than others. (fn. 23) About 1730 there
were about 200 persons forming 50 families. (fn. 24) By
1801 the population was 232, and thereafter increased steadily to 305 in 1871. With the agricultural
depression it fell again, to 193 by 1901, and, despite
a temporary rise after the First World War, to 168
in 1931. (fn. 25) It recovered to 280 by 1951, but then
dropped again to 235 in 1961. (fn. 26)
Although Little Gransden lies not far off the
Old North Road, it has always been relatively
inaccessible, having direct links only with the
neighbouring villages. The main route to Great
Gransden formerly lay not along the present road
(then called Gransden Lane) which was probably
liable to flooding, but passed over higher ground
along the mill way to the north-east to join the old
road from Great Gransden to Longstowe at the
windmill. The inclosure commissioners chose that
route for their principal northward road. From
Gamlingay the Cambridge way curved across
Stocking field to touch the southern end of the
village and run east across the common to Longstowe, at whose border it joined a track that meandered across the common further north. Waresley
way led west from the present junction of the
Gamlingay and Longstowe roads, to pass round
the south-east corner of Waresley wood, where it
was joined by the Church way which ran south and
west from the churchyard. Green ways gave access
to the furlongs in the open fields: thus Mislane way
and Berknall way ran east across Mill field to the
common, Paterbush way ran between Stocking
field and Littlehound field, and Beland way and
Maltman's way lay across the latter. (fn. 27)
The village did not lie on any through road, and
no inn is recorded there before 1800. Two public
houses existed by 1813: the Sun in Church Lane,
south of the site of the school, and the Chequers. (fn. 28)
Two more had been opened by the 1840s: the
Double Chequers at the west end of Mill Hill, and
the Hardwicke Arms. (fn. 29) The overseer of the poor
in 1834 believed that an excess of beer-houses was
partly responsible for recent disorders. (fn. 30) The two
newer public houses had closed by 1880. (fn. 31) The Sun
was still open in 1933, (fn. 32) but only the Chequers
survived in 1967.
The older cottages along the main village street,
built from the 17th century onward, some still
single-storeyed, are timber-framed and plastered.
Many retain their hipped thatched roofs. (fn. 33) Gransden
Lodge Farm, rebuilt c. 1650 to serve the lord of the
manor's inclosed pastures, contains some material
from an earlier building. (fn. 34) The other outlying
farm-houses are of the 19th century. Model Farm,
built in 1860, (fn. 35) matches its name with a tidy use
of contrasting red and grey brick on the house and
out-buildings. Before 1814 all the farmsteads had
lain along the street. (fn. 36) Of them only the 17thcentury Rose Farm remained in 1967. The only
substantial house in the village is the former Rectory,
reconstructed in the early 19th century, (fn. 37) an irregular
building, plastered in the Tudor style. The almshouses opposite, of 1903, have large stone baywindows and timbered gables, and the combined
former school and school-house south of the church
is again Tudoresque in red brick.
Manors and Other Estates.
The undivided village of Gransden was owned c. 960 by the
thegn Heanric of Wantage. Before 973 he sold it
for 200 gold pieces to Bishop Ethelwold of Winchester, (fn. 38) who intended to devote it to endowing
the monasteries that he was restoring in the Fenland.
Instead he later exchanged it, for lands which he
gave to Thorney Abbey, with his supporter, the
ealdorman Ethelwine. The estate was then assessed
at 15 hides. (fn. 39) It was soon after divided between
two lords and two counties. The 8 hides of what was
later Great Gransden (Hunts.) had descended by
1060 to Alfgar, earl of Mercia. Five hides eventually
came to Ely Abbey, possibly given by Ethelwine,
who was its chief benefactor. The abbey may have
attracted its estate into the same jurisdiction as its
many other Cambridgeshire lands. The division
between counties was accomplished before the
hidation recorded in Domesday was made, for
Great and Little Gransden were both then included
in regular-sized blocks of hides in their respective
hundreds. (fn. 40) Ely certainly held LITTLE GRANSDEN manor c. 1032 when Abbot Leofsige charged
it with supplying two weeks' food farm for his
monks. Edward the Confessor confirmed it to the
abbey, among other lands, with soke and sake. (fn. 41)
Small neighbouring properties of Ely Abbey were
made dependent on it, including a virgate held by
sokemen in Gamlingay, later seized by a Norman, (fn. 42)
and possibly a hide at Papworth St. Agnes, held c.
1500 for 26 wooden dishes yearly rendered by the
Mallory family. (fn. 43) The manor was held in demesne
in 1086, (fn. 44) but may later have been granted to a
tenant for knight-service, for Bishop Niel recovered
it in a plea c. 1135, among other lands so alienated. (fn. 45)
When the abbey lands were finally divided between
the bishop and the monks, Little Gransden fell
within the bishop's share, and remained one of the
demesne manors of the see of Ely until 1600. In
1251 the bishop was granted free warren there, as
in his other lands. (fn. 46)
When Bishop Cox died in 1581, Elizabeth I kept
Gransden and the see's other properties in her own
hands during a vacancy of 19 years, using them to
reward her courtiers and officials. Among those
profiting by her benefactions was Richard Skipwith
of South Ormsby (Lincs.) who had nearly ruined
himself by 20 years' attendance at court, and was
forced to sell or mortgage much of his ancestral
lands. (fn. 47) In 1592 he was promised leases worth £60
a year from the bishop's lands, including £1 a year
rent from Littlehound wood. (fn. 48) When in 1600 the
Queen compelled Bishop Heton to yield up Little
Gransden among other manors as the condition
of his appointment, (fn. 49) Skipwith claimed it as compensation for his losses. A lease to him for 20 years'
fine, approved in March 1602, (fn. 50) was by July altered
to a grant for £249 at the fee-farm of £28 6s. 2d.,
the manor's yearly yield less the income from entry
fines. To evade his creditors, he had both grants
made out to his son, Edward Skipwith of Ketsby
(Lincs.). (fn. 51) The fee-farm rent, included in 1626 in
Queen Henrietta Maria's dower, (fn. 52) was sold in 1650
to John Lowry of Cambridge. (fn. 53) The Skipwiths in
1602 immediately conveyed the manor to Richard
Smith of Bromley (Kent), (fn. 54) perhaps on mortgage;
having failed to recover possession of the demesne,
which was then leased to the tenants, they sold the
manor in 1605 to Sir Allen Apsley. (fn. 55) He regained the
demesne, but after 1613 sold the manor to John
Okes, who in turn conveyed it to Thomas Foxley. (fn. 56)
Okes and Foxley together granted it in 1618 to
Erasmus Dryden (cr. Bt. 1619, d. 1632) of Canons
Ashby (fn. 57) (Northants.), who after about 7 years made
it over to his younger sons, William and Erasmus. (fn. 58)
They conveyed it in 1635 to trustees to the use of
John Power (d. c. 1650) of Kings Ripton (Hunts.). (fn. 59)
His son, William Power, had inherited it by 1651, (fn. 60)
and in 1655 sold it to Sir Thomas Cotton, Bt.
