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Home , Isle of Ely

2 . [KF.LLY'S about 22 inches yearly. Observations of the rainfall are 'fhe old high roads are the Old North Road, from Lon­ daily made at about thirty stations in the county. Most don to York and Edinburgh, by Royston, with a branch t() rain falls with south-west winds, while those from the south­ ; the London, Norwich and Newmarket Road. east are the driest; in the months of the year, December with a branch to Cambridge; and the Cambridge and and January have the dampest atmosphere; May and July Huntingdon Road, which joins the Great North Road. A the driest. In the fen district, the atmospheric conditions branch of the Great North Road runs through the Isle of Ely often present marked peculiarities : here the mirage is not of by March and . unfrequent occurrence, when places which under ordinary The 'southern part of the county is crossed by the old circumstances are below the horizon become visible, being Roman road of lcknield Street (which was also a British road tilted up into the air, as it were, by refraction. Moist air, a of the Iceni) from Newmarket t.o Royston, and by Ermine warm day and the sun low in the heavens, are stated by Stt·eet from Royston to the north-west. The Via Devana, Mr. Skertchly to be necessary for the production of this another of these ways, passed through Cambridge towards phenomenon. , where it met the Ermine Street, and The soil generally is fertile, corn being raised in the uplands another through Ely to Cambridge ; most of these have now­ as well as in the lowlands, and there is grazing in the latter. been obliterated or diverted. The produce consists of wheat (the Burwell wheat having a Cambridgeshire, under the name ofGrantbridgeshire, was high reputation as seed), and other corn crops, cattle, sheep, divided previously to Domesday Survey in the same manner Cottenham cheese (the production of which has much as now. The Isle of Ely, in the north part of the shire, of diminished), butter, fruit, hay, coleseed, osiers, cabbages, old forming two hundreds, now forms four-Ely, with 25,925 b~ans, potatoes, asparagus from Ely, reeds for thatching, acres (exclusive of the city of Ely) ; Wisbech, with 61,157 chalk, lime and turf for fuel (much used); mangold wurtzel acres; North , with 86,275 acres; and South and carrots are grown in large quantities on the fen lands ; Witchford, with 37,462 acres. the produce is chiefly sent to London from the ports of Lynn, In the rest of the shire are the hundreds of Northstow, in Ely and Wisbecb, and from Cambridge and other towns by railway. In the Cottenbam and Willingham districts and the north midland, with 19,651 acres ; Staplow (anciently Staplehow) in the north midland, with 40,775 acres; around Wisbech much fruit is grown, especially strawberries, Cheveley (Newmarket), in the east, with 12,905 acres ; gooseberries, apples and plums, and sent to the London and Radfield, in the south-east, with 23,869 acres; Staine, in Manchester markets. the south-east midland, with 18,917 acres; Whittlesford, in Oolitic clays form the western part of Cambridgeshire : the the south, with 11,078 acres; Fiendish (anciently Flaming­ river Cam runs along the centre in a valley, formed by the dike), exclusive of Cambridge, in the south midland, with greensand and gault clay, while to the south and east of 11,906 acres; Thriplow, in the south-west, with 16,16oacres; that river all is chalk, which rises in the Gog-Magog Hills Chilford (Linton), in the south-west, with 22,364 acres; and Royston Downs to heights of from 300 to 500 feet. These Armingford or Royston (named from the ford of Ermine chalk hills are a continuation of the Chiltern Hills of Buck­ Street), in the south-west, with 29,287 acres; Wetherley. inghamshire. In the north of the county we have a portion in the south-west midland, with 16,160 acres; Lowstow, - of the fen land which encircles the Wash, a level tract inter­ in the west, with 25,500 acres; Chesterton, near Cambridge, sected by great uykes or drains. in the south midland, with 15,847 acres ; and Papwortb. According to the " Mines and Quarries General Report in the west midland, with 26,923 acres, and Statistics for 1913, Part III.-Output," the only Cambridgeshire virtually includes two shires or sepuate minerals raised were, chalk, 288,197 tons; brick clay, jurisdictions, the shire proper and Ely. The shire proper has 325,482 tons, and limestone, 28o tons. its at Cambridge, where the assizes and quarter NoTE.-The particulars for 1914 are not available, they sessions are held, and is divided into six petty sessional being given with the total for Great Britain. divisions, viz. : -Arrin2ton and Melbourne (sittings at Arrington and Melbourne), Bottisham (sittings at Bottis­ Brewing and malting are large trades. Brick-making is bam), Cambridge (sittings at Cbesterton), Caxton (sittings carried on to some extent, the chief material used in building at Caxton), Linton (sittings at Linton), Newmarket (sittings being brick. Lime-burning for manure employs many per­ at Newmarket). 