Somersham, Huntingdonshire
Historical Description
Somersham, a village and a parish in Hunts. The village stands adjacent to the St Ives, March, and Wisbech section of the G.E.R., on which it has a station, 5½ miles NNE of St Ives. It was once a market-town, and also a resort of visitors to a chalybeate spa; consists chiefly of one street about a mile long, running from E to W, crossed by a shorter one near the centre; and has a feast on 24 June, a fair on the Friday before 22 Nov., and a post, money order, and telegraph office under St Ives. The parish comprises 4516 acres; population of the civil parish, 1381; of the ecclesiastical, with Colne, Pidley, and Fenton, 2095. There is a parish council consisting of thirteen members. The manor was given in 991 by Brithnoth the Saxon to Ely Abbey; passed to the bishops of Ely, the queen of Charles I., Colonel Wanton, the Hammonds, the Montagues, and the Burtons; and belongs now to the Elgood family. A palace of the bishops stood a short distance S of the church, but has disappeared. Roman coins have been found. The living is a vicarage, united with Colne and Pidley, in the diocese of Ely; joint net value, £300 with residence. The church is an ancient building in the Early English and later styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, N and S porches, and an. embattled western tower. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Huntingdonshire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Somersham St. John the Baptist | |
Hundred | Hurstingstone | |
Poor Law union | St. Ives |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Somersham from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Somersham (St. John the Baptist))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Huntindonshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Somersham are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)