GenUKI Contents

Cambridgeshire

WILBURTON

"WILBURTON, a parish in the hundred of South Witchford, Isle of Ely, county Cambridge, 5 miles south-west of Ely, and 1½ mile from Haddenham. It is a station on the Ely, Haddenham, and Sutton branch of the Great Eastern railway. The village is surrounded by fens, now drained and in high cultivation. The soil is rich and fertile, varying from red sand to stiff clay on the upper ground. The manor belongs to Lady Pell, who has a seat here. The living is a perpetual curacy* in the diocese of Ely, value £70, in the patronage of the archdeacon, to whom the parsonage-house anciently belonged, and at which Henry VII. and his son Prince Henry were entertained by the archdeacon when they visited the shrine of St. Etheldreda in 1505. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, contains two brasses, one canopied, bearing date 1477. The Baptists have a chapel. The charities produce about £30 per annum, chiefly arising from the town lands."

[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. Peter for the years 1723-1896 are recorded in the Cambridge Records Office.

Census

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

Churches

• St. Peter's Church, Wilburton.

Church History

• "The church of St. Peter is an edifice of stone in the Gothic style of the 15th century, retaining traces of work pronounced by the late Sir Gilbert Scott to be Saxon and Norman, and consisting of nave, north transept, south porch and a western tower containing a clock and 6 bells : it was restored in 1851, and the transept added in 1868 by Albert and Oliver Claude Pell esqrs. and the Rev. Beauchamp H. St. John Pell M.A. rector of Ickenham, Middlesex, in memory of their parents, Sir Albert Pell kt. D.C.L. king's sergeant-at-law and judge of the Court of Review, who died in 1832, and the Hon. Dame Margaret Letitia Matilda Pell, third daughter of Henry Beauchamp, 12th Lord St. John of Bletsoe, who died in 1868 : in the chancel is a window to a daughter of Lady Pell who died in 1855 : the rood screen was restored in 1893 by the parishoners and friends in memory of O.C. Pell esq. D.L., J.P. who died in 1891 : over the porch is a priest's chamber : in 1921 a stained glass window was inserted in the north side of the church, in memory of the men of the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18; the cost, a little over £200, was subscribed by the parishioners : there are 240 sittings. The register dates from the year 1730." [Kelly's Directory - 1929]

Church Records

• Church of England
  • Wilburton, St Peter's: Records of baptisms 1736-1963, marriages 1737-66, 1781, 1913-1964 and burials 1736-1927 reside in the Cambridgeshire Archives. Indexed transcripts for the years 1599-1851 also reside in the Cambridgeshire Archives. The Bishop's Transcripts for the years 1599-48, 1677 and 1711-1860 can be found in the Cambridge University Library. The parish record transcripts for St Peter 1599-1851 are available on microfiche from the Cambridgeshire Family History Society Publications list (search)

Gazetteers

• A transcript of the Wilburton parish entries from Samuel Lewis's 1835 Topographical Dictionary of England,
• A transcript of the Wilburton parish entries from 1868 A brief history of Ely and neighbouring villages in the Isle' by J.H. Clements

Military History

• The War Memorial Plaque in the Church has been transcribed and the men 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 1750-1948; 1798 is on microfilm at Huntingdon Record Office.