GenUKI Contents

Cambridgeshire

Nearby places

BOTTISHAM

"BOTTISHAM, a parish in the hundred of Staine, in the county of Cambridge, 6 miles to the east of Cambridge, and 3 from the Six-Mile Bottom railway station. Cambridge is its post town. It includes the hamlets of Bottisham-Lode, and Longmeadow. In the former was a priory of Canons Regular, of the order of St. Augustine, founded by Richard de Clare, in an island called Anglesey, or Anglesey-in-the-Fens, hence the priory received the name of Anglesey Abbey. It was valued at its dissolution, according to Speed, at £149 18s. 6½d., but according to Dugdale at £24 19s. The present remains of the old structure are a vaulted room and graduated corbel-table; but in connection with these a new building was subsequently erected, which has been converted by the present owner into a handsome family mansion. In 1712 a fire broke out and partly destroyed the village, and again on Feb. 7, 1846, it was much damaged by an incendiary fire. An ornamental police station has recently been erected, at which petty sessions are held every alternate Wednesday.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely, of the value of £268, in the patronage of the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge. The church, a noble early English structure, is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and contains several interesting monuments-one to Elias de Bekingham, justiciary of England in the reign of Edward 1.; one to Sir Roger Jenyns, who died in 1740; and one by Bacon, to Soame Jenyns, who died in 1787. The register dates from 1563. At Bottisham-Lode, a chapel of ease, dedicated to St. James, was built and consecrated in 1853, to which the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have been requested to assign a district, to embrace the hamlets of Bottisham-Lode and Long Meadow.

There is a small Independent meeting-house at Bottisham, and one for Baptists at Bottisham-Lode. In 1839, National and infant schools were built, to which a master's house was added in 1846; similar schools have recently been built at Bottisham-Lode. The charitable endowments of the parish amount to £200 per annum, including the endowment of a green-coat school, founded by Sir Roger Jenyns, and a bequest of £120 per annum by a former vicar, to be distributed by the vicar for the time being There is also a large tract of free land, producing turf and grass."

"LODE, a hamlet in the parish of Bottisham, county Cambridge, 6 miles north-east of Cambridge.

(See also Lode Parish pages)

"LONGMEADOW, a hamlet in the parish of Bottisham, county Cambridge, 6 miles north-east of Cambridge."

"SIX MILE BOTTOM, is a hamlet in the parishes of Little Wilbraham, Bottisham, Brinkley, Carlton cum Willingham, Swaffham Bulbeck, Westley Waterless, and Weston Colville. It has a station on the Cambridge and Bury branch of the London and North Eastern railway. There is a congregational chapel, erected in 1881, with 80 sittings, and a reading room and library. There is also a recreation ground, pleasantly situated near the railway station and enclosed by a double row of trees : a cross of rough granite was erected in 1924 as a memorial to the men of this parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18. Swyntord Paddocks is the residence of Capt. Malcolm Bollock M.B.E., M.P.

See also Six Mile Bottom main page."

Cemeteries

• The Monumental Inscriptions for the churchyard of Holy Trinity (the few surviving monuments) 1719-1937 reside in the Cambridgeshire Archives. These are available, on microfiche, from the Cambridgeshire Family History Society Publications list (search) "A cemetery of one acre has been formed at a cost of £243; it is under the control of the Parish Council." [Kelly's Directory - 1929]

Census

• The Census Records from 1841-1891 can be found in the Cambridgeshire Archives. In addition the 1851 Census for Bottisham is available in full transcript form, on microfiche, from the Cambridgeshire Family History Society Publications list (search)

Churches

• The following Churches have their own websites:
  • Holy Trinity Church, Bottisham