(d. 1662). (fn. 61) By 1663 Gransden had passed to Sir
Thomas's younger son, Robert Cotton (fn. 62) (cr. kt.
1663) of Hatley St. George.
On Sir Robert's death in 1717 the manor remained
to his grand-nephew Sir John Cotton, Bt. (d. 1731),
who in 1718 conveyed it to John Wishaw. (fn. 63) In
1719 it was sold to Thomas Pindar, (fn. 64) a former
Africa merchant, (fn. 65) who by his will dated 1738
ordered his executors to sell it for his relatives'
benefit. After he died in 1742 (fn. 66) the title to the estate
was disputed in Chancery until 1752, when it was
bought by a Mr. Webb, from who it descended by
will in 1764 to Thomas Lister of London. He in
1766 sold it to George Shergold (d. 1787) of Iver
(Bucks.), (fn. 67) who in 1786 sold it to the London glassmanufacturer, Thomas Quintin (d. 1806), who had
lately bought Hatley St. George. (fn. 68) By 1813 Little
Gransden was owned by Quintin's grandson,
Thomas Quintin, who being financially embarrassed
conveyed the ownership to his father, John Whitby
Quintin, in 1819. (fn. 69) Little Gransden manor descended
with Hatley in that family until 1868 and was owned
by their successors there until 1918, when the
farms belonging to the Hatley Park estate in
Gransden were sold off. (fn. 70) The lordship of the manor
was apparently retained by the owners of Hatley
Park. Thus the lord in 1933 was Ernest Ridgill (fn. 71)
and in 1967 Major the Hon. J. J. Astor.
The bishops of Ely probably seldom visited this
outlying estate, although their villeins were obliged
to carry their baggage when they did. (fn. 72) Bishop
Lisle came to Gransden in 1356, when fleeing from
the enemies who had attacked his train at St. Ives. (fn. 73)
The bishops maintained a manor-house at Little
Gransden with a hall, chamber, and kitchen, the
usual farm-buildings, and a dovecot. With the
decline of high demesne farming the buildings
began to fall into decay. In 1356 they were already
said to be ruinous. (fn. 74) The last to survive was the
dovecot, demolished by the rector c. 1550, and
possibly re-erected in Great Gransden. (fn. 75) The site
of the manor-house called Berry close, south-east
of the churchyard and rectory, was held with the
rest of the demesne by the tenants. They were
leasing it to the rectors by 1550. On part they built a
town house which was let by the churchwardens
for 20s. a year. In the 16th century the steward held
the manor courts there, and the new lords after
1602 claimed it therefore as the manor-house. (fn. 76)
The area was in 1968 occupied by the gardens of
the former rectory and old school buildings.
RECTORY manor originated in a grant from the
bishop to the rector of 100 a., which may be the
100 a. by which the demesne arable was reduced
between 1251 and 1279. Since, however, the rector
was also lord in 1279 of 2 free tenants with 6 a.
each, and 8 cottars, each holding two-acre crofts,
who had to help to harvest his crops, and do not
appear in earlier surveys, the grant may have been
made earlier than 1251. (fn. 77) When Edward Leeds, a
zealous Protestant, resigned the benefice in 1553, he
not only reserved a pension of a third of its value, (fn. 78)
but obliged his successor to grant a lease of the glebe
to his brother, John Leeds, probably on favourable
terms. (fn. 79) John was called lord of the manor in a
Chancery lawsuit against him c. 1581 for attempting
to disinherit a copyholder. Although free tenants
were mentioned in that lawsuit, (fn. 80) by 1615 only six
copyhold crofts were left, (fn. 81) and, at inclosure, they
had shrunk to four cottages with their crofts held of
the Rectory manor. (fn. 82) The glebe itself, when recovered from John Leeds after 1581, had grown to 7 a.
of pasture and 140 a. of arable, including 23 a. in
closes in the northern corner of the parish next to
Great Gransden village. The rest lay in the open
fields. (fn. 83) At the inclosure in 1814 it was reduced to
104 a. of which the rector, Thomas Briggs, sold 41 a.
to himself to pay for the interior fencing of the new
allotment made to the rectory, which included also
336 a. in lieu of tithes. (fn. 84) The rent from the land fell
seriously during the agricultural depression; and
between 1883 and 1906 the rectors often proposed
to sell it. It was finally sold in 1921. (fn. 85)
In 1222 the parson held from the bishop a
messuage of 2 a. below his garden, which may
have been his home. (fn. 86) The parsonage house
was in 1615 equipped with 2 barns, a granary,
malt-house, hay-house, stables, and pigsties. (fn. 87) It
lay north of the church across a narrow lane, and
was the largest house in the parish in the 1660s,
having 6 hearths. (fn. 88) While the rectors were nonresident in the later 18th century it fell into disrepair
and in 1783 was described as only a better type of
cottage. It was then being let as an alehouse and
used as a wheelwright's workshop. (fn. 89) William Gower,
rector 1802–9, put it into repair again and may have
been responsible for its Gothick appearance. (fn. 90) It
was sold in 1929, (fn. 91) and the rector in 1967 lived at
Great Gransden.
Between 1610 and 1650 the lords of the manor
sold to many of the copyholders the freehold of their
tenements and almost half the demesne also. (fn. 92) The
ownership of those lands was at first scattered
among the copyholders' heirs. Thus in 1727 there
were 19 freeholders, including several outsiders such
as the Apthorpe family of Gamlingay. (fn. 93) Gradually,
however, the tenements were concentrated in fewer
hands. The vicar of Great Gransden and the charity
founded by Barnabas Oley (vicar there 1633–85)
both held small properties in Little Gransden. The
vicar's land was taken over by Clare College, patron
of his living, in the 19th century. (fn. 94) Several of the
rectors of Little Gransden accumulated substantial
holdings. William Knight, rector 1598–1623, had
by 1607 acquired in his own right 40 a., (fn. 95) which
descended to his son William (d. 1645) and grandson William (d. 1659). The family later removed
to Denny Abbey, Waterbeach. (fn. 96) Thomas Jessop,
rector 1654–1700, left an estate held by his descendants until the last, Francis Jessop of Bedford,
died c. 1762, when no heir could be found. (fn. 97)
James Musgrave, rector 1714–47, acquired land
worth £2,000 at Great and Little Gransden and
Toft under a settlement, and devised it to his son
Edward with remainder to his elder sons. (fn. 98) Thomas
Briggs, rector 1809–29, had already by 1813
acquired 124 a. and during the inclosure bought
160 a. more. (fn. 99) His lands were broken up after his
death in 1831. (fn. 100) Part of them, including 150 a. in
Stocking field, was acquired by the Webb family,
which entered the neighbourhood with William
Webb, master of Clare Hall (d. 1856). (fn. 101) By 1829 he
had the lease of the vicar of Great Gransden's
Little Gransden property, (fn. 102) and in 1830 bought
Reppington manor in Great Gransden. (fn. 103) He or his
son T. V. Webb of Audley House, Great Gransden,
also bought the farm owned in 1814 by Susanna
Rugeley of Potton (Beds.), possibly inherited from
Henry Rugeley, steward of the manor c. 1760. (fn. 104)
T. V. Webb held the property, c. 200 a. north and
west of the village, until his death in 1885, when it
passed to his widow. (fn. 105) It was sold in 1910 after her
death. (fn. 106) Another estate of 71 a. comprising the
modern Rose farm, owned in 1814 by Major Henry
Ware of Ware (Herts.), (fn. 107) had by 1910 passed to
C. Smith. (fn. 108)
Economic History.
