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March

MARCH, a market-town and chapelry, in the parish of Doddington, union and hundred of North Witchford, Isle of Ely, county of Cambridge, 31 miles (N. by W.) from Cambridge, and 80 (N.) from London; containing 5706 inhabitants. The town is situated on the banks of the navigable river Nene, by which communication is obtained with Cambridge, Lynn, Peterborough, and other places. Here, also, is a station of the Peterborough and Ely railway; and in 1846 an act was passed for making a railway from Wisbech, by March, to St. Ives. The market, granted to Sir Alexander Peyton in 1671, is on Friday, chiefly for butcher's meat; and there are two fairs, each of which continues three days, commencing on the Monday before Whitsuntide, and on the second Tuesday in October. Manorial courts are held in the guildhall, a modern and commodious edifice, situated in the High-street. The powers of the county debt-court of March, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of North Witchford. The tithes have been commuted for £5278. 10. 6., and there is a glebe of 5¾ acres. The chapel, dedicated to St. Wendreda, a very ancient structure with a spire at the west end, was erected about the year 1343, at which period an indulgence was granted by the pope to all who should contribute to it; in the interior are several monuments. A school was founded in 1696, by William Neale, and endowed with 33½ acres of land in Whites Fen. There are also charities for the poor yielding a rental of £470, part of which is applied to purposes of instruction. Between this town and Wisbech, urns inclosing burnt bones, and a vessel containing 160 Roman denarii of different emperors, were discovered in the year 1730.

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

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