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Cambridgeshire

GREAT WILBRAHAM

"GREAT WILBRAHAM, a parish in the hundred of Staine, county Cambridge, 7 miles south-east of Cambridge, and 1½ mile north-east of the Fulbourn station on the Cambridge and Newmarket railway. The village is situated about 2 miles south of the Cambridge and Newmarket road. The surface is nearly level in the western part of the parish, but rises towards the south The soil is light but fertile, resting upon a substratum of chalk and gravel. The manor-house, now the residence of E. Hicks, Esq., is called the Temple, having once belonged to the Knights Templars. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely, value £203. The church is dedicated to St. Nicholas. There is a small Baptist chapel, and a National school.

[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 St. Nicholas are recorded in the Cambridge Records Office for the years 1720-1982 which are also available on microfiche from the Cambridgeshire Family History Society Publications list (search) There is also a private graveyard which also has Monumental Inscriptions for the years 1705-1920.

Census

• The Census Records from 1841-1891 can be found in the Cambridgeshire Archives. In addition the 1851 Census for Great Wilbraham 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:
  • St. Nicholas's Church, Great Wilbraham

Church History

• "The church of St. Nicholas is an ancient building of flint, principally in the Early English and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave, transepts, south porch and an embattled western tower of Perpendicular date with pinnacles, and containing a clock and 5 bells the chancel retains a piscina and sedilia and a curious aumbry: the font, which dates from the year 1150, is Transition Norman: in the chancel are inscribed tablets to the Ward family from 1719: at the west end are some ancient tombstones; the church, with the exception of the nave and north transept, was restored in 1878-9, at a cost of £800, and the tower in 1882-3, at a cost of about £600: there are 300 sittings. The register dates from the year 1561."
• "The church like that of Wendy in this county, was originally given to the monks of Ely, but they, for some consideration, made it over to the Knights Templars, who made a habitation here for some of their order: the estates were afterwards passed over to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. There is a small Baptist chapel here."
  [Kelly's Directory - Cambridgeshire - 1929]

Church Records

• Church of England
  • Great Wilbraham, St. Nicholas: Records of baptisms 1561-1987, marriages 1561-1618, 1631-48, 1668-1999, burials 1561-74, 1581-1651, 1661-1956, banns for 1754-1816, 1889-1976 reside in the Cambridgeshire Archives. The Bishop's Transcripts for the years 1599-1857 can be found in the Cambridge University Library. Indexed transcripts exist in Cambridgeshire Archives for baptisms and burials 1561-1851, and marriages 1561-1837.

Gazetteers

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

Military History

• There are two war memorials in Great Wilbraham, St Nicholas War Memorial and the Memorial Hall War Memorial have 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 1757-63, 1789-1837, 1881-93 and 1911-1948.