Church History

• "The church of the Holy Trinity is a beautiful edifice of stone, chiefly in the Early Decorated style, consisting of chancel clerestoried nave of five bays, aisles, north and south porches and western Galilee porch, and an embattle western tower with pinnacles and containing 5 bells: the chancel retains an Early English piscina an sedilia, and there is also an Early Decorated chancel arch, with a Perpendicular stone screen: on the south wall of the chancel is a marble tablet to the Rev William Pugh, vicar from 1812, dated 1825: the stained east window and the reredos are memorials to Col. Jenyns, one of the "Six Hundred" at Balaclava (October 25th, 1854), who died in 1873: at the east end of the north aisle is an oak screen, apparently of the Decorated period, which encloses two monuments one to Margaret, daughter of William Coningesbye of King's Lynn, and another, with effigies in marble and cherubs supporting a canopy, to Leonettus and Dorothea, children of William and Elizabeth Allington, ob. 1638: there is also an altar tomb of Purbeck marble, with the matrix of a brass effigy and canopy and panelled sides relieved by shields; the inscription on the margin, now lost, commemorated Elyas de Beckingham, appointed a justiciar of the Common Pleas, 15 Edward I. (1285); he retired from the bench, or died, in 1305; in 1289, when all the judges were apprehended by the king on charges of bribery and corruption, Beckingham and Metingham alone were honourably acquitted: in the same aisle is a marble tablet to Hester Paulina Lushington, d. 1795: the south aisle has an arcading along its whole length, inclosing a series of stone coffin slabs a screen similar to that on the north side incloses a large tomb of white marble to Sir Roger Jenyns, d. 1740, and Dame Elizabeth, his wife, d. 1728, with their effigies in bed attire; and near this tomb, against the south wall, is a plain marble tabblet to Soame Jenyns esq. M.P. and controversialist, and son of Sir Roger Jenyns, who died 18th Dec. 1787: on the south side is a beautiful piscina and a sedile: there are also slabs inscribed to Francis Hessel, d. 1659, and John Lack, d. 1742: the church was restored and warming apparatus fixed during the period 1875-91, and repairs to the fabric were made in 1928 at a cost of £500; there are about 350 sittings. The register of baptisms dates from the year 1561; marriages, 1563 ; burials, 1659."
• "There is a Congregational chapel, founded in 1800, and having sittings for 230 persons. [Kelly's Directory - 1929]
• Note: The church has 6 bells. The original 5 bells were augmented to six in about 1974. At the same time the original treble was recast due to cracks. Supposedly the new bell came from Kirtling where it had been removed due to an unsafe tower.
• There is further information and photographs of the Church on Ben and Mark's Cambridgeshire Churches website.

Church Records

• Church of England
  • Bottisham, Holy Trinity: Records of baptisms 1561-1949, marriages 1563-1912, burials 1569-1666, 1679-1918, banns for 1754-89, 1814-1953 reside in the Cambridgeshire Archives.The Bishop's Transcripts for the years 1599-1679, 1694-1801 and 1813-79 can be found in the Cambridge University Library. Index transcripts of marriages 1563-1837 are also available in the Cambridgeshire Archives.
• Methodist
  • Primitive Methodist Church: Records exist at the Cambridgeshire Archives for the Cambridge Primitive Circuit of which Bottisham is part.

Description and Travel

• "In 1712 a destructive fire consumed 20 houses in the village, besides causing other damage, and an incendiary fire which occured on February 13th, 1846, destroyed the produce of two large farms, as well as fifteen cottages depriving twenty-four poor families of their homes. About £200 yearly, derived from several charities, is distributed in money and kind and for educational purposes: in 1878 the so-called "Poor's Fen", of nearly 200 acres, was for the first time brought under a trust and scheme formed by the Charity Commissioners produces a profit of nearly £130 yearly for the benefit of the poor, which is applied chiefly in the distribution of fuel. The Charity School has been converted into a reading room. The kennels of the Cambridgeshire Harriers are in this parish; Basil Briscoe esq. and Harry Leader esq.: are joint masters : the pack comprises fifteen couples of 18 to 20-inch terriers; hunting days, Wednesdays and Saturdays; Cambridge and Newmarket are convenient centres; Bottisham is the nearest station to the kennels. Bottisham Park contains about 200 acres and is well wooded: the mansion, a structure of brick, erected in 1797 when the old hall was pulled down, is the property and residence of Roger William Bulwer Jenyns esq. J.P. who is lord of the manor. Trinity, St. Peter's and Downing Colleges, Cambridge, and R. W. B. Jenyns esq. J.P. are the principal landowners." [Kelly's Directory - 1929]

Gazetteers

• A transcript of the Bottisham parish entries from Samuel Lewis's 1835 Topographical Dictionary of England,
• A transcript of the Bottisham parish entries from 1929 Kellys Directory of Cambridgeshire

Military History

• The Bottisham Holy Trinity War Memorial has been transcribed and and the men researched, it is located inside the parish church of Holy Trinity, on the north wall.

Taxation

• Land Tax: records were compiled afresh each year and contain the names of owners and occupiers in each parish, but usually there is no address or place name. These records reside in the Cambridgeshire Archives for the years 1757-63, 1789-1837, 1880-92 and 1911-48.