In 1066 the manor of
Little Gransden was worth £15 a year. By 1086,
owing to Ely's troubles after the Conquest, its
value had fallen to £8 a year. There was only one
plough on demesne land that could employ three,
and 30 pigs when the woods could feed 60. Half the
vill, 2½ out of 5 hides, was included in the demesne
on which four servi worked. The rest of the manor
was divided among 8 villani, and 3 bordars with
10 acres each, who had 6 ploughs between them to
supplement the demesne team. There was demesne
meadow enough for 3 plough-teams. (fn. 109)
By 1222 (fn. 110) the expansion of cultivation and division
of holdings had reduced the demesne to a smaller
proportion of the arable and greatly increased the
number of those available to work it. Almost
all the 1,600 a. of the parish, except the village
crofts, 60 a. of common pasture, 72 a. of wood, and
some 40 a., possibly assart, which the bishop had
inclosed between the woods as several pasture, was
included in the open fields, which were already
subdivided by balks, ways, and ditches. Some
demesne lay in large parcels, e.g. of 67 a. and 85 a.,
but much was scattered in small parcels of 5 to 10 a.
Later that 'berry land', as it was called c. 1600, was
believed to have been ploughed in a ratio of 3 lands
to the acre and not 2, as was the case with the
peasant holdings. The medieval layout of the fields
appears partly from comparing the extents with
later material. The common lay along the boundary
with Longstowe, between the Cambridge way and
the north end of the east field, which stretched to
the edge of Great Gransden. West of the village
was another field, called in the south Fyfsheetes
and Longhey, in the north Stocking, probably from
the clearing of woodland. A third field lay south of
the village.
The layout probably altered little until inclosure.
The east field, by 1600 called Mill field, covered
the north-east of the parish, except the common,
from the Great Gransden boundary to Magotpit
Dene, probably the line of the midmost waterchannel from the common down to the brook.
Littlehound (later Hound Wood) field reached
south from the dene to the border with Hatley St.
George. It met Stocking field, which covered the
western third of the parish, along a boundary
running from the southern end of the village. The
17th-century glebe terriers show that the strips in
those fields lay mostly north and south, except
in that part of Littlehound field north of Cambridge way.
In 1222 and 1251 the demesne accounted for
510 a. and 518 a. respectively of the arable. The
remainder was divided into 28 virgates, probably
of 30 a. each, 3 smaller plots of 5 a., possibly
representing the Domesday bordars', and the oneacre holdings of 14 cottars. By 1222 11 virgates
had each been sub-divided between two tenants.
The villein virgaters, being tenants of an ecclesiastical lord, had still to perform substantial services,
doing two week-works throughout the year, and
five in August and September. They had to plough
½ a. each Friday, except in harvest-time. By 1222
however, their week-works were already by custom
restricted to measured amounts of such tasks as
threshing, digging, or reaping. In other tasks, such
as hoeing or spreading dung, they could stop work
at noon. They had also to pay rents in kind and in
cash, such as 'witepund', also 'Londonelade',
possibly in commutation of carrying-services to
London. They had still, as their turn came, to
perform average, carrying the bishop's goods to
his neighbouring manors or to the markets at
Cambridge, Huntingdon, St. Ives, and St. Neots.
Virgaters also owed suit of mill, though not foldsoke, and had to pay tallage and a heriot of their
second best beast or 30d. Those holding only 5 a.
did only two week-works, the cottars only one.
They were excused harvesting, mowing the lord's
meadow, and the Friday ploughing. All the tenants
had to come with all their plough-beasts to three
ploughing-boons each year, to help to carry the
lord's hay, and to bring 4 or 2 men, in proportion
to the size of their holdings, to do three boon-works
(one a 'lovebene') to reap his harvest.
The reeve and bedel were chosen by the lord from
among the virgaters and were discharged while in
office from all week-works and rents in kind, but
not from the ploughing or harvest boons. A like
freedom was enjoyed by the woodward, who held
a virgate in 1251 for keeping the wood, and the
hereditary hogward (a woman in 1251) who had
5 a. for keeping the lord's 40 pigs, and was entitled
to a 'marking hog' each year. The woodward could
also run his 4 plough-oxen in the lord's several
pasture, like the rector who might keep 6 oxen
there.
The manor had originally consisted entirely of
demesne or of villein land providing labourers for
it. All the virgates, free or villein, still paid cornbote
in 1298–9. (fn. 111) By 1222 the Spinney family held freely
2 virgates (amounting to 80 a.) for a 12s. rent. (fn. 112) In
1230 Bishop Hugh freed another virgate from all
labour-services, in return for an increased rent. (fn. 113)
That virgate may later have relapsed into villeinage.
Rentals and surveys from the 14th century onward
always record 26 virgates, requiring its inclusion to
complete the number. (fn. 114) The free tenements were
soon minutely divided. By 1279 one free virgate
already had 2 under-tenants. On the other holding
Ralph Spinney, besides renting 30 a. to a kinsman,
had put out all the rest except his messuage in
small plots to 10 other rent-paying tenants. (fn. 115)
Ralph's grandson Thomas sold off the last 24 a.
which his family possessed in 1311. (fn. 116) The continuity recorded in the extents probably concealed
a similar fragmentation in the villein lands, as the
lord began to rely more on hired labour to cultivate
the demesne. Already in 1251 5 villeins had left
the manor and were paying chevage, and the
lord's servants received part of their wages in kind. (fn. 117)
In 1316 the demesne employed throughout the
year 3 ploughmen, a carter, and a shepherd, while
3 other ploughmen were taken on for 2 weeks for
spring ploughing. (fn. 118) Meanwhile the villeins' works
were increasingly commuted. A fixed tariff of ½d. a
work had been established by 1298–9, when 2,205
works, about half of those theoretically available,
were commuted at that rate. (fn. 119) In 1316 405 of 531
works due over 9 weeks were commuted. (fn. 120) By 1356
commutation at ½d. a work was the recognized
practice. (fn. 121)
The value of the manor reached its highest point
between 1250 and 1300. In 1251 it was being farmed
for £38 a year, (fn. 122) and in 1297–8, with the demesne in
hand, brought in £17 10s. 5d. in cash. (fn. 123) In 1316 the
bishop had 6 ploughs on the demesne with 6 horses
and 12 oxen to draw them. (fn. 124) Between 1320 and
1391 grain was sometimes being sold from the
demesne. (fn. 125) In 1251 the bishop could have kept
120 sheep on the manor, (fn. 126) and in 1342 he was
expected to provide 26 stone of wool out of the 82
to be supplied by the village. Six villagers, out of 50
named, produced another 15 stone of the remainder. (fn. 127)
The manorial economy, however, was already
then in decline. The use of the bishop's pasture in
Stocking field was sold in 1297–8. (fn. 128) In 1316 115 a.
of the demesne were lying fallow, representing a
cultivated area of c. 350 a. out of a total demesne
of 400 a. In 1356 100 a. had lain fallow for 4 years
continuously and were being used as common.
