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Grantchester (St. Mary and St. Andrew)

GRANTCHESTER (St. Mary and St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Chesterton, hundred of Wetherley, county of Cambridge, 2¼ miles (S. S. W.) from Cambridge; containing 606 inhabitants. This is said to have been the Camboritum of Antonine, situated on the banks of the Granta, now the river Cam; the present Saxon name confirming the opinion of its having been the site of a Roman station. About the year 700, according to Bede, "Grantchester was a desolate little city, near the walls of which was found a beautiful coffin of white marble." Dr. Cay supposes the station to have extended not only as far as Cambridge, but northward, beyond the castle; and foundations of buildings have been frequently discovered between the village of Grantchester and the town of Cambridge, which latter is thought to have risen out of the ruins of the station. The parish comprises by measurement 1498 acres. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 14. 4½.; net income, £291; patrons, the President and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1799; the glebe comprises 105 acres. The church was erected early in the 15th century; a portion of the interior is remarkably light and elegant. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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