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Cambridgeshire

Nearby places

BARTLOW

"BARTLOW, a parish in the hundred of Chilford, in the county of Cambridge, 2 miles to the south-east of Linton, its post town, 13 from Cambridge, and 8 from Audley-End railway station. It lies on the border of Essex, not far from the Great Eastern railway, which company is about to bring a new line through the parish from Haverhill to Shelford, near Cambridge, and for which they obtained an Act of Parliament in the session of 1862. It will connect the Colne Valley line with the main line from London to Yarmouth, and will pass between the smallest to the next of he hills. The village of Bartlow is in the county of Cambridge; but the hamlet of Bartlow, or, as it is sometimes called, Steventon End, is in the county of Essex. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Ely, of the value of £259, in the patronage of R. Watkins, Esq. The church has a round tower, and contains a fresco painting of St. Christopher. It is dedicated to St. Mary. Bartlow Cottage and Bartlow House are the principal residences. Near the village are Bartlow Hills, in the parish of Ashdon, formerly supposed to be the monuments of the slain at the great battle of Assandune, in which Edmund Ironsides was defeated by Canute; but the excavations made in them in the years 1832, 1835, and 1838 distinctly prove them to be Roman works. Many curious and valuable sepulchral relics were discovered in them, which have since been lost in the fire at Easton Lodge, near Dunmow, the seat of Viscount Maynard, on whose estate the hills are situated, but a complete account of them has been preserved by the late Rokewode Gage, Esq., in volumes xxv-xxviii, of the "Archæologia.""

Cemeteries

• The Monumental Inscriptions in the graveyard of St. Mary are recorded in the Cambridge Records Office for the years 1670-1988. These inscriptions are also available on microfiche from the Cambridgeshire Family History Society Publications list

Census

• The Census Records from 1841-1891 can be found in the Cambridgeshire Archives, the 1841 census covers only the Cambridge portion of Bartlow. In addition the 1851 Census for Bartlow is available in full transcript form, on microfiche, from the Cambridgeshire Family History Society Publications list

Churches

• St. Mary's Church, Bartlow.

Church History

• "The church of St. Mary, ancient edifice of flint and rubble in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, was partially restored in 1879; it consists of chancel, nave, north porch and circular embattled western tower containing 3 bells : on the south wall of the nave is a fresco of Christopher, the Roman soldier, carrying the infant Saviour over a ford: in 1927 a fresco of 1450 A.D. was discovered on the south wall of the nave, the subject being St. Michael weighing the good and evil deeds of a human soul in a pair of scales : the tower, which is much older than the body of the church, has walls feet in thickness: the chancel retains a piscina and there is another in the south wall of the nave. The church affords 140 sittings. The register dates from the year 1573." [Kelly's Directory - 1929]
• There is further information and photographs of the Church on Ben and Mark's Cambridgeshire Churches website.

Church Records

• Church of England
  • Bartlow, St. Mary: Records of baptisms 1573-1971, marriages 1573-1643, 1660-1843, burials 1573-1812, banns for 1754-1896 reside in the Cambridgeshire Archives.The Bishop's Transcripts for the years 1600-40, 1662-70, 1680-85 and 1695-1862 can be found in the Cambridge University Library. Indexes to transcripts exist in Cambridgeshire Archives for baptisms 1573-1862, marriages 1573-1643, 1660-1843, and burials 1573-1862. The parish record transcripts for St Mary 1573-1866 are available on microfiche from the Cambridgeshire Family History Society Publications list

Gazetteers

• A transcript of the Bartlow parish entries from Samuel Lewis's 1835 Topographical Dictionary of England,
• A transcript of the Bartlow parish entries from 1929 Kellys Directory of Cambridgeshire

Military History

• The Bartlow War Memorial has been transcribed and and the men researched, it stands in the village centre.

Taxation

• Land Tax: records were compiled afresh each year and contain the names of owners and occupiers in each parish, but usually there is no address or place name. These records reside in the Cambridgeshire Archives for the years 1759-63, 1789-1846 and 1865-1948 for the Cambridgeshire portion only.