The other 300 a. under rotation were valued at
only 2d. each when sown, and only 2 ploughs were
available. In 1316 even fallow land had been worth
10d. an acre. There were in 1356 only 15 a. of poor
pasture, but the woods had grown, and clearing
their undergrowth was yielding £3 5s. (fn. 129) Some
demesne strips in the open fields were evidently
being laid down to grass. (fn. 130)
Manorial ties were being loosened by enfranchisement of some villein tenants. In 1362 John Brown,
who had been reeve in 1356, and three others whom
the escheator claimed as the bishop's bondmen
alleged that they were not villeins but free tenants. (fn. 131)
There was enough discontent to produce a riot in
1381 during the Peasants' Revolt. (fn. 132) The manor had
already been put to farm in some earlier years, and
in 1391 Bishop Fordham leased the demesne to the
customary tenants at £10 a year for term of his life.
His successors maintained the arrangement, sometimes for terms of years, sometimes year by year,
at rents that had fallen by 1454 to £4 7s. 4d. (fn. 133) They
also commuted all the tenants' services for 13s. 4d.
from each virgate, 3s. 4d. each from three quarterlands of 5 a., and 2s. 6d. from a cottage. By 1550,
the amounts had been reduced to 10s., 2s., and 2s.
respectively. (fn. 134) The manor's nominal yield fell from
about £35 to £26 11s. 9d. by 1454. With the decay
of rents the actual receipts sank to £22 4s. 5d. in
1454 and £17 2s. 6d. in 1496. (fn. 135) By 1550 they had
recovered to about £21: and the nominal rental was
raised under royal management after 1581 to
£35 12s. 10d., possibly by increasing entry fines.
The profits of the manorial court rose from 35s. in
1550 to £7 6s. 8d. in 1600. (fn. 136)
The tenants used the demesne to enlarge their
individual holdings and expand their common
lands. By 1500 they had enlarged the nominal
virgate from 30 a. to 40 a., and under James I
brought evidence that that was its traditional size. (fn. 137)
They converted many blocks of demesne arable in
the open fields to pasture, so enabling commoners
to keep more cattle, and appropriated the old inclosed pasture of Graves by Hayley wood, some
60 a., to their cattle. The ancient common called
Langland common was extended to cover some
180 a. along the eastern border between Northend
and the edge of Hayley wood. Much land along
the border with Gamlingay was also converted into
leys. All the new pastures in 1600 still bore clear signs
of having formerly been arable, lying in ridge and
furrow. (fn. 138) The bishop's meadow called Thwaites
was divided into annually shifting lots among the
copyholders in the proportion of one pole's width of
the hay for each half-virgate or cottage, and after
mowing was grazed in common. (fn. 139) Twenty acres also
became the customary unit for stinting cattle on
the common. By 1800 every such holding and each
cottage carried a right to pasture 2 cows, a calf, and
10 sheep there, but the stint of a horse to each 15 a.
recalled the earlier size of the half-virgate. (fn. 140) The
collective payment of the rent was probably handled
by the churchwardens, who rented out parcels of
pasture in the common fields to copyholders wishing
to plough them up, and sold timber growing round
the inclosed pastures, to raise money for church
repairs. (fn. 141) Hayley wood, however, was excluded
from the lease of the demesne, and let separately. (fn. 142)
By 1600 there had been some concentration of
ownership of the copyholds. Of the 13 men owning
the 810 a. giving rights in the common meadow,
three had 120 a. each, one had 80 a., and two others
60 a. (fn. 143) There may also have been some consolidation of the strips. Some furlongs were named after
local families, and of the rector's 127 a. of glebe in
the open fields, comprising 50 a. each in Mill and
Stocking fields and 27 a. in Littlehound field, 60 a.
lay in parcels of 5 a. or more. (fn. 144) There were many
landless labourers. In 1525 only 20 persons were
taxed to the subsidy on their goods, and 24 on
wages. (fn. 145) Many of those assessed to subsidies between
1524 and 1674 came from the same families: such
surnames as Bett, Branston, Ellis, Peter, Rowning,
and Suttle recur over several generations. (fn. 146) The
wealthiest family in the early 16th century was
probably that of John Ellis (d. 1522), whose widow,
sons, and brother were between them assessed at
£36 to the subsidy in 1525. John's eldest son, Robert,
held over 100 a. at his death in 1527, and his descendants were prominent in the parish down to
1650. (fn. 147)
The tenants' long and profitable possession of
the demesne was disturbed when in 1602 the
Crown sold the manor to Richard Skipwith, (fn. 148) who
hoped to mend his fortunes by recovering the
demesne, and employed Christopher Meade, a
former steward, to discover what lands had formerly
belonged to the demesne. Despite the disappearance
of many medieval names, Meade identified it with
land used as common, still lying in ridge and
furrow—an early instance of applied field archaeology. (fn. 149) Richard Skipwith then sued the tenants for
trespass by ploughing up leys on land that he claimed
as demesne, but was non-suited. (fn. 150) In 1606 his
successor, Sir Allen Apsley, (fn. 151) sued the copyholders
for claiming to hold the whole manor except the
woods as copyhold or common. (fn. 152) Apsley tried to
prove that the berry lands were the former demesne. (fn. 153) The tenants, headed by the rector,
alleged that the term also covered much of the glebe
and free land, and the crofts on which the village
stood, and that a map made by Apsley's surveyor
to show the supposed demesne contained many
inaccuracies. (fn. 154) After prolonged inquiries lasting
two years (fn. 155) the evidence of the tenants' witnesses
was disallowed because they persistently evaded
cross-examination, (fn. 156) and it was adjudged in 1609
that Apsley had proved his title to 508 a. of arable,
25 a. of pasture, and 14½ a. of meadow. (fn. 157) The
tenants rejected Apsley's compromise offer of a
21-year lease at an easy rent, demanding one for
500 years. (fn. 158) Apsley had the area he claimed set out
for him, primarily from former plough-land used as
common, (fn. 159) with many strips in the common fields,
and also some 160 a., lying beside Hayley wood,
which he proceeded to inclose. (fn. 160) The tenants, who
had maintained that Langland common by itself
was not sufficient to support all their cattle, (fn. 161) pulled
down Apsley's fences and put in their herd. A fresh
Exchequer decree empowered Apsley to inclose his
