Ditton, Fen (St. Mary)

DITTON, FEN (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Chesterton, hundred of Flendish, county of Cambridge, 2¾ miles (N. E. by E.) from Cambridge; containing 537 inhabitants. A market, now disused, was granted in 1270 to one of the bishops of Ely, who resided at Bigging, in the parish. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £26. 12. 1.; net income, £404; patron, the Bishop. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1803. A school was founded in 1729, by Elizabeth March, and endowed with the fifth part of an estate now producing £190 per annum. An almshouse for six widows was built by the Willys family, in 1665.