Orwell, Cambridgeshire

Historical Description

Orwell, a village and a parish in Cambridgeshire. The village stands adjacent to the Roman road to Cambridge, 3 miles NNW of Shepreth station on the Hitchin, Royston, and Cambridge line of the G.N.R., and 6½ N of Royston. It has a post office under Royston; money order and telegraph office, Arrington. The parish comprises 2083 acres; population, 689. There is a parish council consisting of seven members. There are a large brewery and some malt-ings, The manor belongs to the Bendyshe family of Barrington Hall. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely; gross value, £301 with residence. Patron, Trinity College, Cambridge. The church is an ancient building of stone and flint; consists of nave, aisles, and fine chancel, with porch and tower; and contains monuments of Professors Stubbs and Mason, who were rectors. There is a Wesleyan chapel. A school was founded in 1745 by Dr Colbatch, and endowed with the rent of a farm in Bedfordshire.

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 Orwell from the following:

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

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Orwell 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.