land, and in compensation forbade him to keep
cattle on the common. (fn. 162) Apsley tried to conciliate
the tenants by selling several of them the freehold
of their copyholds in 1611, provided that they
renounced common in his inclosures, and also some
100 a. of demesne arable in the open fields. (fn. 163) The
land inclosed was mostly devoted to pasture,
although the Graves was put under tillage for some
7 years c. 1620. Its inclosure greatly increased its
profitability. In 1649 it was estimated that those
160 a., let to a farmer, brought in £80 a year while
enjoyed in severalty. If the villagers' cattle were
allowed to range freely over them they might yield
only £3 13s. 4d. or even 30s. (fn. 164)
The Civil War gave the tenants an opportunity to
revive claims to their former pastures. About 1644
because Mr. Longville, (fn. 165) then occupying the
inclosures, refused to pay taxes, the Parliamentarian
Committee for Cambridgeshire sequestrated his
property and allowed the villagers to pasture their
cattle, 140–80 head, in it. The villagers cut down the
hedges dividing the new sixty-acre close from the
village common, and demolished the farm-house
built there. (fn. 166) In 1647 the owner, John Power,
obtained an injunction against them to observe the
old decree, (fn. 167) which was immediately defied by a
mob of villagers who cut the fences down again and
drove in the town herd of some 200 cattle to devour
and trample down the new-grown grass. (fn. 168) Again in
1648, after gaps had been cut in the hedges by night,
two poor women urged in the village cattle which
ate up 20 a. of new grass before being put out. That
incursion, though ostensibly the work of the poorer
inhabitants, had the secret countenance of the more
substantial tenants, one of whom instructed the
common herdsman not to drive the cattle out of the
inclosure if the people put them in. (fn. 169) The dispute
was finally settled in 1650 by a compromise. John
Power agreed with four leading tenants to sell them
the freehold of their lands at the old quit-rent and
to restore to each holding the 10 a. of berry lands
lost by it under the decree of 1609. In return they
released to him all their rights of common in the
inclosures. (fn. 170)
Thereafter the number of copyhold tenants soon
fell to twelve. (fn. 171) At the inclosure of 1813–14 there
were only 124 a. of copyhold compared with over
720 a. of freehold. (fn. 172) The lord's holdings in the open
fields had by 1655 been reduced to 115 a., which
were then expected to yield only £17 5s. a year,
compared with £100 from 160 a. of pasture. The
nominal net income from the manor was put at
£194. Its value had recently been improved by
cutting down Littlehound wood and letting its soil. (fn. 173)
In the 1680s Lodge farm, containing most of the
pasture, brought in £50 in rent. Its farmer found it
more profitable to let out his fields to drovers for
fattening cattle in transit than to pasture his own
herd on them or grow hay for mowing. (fn. 174) Sir
Robert Cotton, however, began to restore the lord's
position as the village's principal landowner. In
1663 he was holding several strips bordering on the
glebe which in 1615 had belonged to copyholders. (fn. 175)
The final loss of so much common probably
involved a decline in welfare for many villagers. In
the 1660s only 3 households, apart from the rector's,
possessed more than 2 hearths. (fn. 176) By 1674 3 out of
51 houses were empty, and another 24 householders
were discharged from paying the hearth tax. (fn. 177)
The 18th century saw some further concentration
of property. Of the 19 freeholders recorded in 1724
only five came from Gransden's old yeoman families,
and seven were outsiders. (fn. 178) At the inclosure in
1813–14 only two holdings of any size were owned
by residents, both themselves newcomers. William
Virley, from Great Gransden, held 62 a. and Robert
Fuller 148 a., while his kinsman, James Fuller,
farmed the 117 a. owned by Susanna Rugeley. The
Lincoln family had assembled a farm of 160 a.,
which was sold by 1820, mostly to Thomas Briggs,
then rector, who already owned 124 a. Major Ware
had 147 a. and Thomas Quintin, lord of the manor,
claimed to own 487 a. in the open fields besides the
inclosed 247 a. of Lodge farm. The eight surviving
smallholders had only 46 a. between them, of which
only 17 a. lay in the open fields. (fn. 179)
The process of concentration was consummated
by the inclosure, which took place under an Act
obtained in 1813. (fn. 180) The re-allotment of land was
completed by the autumn of 1814, (fn. 181) though the
award was not formally made until 1826. (fn. 182) The
larger landowners lost much land, Quintin's allotment being 317 a. and Ware's 71 a. because the
rector received a fifth of the arable in place of
tithes. (fn. 183) The smallholders and the owners of the
16 cottages, not all of whom resided in the village,
were allotted an average of only 1¾ a. each in return
for the extinction of their rights of common. (fn. 184) Less
than 100 a. remained outside the ownership of
Little Gransden's nine principal landowners, and
the squire and Thomas Briggs, as rector and in
his own right, between them owned about 1,250 a.
of the 1,750 a. then being farmed there.
Even for the larger landlords the inclosure was
not at first advantageous. The parish had recently
been more intensively cultivated. In 1801 917 a.
were yielding crops, and wheat and oats, with 280 a.
and 300 a. respectively, (fn. 185) had superseded the barley
which had been the main crop until the 16th
century. (fn. 186) Thomas Quintin had let his open-field
lands at 15s. and Lodge farm at 18s. an acre. (fn. 187) The
fall in agricultural prices after 1815, however, falsified
the assumptions that had induced agreement to inclose. The disturbance of farming routine during the
exchange and the heavy cost of fencing added to
the trouble. Several landowners could not for a
time pay their share of the £4,400 assessed on them
in 1815 to meet the expenses of inclosure. (fn. 188) Quintin
had to let Lodge farm for only 7s. 6d. an acre in
1815. His other two farms (420 a.) were, like Major
Ware's, thrown on the owner's hands. The cultivation of the 'wet, cold, and shallow poor land' of
the area was thought to involve farmers in a net
loss of income at the prevailing price of grain, even
before paying rent and taxes. The other three
farms in the village were expected in 1816 to be
thrown up at the next quarter-day, and their owners
had not the capital to keep them under cultivation.
