GenUKI Contents

Cambridgeshire

DRY DRAYTON

"DRY DRAYTON, a parish in the hundred of Chesterton, in the county of Cambridge, 3 miles south-west of Oakington station on the Great Eastern line, and 5½ north-west of Cambridge, its post town. The village is small, and wholly agricultural. The land is chiefly arable, and the soil a stiff clay. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely, value £321, in the patronage of the Rev. Dr. Smith. The church is a Gothic structure, dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul, and contains a brass of a man in armour. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment, under the Enclosure Act of 1809. The parochial charities amount to about £23 per annum, £13 of which goes to Haslop's free school.

• "BAR HILL, During the 1950s, it was realised that the number of houses needed in South Cambridgeshire was such that it could not be absorbed by the city or the existing villages without compromising their essential characters. A number of new villages were therefore essential, and it was decided by the County Council to site the first of these on 350 acres of Bar House Farm in the parish of Dry Drayton north west of the city.

  Work began on the site in November 1965, and the first residents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Burry moved in on May 24th 1967. The primary school was finished by the end of 1967,and it opened with two teachers, Mr. Bill Norton, the headmaster and Mrs. Pauline Stelmaszuk, plus 26 children in May the following year. Seven of the 13 shops in The Mall, the shopping precinct, opened during 1968- 69. A unique and novel feature was that all residents would contribute towards a Village Trust which would undertake the provision of a Village hall as well as the maintenance of communal areas. Bar hill finally came of age as a village in May 1969 when it had grown sufficiently to warrant a Parish Council of five members."

[The above was transcribed (and edited) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2023

Cemeteries

• The Monumental Inscriptions in the graveyard of SS. Peter and Paul for the years 1710-1976 are recorded in the Cambridge Records Office.

Census

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

Churches

• Here are photographs of Churches etc. in the parish:
  • St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, Dry Drayton.
    • Internal view looking down the nave
    • The font
  • The Multi Denominational Church, Bar Hill.
• The following Churches have their own websites:
  • St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, Dry Drayton
  • The Multi Denominational Church, Bar Hill

Church History

• "The church of SS. Peter and Paul is a building of stone in the Early Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of three bays, aisles, north porch and a western tower containing a clock and 5 bells: the north aisle was added and the whole fabric restored in 1859, a the ancient tower in 1874, at a cost of £200: the stained east window is a memorial to the Rev. Samuel Smith D.D. dean of Christ Church, Oxford, prebendary of Durham and formerly rector here 1831-41, and has in a lunette at the bottom a kneeling figure of the rector in surplice and hood: the organ, erected in 1881, was rebuilt in 1928 : near the west end are two windows of the Decorated period, with transoms, and the south doorway is of the same date : there are 200 sittings. The register of baptisms and burials dates from the year 1564; marriages, 1565."
• "There is Primitive Methodist chapel."
  [Kelly's Directory - 1929]

Church Records

• Church of England
  • Dry Drayton, SS Peter and Paul: Records of baptisms 1565-1972, marriages 1565-1990, burials 1565-1916 and banns 1754-1911 reside in the Cambridgeshire Archives. Indexed transcripts for baptisms 1564-1851, marriages 1565-1839 and burials 1564-1851 also reside in the Cambridgeshire Archives. The Bishop's Transcripts for the years 1599-1651, 1662-1795 and 1800-1849 can be found in the Cambridge University Library. The parish record transcripts for SS. Peter and Paul 1564-1851 are available on microfiche from the Cambridgeshire Family History Society Publications list (search)
• Methodist
  • Primitive Methodist Church: Records exist at the Cambridgeshire Archives for the Cambridge Primitive and Primitive Second Circuits of which Dry Drayton is part.

Gazetteers

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

Manors

• "This parish has two manors - Coventry, held on a lease of lives under the Bishop of Ely, and Crowlands, of which the Rev. Richard Winkfield M.A. is lord. The land of the parish is vested in several proprietors, the chief of whom are T.F. Hooley esq. and Trinity College, Cambridge."
  [Kelly's Directory - 1929]

Military History

• The Dry Drayton War Memorial has been transcribed and researched.

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 1798 (on microfilm), 1829-32 and 1880-48.