Linton (St. Mary)

LINTON (St. Mary), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Chilford, county of Cambridge, 10½ miles (S. E. by E.) from Cambridge, and 48 (N. by E.) from London; containing 1838 inhabitants. This town, which is situated on the road from Cambridge to Colchester, has been much improved of late years: an act for inclosing waste lands was passed in 1838. The market, granted in 1245 to William de Lay, is on Thursday; and there is a fair on July 30th, for sheep. Courts leet are held occasionally by the lords of the manors. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £10. 13. 4., and in the gift of the Bishop of Ely: the appropriate tithes, belonging to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, have been commuted for £780, and the vicarial for £260; the appropriate glebe comprises 84 acres, and the vicarial 9 acres. The church has a fine embattled tower, and a gallery has been lately built; in the interior are several monuments. There is a place of worship for Independents. The union of Linton comprises 22 parishes or places, 20 of which are in the county of Cambridge, and two in that of Essex, the whole containing a population of 12,958: the workhouse cost £6500, and is capable of accommodating 200 paupers. An alien priory, subordinate to the abbey of St. Jacutus de Tusula, in Brittany, was founded in the time of Henry III.; at the suppression, its revenue was valued at £23. 8. 10., and it was granted by Henry VI. to Pembroke Hall. At Barham, in the parish, a priory of Crouched friars, a cell to the monastery of Welnetham, in Suffolk, was established in the reign of Edward I. Several Roman coins have been dug up.