Quintin saw his income from Little Gransden
reduced from £600 to £60, and was compelled, it
was said, to lay down all his servants and carriages. (fn. 189)
In 1817 Robert Fuller sold 43 a. of the 104 a.
allotted him at inclosure to Thomas Briggs. (fn. 190) The
landlords remained embarrassed for many years. In
1834 Thomas Quintin declared that he had failed
to find a tenant for a farm once yielding 30 bushels
of wheat an acre, even though he was offering a
lease at 5s. an acre. (fn. 191) In 1851 three farms, covering
447 a., were unlet, and the Rectory farm was being
managed by bailiffs in both 1841 and 1851. (fn. 192)
The lower classes also suffered. The overseers
supposed in 1834 that the labourers had no chance
of saving from annual incomes of £35 that barely
sufficed for subsistence. None of them owned their
own cottages. As their numbers increased, and they
changed service more often, they were moreover
becoming 'worse workmen'. (fn. 193) The problem of
surplus labour persisted. In 1851 there were 46 men
described as agricultural labourers in the parish,
but the farms, including those unlet, provided
employment for only 38 men and boys. Two more
were employed on road-making. The parish offered
few alternative employments to agriculture. There
were few craftsmen, except those necessary for
building. A baker and a 'machine-maker' were
established there in 1841, but their successors in
1851 were both paupers. (fn. 194)
The number of farms did not diminish so sharply
in the 19th century as the number of proprietors.
In 1851 the parish contained 11 farms, of which
only 3 were over 200 a., and 6 were about 100 a.
All the substantial farmers were immigrants to
Little Gransden, except on the Virley and Fuller
farms. The former had been sold by 1868. (fn. 195) The
latter, called Hill farm, descended from Robert
to William Fuller (d. 1844), and after his son James
Fuller died in 1871 (fn. 196) was sold to F. and J. Braybrooks of Potton (Beds.). (fn. 197) The agricultural prosperity of the mid 19th century encouraged the
Quintins to consolidate their property c. 1860 into
three large farms, Fuller's Hill, Gransden Lodge,
and the newly erected Model farm, which covered
690 a. in the parish and 825 a. altogether, and about
1868 yielded £1,084 in rent. (fn. 198) The northern part
of the parish was more fragmented. In 1908 Little
Gransden contained ten farmers still, and in 1933
nine. (fn. 199) Farms held under individual landlords were
as small as 56 a. and 22 a., and c. 1910 a single
field of 17 a. was divided among four tenants. (fn. 200)
During the agricultural depression Rectory farm
(later called Common farm) which covered 403 a.
on the east, north of the road to Longstowe,
including the old common, went out of cultivation. (fn. 201)
Much of its land was marginal, requiring careful
draining. When c. 1880 the rector refused to lower
the rent, the tenant left, (fn. 202) and the derelict fields
rapidly reverted to rough grassland, covered with
hawthorns and briars, productive only of rabbits, and
capable of letting only for shooting and summer
grazing. (fn. 203) The food shortages of the First World War
brought it once more under the plough. The County
War Agricultural Committee took it over in 1918, and
the land was cleared by soldiers and put under
wheat. When after the war compensation was
claimed for the improvements, the rector had to sell
it in 1921 for only half its nominal value to Robert
Banks. (fn. 204) Fuller's Hill farm was bought c. 1920 by
its tenant, H. G. Jefferies, and he, Banks, and D. W.
Hancock, who owned and farmed Hill and Brook
farms, were the principal landowners in 1933. (fn. 205)
In 1251 Bishop Hugh had recently built a windmill on Old Mill Hill, which was farmed for
£3 6s. 8d. then (fn. 206) and in 1297–8, (fn. 207) and for £4 in
1316. (fn. 208) By 1356 it had become ruinous, yielding
only 13s. 4d. a year. (fn. 209) Later its rent was 23s. 4d. in
1454, (fn. 210) 22s. in 1495 when it was said to be decayed, (fn. 211)
and only 6s. 8d. in 1549–50. (fn. 212) It was finally blown
down, and the timbers removed by a farmer, under
Elizabeth I. Two new mills, put up near the old
site, (fn. 213) were probably in Great Gransden, where one
still survived in 1965.
Local Government.
As part of the demesne
of the bishops of Ely, Little Gransden was partially
exempted from the jurisdiction of the hundred.
In 1279 the bishop claimed to enjoy in it view of
frankpledge, without the king's bailiff's presence,
tumbrel, vee de naam, return of writs, and 'all that
belongs to judgement'. (fn. 214) The liberty was sometimes
disadvantageous for the villagers. In 1260 they were
obliged to pay by themselves the whole murdrum
for a man found dead in their fields. (fn. 215) The bishops
and their successors as lords continued to hold
courts leet and baron for their manor until the 19th
century, latterly only formally for land dealings. (fn. 216)
By the 16th century the rector too was holding a
court for his tenants, though at long and irregular
intervals. Thus it was alleged in 1581 that it had
not met since 1574. (fn. 217)
Later, parish affairs were managed by an
infrequently held vestry. (fn. 218) Expenditure on the poor,
mostly on out-relief, for the parish had no links
before 1835 with any workhouse, increased from
£63 in 1776 to £90 in 1803 (7s. 9d. a head) (fn. 219) and
£155 in 1831 (12s. 4d. a head). By 1834 relief was
being given on a fixed bread-scale. Those who once
obtained a parish allowance to supplement their
wages seldom lost it, and the farmers were considering sharing out the rate-supported labourers among
themselves in proportion to the rates they paid. (fn. 220)
In 1835 the parish was included in the Caxton and
Arrington poor law union, (fn. 221) and in 1934 was
transferred from the Caxton and Arrington R.D. to
the South Cambridgeshire R.D. (fn. 222)
Church.
A priest of 'Grantandene' is first
recorded c. 1183, witnessing a grant of land in
Gamlingay. (fn. 223) The church was in the 13th century,
as it has remained, a rectory, in the patronage of the
bishop of Ely. (fn. 224) In 1401 Little Gransden, like the
bishop's other demesne manors in Cambridgeshire,
was, under the compromise settling the disputes
between the bishop and the archdeacon of Ely,
removed completely from the archdeacon's jurisdiction and placed directly under the bishop as
ordinary. (fn. 225) The exemption endured in law until
annulled by an Order in Council in 1899, which
however, was not acted upon for several years. (fn. 226)
When Elizabeth I annexed the manor in 1600 the
advowson was still reserved to the bishop, (fn. 227) and
remained in his sole hands until 1928, when the
living was united with the vicarage of Great Gransden, whose patrons, Clare College, received two
turns to present, the bishop taking the third. (fn. 228)
Simultaneously the parish, so united, was transferred from Bourn rural deanery to that of St.
