GenUKI Contents

Cambridgeshire

Nearby places

ELTISLEY

"ELTISLEY, a parish in the hundred of Longstow, county Cambridge, 2 miles north-west of Caxton, its post town, and 5 east of St. Neot's, the nearest railway station. Previous to the Norman Conquest there was a nunnery here, with which is connected a traditionary account of a Scottish princess, Pandiania, taking refuge and being buried within its precincts. The village is situated on the road from Cambridge to Oxford. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Ely, value £51. The Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists have each a place of worship. Near the church on the south side was a famous well, still called St. Pandiania's Well, but now filled up with rubbish."

"PAPLEY GROVE, in the parish of Eltisley, is 1 mile north of Eltisley."

Cemeteries

• The Monumental Inscriptions in the graveyard of St. John for the years 1799-1988 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 Eltisley 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:
  • The Church of St. Panionia and St. John the Baptist, Eltisley.
    • The font

Church History

• "The church of St. John the Baptist and St. Pandionia, appropriated in 1572 to the Abbey of Denny, in this county, is an ancient edifice of stone, chiefly in the Early English style, and was partially repaired about the year 1840: it consists of chancel, clerestoried nave of three bays, aisles, north transept or chapel, south porch and a lofty embattled western tower of Early English date, with a fine Decorated octagonal spire, and containing 4 bells: the nave arcades date from the early part of the 13th century: the clerestory is Perpendicular: the north chapel has a very beautiful east window and a canopied tomb of a crusader and his lady. St. Wendreth is said by tradition to have been buried in the church: there is a brass tablet to the Marshall family, dated 1640: the tower and nave were completely restored and the latter reseated, during the period 1875-9, at a cost of £2,000: the church at affords 200 sittings. A lych gate was erected in 1920 in memory of the men of the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18. The register dates from the year 1653. The early register is lost: the Ely transcripts, which date from 1599, show that John Disbrowe married here Jane Cromwell, Oliver's younger sister, on 23 June, 1636."
• "There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels here. The Church Institute was erected in 1903."
  [Kelly's Directory - Cambridgeshire - 1929]

Church Records

• Church of England
  • Eltisley, St. John the Baptist and St. Pandionia: Records of baptisms 1653-1722, 1737-1878, marriages 1654-1722, 1737-1957, burials 1653-1723, 1737-2002 and banns 1754-1809, 1824-1874 reside in the Cambridgeshire Archives. Indexed transcripts for baptisms 1653-1721, 1737-1900, marriages 1654-68, 1678-1900 and burials 1653-1721, 1737-1900 also reside in the Cambridgeshire Archives as well as indexed transcripts of the Bishop's Transcripts 1595-1665. The indexed transcripts of the registers are available in full transcript form, on microfiche, from the Cambridgeshire Family History Society Publications list (search). The Bishop's Transcripts for the years 1599-1782 and 1794-1926 can be found in the Cambridge University Library.
• Methodist
  • Primitive Methodist Church: Records exist at the Cambridge, Huntingdon and Bedford Record Offices for the St. Neots Primitive Circuit of which Eltisley is part.
  • Wesleyan Methodist Church: Records exist at the Cambridgeshire Archives, Bedford and Huntingdon Record Offices for the St. Neots Primitive Circuit of which Eltisley is part.

Description and Travel

• "The Disbrowe family bought the rectory and advowson and settled in Eltisley in the year 1600. Major-General Disbrowe and Samuel Disbrowe, keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland, were born here." "There was formerly a convent of Benedictine nuns here, subsequently removed in the reign of William I. to Hinchinbrooke, in Huntingdonshire. St. Pandionia was the daughter of a Scottish king, who, in her flight from some persons who attempted her chastity, is said to have taken refuge in the nunnery of Eltisley, the prioress of which was her kinswoman; she eventually adopted the religious life, and on account of her piety was canonized; she died, it is said, in the convent, and was buried by a well called St. Pandionia's Well, whence her body was removed into Eltisley church in the year 1344."
  [Kelly's Directory - Cambridgeshire - 1929]

Gazetteers

• A transcript of the Eltisley parish entries from Stepehen Whatley's 1750 Topographical Gazetteer of England,
• A transcript of the Eltisley parish entries from Samuel Lewis's 1835 Topographical Dictionary of England,
• A transcript of the Eltisley parish entries from 1929 Kellys Directory of Cambridgeshire

Military History

• The Eltisley 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 1946-48.