'fhe Isle of Ely has separate coroners. sons, chiefly in the southern parts, and coprolite works give employment to a few persons. 'fhe number of millers is con­ The county is in the South Eastern circuit. The April siderable, and much corn is ground up and oilseed crushed. and October sessions are held at Ely ; the summer assizes Basket-making, for which osiers are worked up, and mat­ and January and July sessions at Wisbech: the Isle of Ely making occupy many persons. As there are so many \!as four petty sessional divisions, viz. :-Ely (sittings at navigable cuts and drains in the county, the employment of Ely), North Witchford, Cbatteris Sub-Division (sittings at bargemen and boatmen is large, and many persons are ), March Sub-Division (sittings at March), engaged in ship, boat and barge building. Printing and Whittlesea (sittings at Wbittlesea) and Wisbech (sittings bookselling employ many persons, chiefly at Cambridge, at Wisbech). Cambridgeshire is joined with Huntingdon­ where books are printed at the University and other presses. shire in the shrievalty. There are paper and parchment works. County Courts are held at Cambridge, in Circuit No. 35, and at Ely, March, Soham and Wisbech, in Circuit No. 32. Race horses are trained on the downs near Newmarket. The county has 169 civil parishes ; being 131 parishes in The county is well provided with railway communication Cambridge proper, and 38 parishes in the Isle of Ely and to all parts of . The lines mostly belong to the Great 180 Ecclesiastical parishes and parts of 13. The greater Eastern and Great Northern systems, including two trunk part is in the , forming the archdeaconry of lines to London. Cambridge is a great railway centre, and Ely, which is subdivided into the deaneries of Barton, communicates with London via Hitchin, Hertfordshire, by , Cambridge, ,Camps, Fordham, North Stowe, Quy the Great Northern railway and through Essex and Herts and Sbingay; four parishes are in the diocese of Norwich, by the Great Eastern railway, and northward to Ely and and three in that of St. Albans. March, which are also centres. The Great Eastern railway has the principal lines in the county, being one from Cam­ The Isle of Ely, forming the northern portion of the bridge eastward through Newmarket and Bury St. Edmunds county, for ecclesiastical purposes, forms the arcbdeaconry to Haugbley junction, there joining the main line to Norwich of Wisbecb divided into the rural deaneries of Ely, .March and Ipswich; while a second line leaving Cambridge runs and Wisbech. north-east to Ely and Thetford, with branch through Ford­ The municipal boroughs ar~ Cambridge and Wisbecb, the ham to Mildenhall; and a line from Newmarket to Ely, and former of which has a sep;trate court of Quarter ~essions. thence to St. Ives and to March ; also a line from Cambridge The chief towns are : -Cambridge, with its celebrated to St. Ives, whence it returns into the county to March and university, population in 1911, 40,027. In 1912 the Wisbech ; and from March a short line runs to , municipal borough of Cambridge was considerably ex­ connecting with the Midland and London and North tended and the population jncreased to 55,812. Ely, with Western lines. The Great Eastern has joint lines in con­ the episcopal establishment and railway station, 7,917; nection with the Coln_e Valley from Shelford to Swaffham Newmarket, famed for its races and sporting, 10,483; &c. and from March to Spalding in connection with the Wisbech, in the Isle of Ely, with an export trade by water, Great Nortbern rail way. and supplying great part of the district with coals and There is a line from Cam bridge to Hitchin on the Great timber, 10,822; March, in the Isle of Ely, an ancient town Northern, and a line of the London and North Western and a great railway station, 8,403; Thorney, in the Isle of Railway Company, crossing the Great Northern at Sandy, Ely, formerly famous for its abbey, which is still a tine through Bedford to Bletchley and Oxford. · structure, 1,871 ; Cbatteris, in the Isle of Ely, 5,259 ; Soham, which bad anciently an ·abbey, 4,682; and Whittle­ _ The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway have a sea, in the Isle of Ely, also formerly possessing an abbey, branch from Peterborough through Thorney to Wisbech, 4,207; Whittlesea, or Wbittlesey, has flax scutching and oil thence to Lynn and Yarmouth, in Norfolk. From Melton mills. Linton, a small town in the south, population in Constable are also branches to Cromer and Norwich. 191I, I,5o1. Newmarket is in Suffolk.