Neots in the archdeaconry of Huntingdon. (fn. 229)
The rector always kept possession of the tithes
and other profits of the church and had besides a
substantial endowment of glebe land. His income in
1217 and 1254 was assessed at £13 6s. 8d., (fn. 230) and
in 1291 at £18. (fn. 231) Only £6 13s. 4d. was supposed in
1341 to come from the great tithes, the glebe making
up the difference. (fn. 232) In 1535 the yearly value of the
rectory was £18 15s. 2d., which made it the wealthiest benefice in Bourn deanery, and one of the ten
richest in the county. (fn. 233) It maintained its position
through the subsequent price rise, yielding £125 a
year in 1650, (fn. 234) though only £110 c. 1730. (fn. 235) About
1775 its income was estimated at almost £200. (fn. 236) The
tithes began to be converted into moduses in the
late 17th century. The small tithes of Lodge farm,
then mainly pasture, were commuted for £3 5s. under
an agreement of 1681. (fn. 237) The tithes were wholly
extinguished in exchange for land at inclosure in
1814. (fn. 238) The large farm so created brought in £201
to the rector c. 1830, (fn. 239) but with the agricultural
depression its yield fell sharply to a nominal £150
in 1892, and less when the farm was unlet. (fn. 240) In
1897 the living was said to be of no value. In 1896
the outgoings, in taxes, rates, and repairs, exceeded
the £84 rent from the glebe by £11. (fn. 241)
By 1300 the living was wealthy enough to attract
prominent officials of church or state as incumbents. In 1310 the 'ill-famed' royal clerk, Walter
Maidstone, obtained it by papal provision to add
to the ten benefices he held already. (fn. 242) When made
bishop of Worcester in 1313, he had it transferred
to his kinsman Walter Kirkeby, already a pluralist
when aged fourteen, (fn. 243) who by 1327 had been
succeeded by a canon of Salisbury. (fn. 244) Later the
rectory was used as a stepping-stone by chopchurches. Between 1378 and 1398 it saw eight
transient rectors, only one of whom died before he
had exchanged it for another, usually richer,
benefice. (fn. 245) Among them were several clerks serving
Bishop Thomas Arundel, the patron, such as Simon
Romayn, his cross-bearer, and Thomas of Barnard
Castle, his registrar (later master of Peterhouse
1400–24). The latter held Gransden for only 12
days, as one of four churches held in succession in
as many months. (fn. 246) Those rectors not absent on
official duties departed to attend the university of
Cambridge. About 1390 two successive rectors
obtained long leave of absence to study, one within
two months of being cited by the bishop for nonresidence. (fn. 247) When John Thwaites, S.T.B., was
presented in 1460, he at once solicited an investigation into the dilapidations of his church and
within a month was licensed to lease it for three years
and return to his studies. (fn. 248) The duties of the living
were probably thrown upon the parish chaplains,
of whom there were two in 1379 and one in 1406. (fn. 249)
Curates are recorded in 1487 and 1543–4. (fn. 250) Under
Henry VIII it was they who usually witnessed the
parishioners' wills. (fn. 251)
Edward Leeds (rector 1548–53), who as vicargeneral to Bishop Goodrich had been zealous in
demolishing superstitious objects, resigned his cure
on Mary's accession. (fn. 252) From that period Little
Gransden rectory was almost invariably held by
graduates of Cambridge. Under Elizabeth I it was
used to support heads of Cambridge colleges, being
held by Robert Norgate, master of Corpus Christi
(rector 1584–7), and John Robinson, late president
of St. John's (rector 1587–97). (fn. 253) Their successors
probably resided on the cure. The learned and
devout Andrew Willett (rector 1597–8) (fn. 254) sufficiently
won his flock's liking to be chosen later to represent
them on the commissions inquiring into the demesne
in 1606–10 and abetted their delaying tactics. His
successor William Knight organized their defence
in the lawsuit over those lands. (fn. 255)
The Civil War produced greater disturbance. By
1638, in obedience to Bishop Wren, the communion
table had been mounted on steps at the east end and
railed round. (fn. 256) In 1644 William Dowsing came to
level the steps and destroy the surviving carved
angels and superstitious pictures. (fn. 257) The benefice was
contested. When it fell vacant in 1643, Wren, then
in prison, instituted John Tolly, fellow of Peterhouse, presented by his father, John Tolly, butcher,
of London to whom Wren had in 1642 granted the
next two presentations. (fn. 258) The younger Tolly was
an ardent royalist, who filled his college rooms with
ornaments considered to be popish, and therefore
lost his fellowship. So the parliamentarians installed
Thomas Perry instead. (fn. 259) In 1650 Wren named the
voluminous royalist poet and divine, Joseph
Beaumont, (fn. 260) to succeed Tolly and on Beaumont's
resignation in 1663 replaced him with Gibson
Lucas. (fn. 261) The benefice, however, remained in the
possession of Thomas Jessop, who was minister
there by 1650, (fn. 262) and secured presentation to it from
the Protector in 1654. (fn. 263) Jessop anticipated the
Restoration by receiving priest's orders from a
wandering Irish bishop in 1659, (fn. 264) and held on
through every revolution until his death in 1700. (fn. 265)
The 18th-century rectors showed a steady decline
in pastoral diligence. James Musgrave, rector
1714–47, although he inherited land in County
Durham, usually resided in his parish. (fn. 266) Henry
Burrough, rector 1747–73, was domestic chaplain
to Bishop Butts, and was given Wisbech and Little
Gransden (worth together £600 a year) to hold in
plurality, so that he could marry the bishop's
youngest daughter. (fn. 267) John Hepworth, rector 1774–
1802, lived in his other parish of Grafham (Hunts.),
leaving his duties to a curate to whom he paid £25
a year. (fn. 268) Thomas Briggs resided only occasionally
and paid the vicar of Waresley to act as curate for
£50 a year. (fn. 269) Whereas Musgrave had held services
twice each Sunday and once on holy days, in 1807
only one Sunday service was said; and the attendance at the four annual communions fell from 30
in 1727 to 5 or 6 in 1825, who were always the same
persons. (fn. 270) The 1830s brought an improvement.
Frederick Norris, rector 1831–56, resided, as did
his successors, held two services and preached every
Sunday, and by 1836 had raised the number of
communicants to 15 or 20. (fn. 271) In 1851 the average
congregation was still only 30. (fn. 272) By 1881 the church
had recovered all but some 40 of the population
from dissent, and over 20 people attended the
fortnightly communion. (fn. 273) In 1896–7 there were 43
registered communicants and about 115 churchpeople, though the church contained only 50
sittings of which 20 were free. (fn. 274)
The church of ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL has
a chancel with annexe, aisled nave with north porch,
and west tower, built in carstone rubble with
freestone dressings. Fragments of Romanesque
carving in the south wall may come from an earlier
church, (fn. 275) but the core of the existing building was
put up in the 13th century, when it included the
chancel, nave, aisles, and a south porch. In the 14th
century there were alterations in the chancel,
including an additional window in the east wall and
a new window in the south wall. They probably
preceded the reconsecration of the high altar in
1352. (fn. 276) Later in that century the tower and spire
were added.
The clerestory was refenestrated, the north aisle
rebuilt, and the south aisle heightened and buttressed
in the later 15th century, and the rood-screen is an
addition of about the same date. There is no indication of any new work in the chancel and in 1550
it was said to be near collapse. (fn. 277) By the 1580s it had
been sufficiently repaired for the school to be held
there. (fn. 278) The church was in good repair in 1727, (fn. 279)
but it suffered further dilapidations in the 18th
century. In 1783 it was darkened by windows
boarded over for lack of glazing, the plastered walls
needed whitewashing, and the pews and seats
repair. (fn. 280) The sum of £600 was spent on repairs
between 1840 and 1850, (fn. 281) and the church was
restored in 1858, and again in 1885–8 by J. P. St.
