Grantchester, Cambridgeshire

Historical Description

Grantchester, a village and a parish in Cambridgeshire. The village stands on the river Granta or Cam, 2½ miles SSW of Cambridge town, and 3½ SSW of Cambridge railway station, is believed to occupy or represent the site of a Roman station, and has a post and money order office under Cambridge; telegraph office, Cambridge. Acreage of parish, 1537; population, 1196. An old manor house was a retreat of King's College in the time of plague, Roman remains have been found. Bricks are made. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely; gross yearly value, £220 with residence. Patron, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The church is partly Decorated English, partly Perpendicular, has a tower, and contains an ancient stone font and an altar-tomb. There are a chapel of ease and a Baptist chapel. An annual fair is. held here on 25 July, or, when the 25 falls on a Saturday or Sunday, on the following Monday. The river has always retained its ancient name of Granta, from which the village takes it name. The churchyard is one of those claiming to be the scene of Gray's " Elegy."

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 Grantchester from the following:

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

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Grantchester 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.