Fordham, Cambridgeshire

Historical Description

Fordham, a village and a parish in Cambridgeshire. The village stands near the boundary with Suffolk, 3½ miles SE of Soham station on the G.E.R., and 5 N of Newmarket, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Soham., The parish' comprises 4204 acres; population, 1284. A Gilbertine priory, a cell to Sempringham Abbey, was founded here in the time of Henry III. by Robert de Fordham, and given at the dissolution to W. Paris. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely; net yearly value, £340. Patron, Jesus College, Cambridge. The church is an ancient building of flint and stone in the Perpendicular style. There are also Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels, six almshouses and other charities. Fordham Abbey is a chief residence.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Fordham from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Fordham (St. Mary))

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Cambridgeshire is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Fordham 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)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Cambridgeshire papers online:

• Cambridge Independent Press
• Cambridge Chronicle and Journal
• Huntingdon, Bedford & Peterborough Gazette

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Cambridgeshire 1575 and 1619 is available online.