Aubyn. The old south porch was replaced by a
north porch c. 1900, and an organ chamber added
to the north aisle. (fn. 282) The 15th-century rood-screen,
with ogee tracery, was repainted and embellished
with statues of angels in 1908. (fn. 283) The pulpit is
Jacobean, possibly of 1626. (fn. 284) The church plate
includes a chalice and paten of 1582, and a paten of
1724. (fn. 285) There were three bells in 1552 (fn. 286) and in 1841,
when only one was fit for use. (fn. 287) Of the three bells
in 1968, one was possibly pre-Reformation, having
a black-letter invocation of St. Nicholas. The other
two were 17th-century, one being dated 1616. (fn. 288)
The parish registers begin only in 1730, but the
bishop's transcripts survive from 1599, with a gap
from 1600 to 1605. (fn. 289)
In 1522 John Ellis bequeathed £10 for buying
land, the rent to be used in four-year cycles on
repairing the highways (for two years), on paying
the fifteenth and 'king's wages' (probably for
troops), and for the good of the church and village.
He also left a stock of malt and barley for lending
to the poor at Christmas. (fn. 290) Thirteen acres bought
at Caxton were still in 1952 held by the churchwardens, except for 1½ a. sold in 1934. The rent was
£12 in 1831 but only £3 in 1952. (fn. 291) The churchwardens also held in 1783 small plots in Great
Gransden and Waresley (Hunts.), (fn. 292) and in 1952
certain allotments in Little Gransden. The total
income from these properties in 1952 was £7 6s. 6d.
spent on church purposes. (fn. 293)
Nonconformity.
By 1690 a dissenting
congregation of unknown denomination had been
established, which shared with others in neighbouring villages the services of two travelling
ministers, who preached at each in turn every third
Sunday. (fn. 294) In 1728 there were only three or four
dissenters and no meeting-house, (fn. 295) but in 1752,
after neglect by the absentee rectors, a house was
licensed for a Baptist meeting, (fn. 296) and in 1773 there
were Baptist and Congregational chapels. (fn. 297) Both
had disappeared by 1807, when, as in 1825, the
eight dissenting families attended a Baptist chapel
in Great Gransden. (fn. 298) About 1830 dissent was
revived by a Particular Baptist minister, Thomas
Row, admired among his fellow-sectaries as a
preacher and hymn-writer. A new Baptist chapel
was registered in 1833 (fn. 299) with 100 free sittings, to
which his sermons were in 1851 attracting congregations of up to 80 three times each Sunday. (fn. 300)
After his death in 1864 and with the renewed
diligence of the rectors it languished. The chapel
was abandoned, and though there were still 30 or 40
chapel-goers between 1880 and 1900, they had again
to attend the Baptist meeting at Great Gransden. (fn. 301)
Education.
In 1564 the rector himself was
accused of not teaching the children of Little
Gransden. (fn. 302) There was said to be a schoolmaster
there in 1596 and 1604, (fn. 303) possibly the curate, and
in the 1580s a school was held in the chancel, which
was attended also by sons of inhabitants of neighbouring parishes such as Gamlingay and Great
Gransden. (fn. 304) A charity or free school was founded
under the will dated 1688 of Dorothy Stane, who
directed that money bequeathed for educational
purposes by her husband William in 1679 should in
part be spent on buying land to maintain an
'English Protestant' school for the poor children of
Little Gransden, and buy them good and pious
books. (fn. 305) The land purchased yielded in 1783 £7 a
year. (fn. 306) The school was associated with the S.P.C.K.
in 1718, (fn. 307) and in 1724 had 10 pupils. (fn. 308) In 1783 £4
of the rent was devoted to teaching 9 children, the
rest being spent on the church. (fn. 309) Twelve children
attended the school in 1819, (fn. 310) and up to 55 boys and
girls in 1835, but only 8 pupils were taught free.
The school was also supported by the rector, who
allotted the free places, and by fees. (fn. 311) In 1837
children from adjoining parishes were being admitted on payment of 2d. a week. The schoolmaster
was said to have a violent temper and to leave the
teaching to his 14-year-old son. The school-house
was hired. (fn. 312) A Sunday school established by 1819
had only 10 to 12 pupils, though it was free. (fn. 313) In
1835 it had 45. (fn. 314) A National school linked with the
Sunday school, and sharing its building with it, (fn. 315)
was built by subscription in 1845 to replace the
charity school and accommodate 132 children. The
rector gave half the £400 that it cost. (fn. 316) It received
a parliamentary building grant in 1848, (fn. 317) and was
also assisted by the National Society and the Stane
charity. (fn. 318) In 1867–8 the children, who paid weekly
fees of 1d. or 4½d., were taught in two schoolrooms
by a master and mistress and their daughter, none
of them certificated, who lived in the adjoining
master's house. (fn. 319) Attendance fell from 77 in 1847–8
to 60 in 1867–8 and 21 in 1922, (fn. 320) and the school
was closed in 1923. (fn. 321) In 1902 an evening school
attached to the National school had 12 pupils. (fn. 322)
Charities for the Poor.
In 1654 Branson
Peter left £10, yielding 8s. a year, for the poor of
Little Gransden. (fn. 323) In 1710 the capital together with
£20 left by Thomas Jessop, late rector (d. 1700),
£10 given by Sir John Cotton, Bt., and £5 by Sir
Robert Cotton, was conveyed to trustees for the
poor, who in 1720 bought a cottage and 1½ a. (fn. 324)
The charity was apparently combined with a bequest
by James Musgrave, rector 1714–47, who by codicil
dated 1744 devised a freehold cottage, the rent of
which was to be expended in annual doles of a
shilling to poor widows and widowers in continuation of distributions made by Musgrave in his
lifetime in memory of his first wife, and in doles to
poor families. (fn. 325) In 1814 4½ a. were allotted for the
common belonging to the two cottages. (fn. 326) The land
was divided into 12 gardens, let to poor men at £1
an acre. In 1837 the rents from the land and cottages
came to £13. (fn. 327) The income in 1952 was £15, which
was still partly distributed to poor parishioners in
2s. gifts, leaving a substantial balance. (fn. 328)
By will proved in 1899 Julia Norris, niece of
Frederick Norris, rector 1831–52, left over £7,000
stock to build and endow an alms-house, which was
accordingly built in 1903, containing dwellings for
a married couple, a widower or bachelor, a widow
or spinster, and a caretaker or nurse. All were to be
Anglicans, unable through sickness or age to earn
a living. In 1952 annual income from the stock was
£211, and expenditure £178. (fn. 329)