Wisbech
Lincolnshire
Contents
"WISBECH ST, MARY is a parish, with a station on the Peterborouqh and Lynn section of the Midland and Great Northern joint railway, 3 miles south-west of Wisbech. in the Wisbech hundred, union, petty sessional division and county court district, rural deanery and archdeaconry of Wisbech and diocese of Ely. The civil parish includes the ecclesiastical districts of Guyhirn and Murrow (which will be found under separate headings), and the hamlets of Thorney Toll and Tholomas Drove, and a portion of Wisbech Fen."
"The charities include 61 acres left A.D. 1593 by Mr. Benn, and 8 acres added by the Commissioners of the Bedford Level (temp. Charles II.), comprising, with other lands, 75 acres, the rents of which, about £240 yearly are given to the poor; 21 acres of land left in 1726 by Francis Hardy for the endowment of a school for the parishioners; £50 left in 1605 by John Bend, the interest to be given - two-thirds to this parish and one-third to Parson Drove; in 1833-4 25a. 3r. 26p. Of land were allotted by the Enclosure Commissioners, to be let in small lots to the poor of this parish at nominal rentals: fifteen cottages have been erected for the use of poor labourers, who pay 1s. each yearly for them. The rentals of lands let to the poor are applied to the poor relief fund. The charities enumerated are enjoyable by the whole of the parishioners of Wisbech St. Mary. The soil is loam; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are fruit, wheat, oats, peas, potatoes and root crops. The area is 10,164 acres of land, 23 of inland and 44 of tidal water and 12 of foreshore; the population in 1921 was 2,609 in the civil and 1,166 in the ecclesiastical parish."
Kelly's Directory - Cambridgeshire - 1929
The Census Records from 1841-1891 can be found in the Cambridge Record Office and Wisbech Library. In addition the 1851 Census for Wisbech St. Mary is available in full transcript form, on microfiche, from the Cambridgeshire Family History Society Bookstall.
"The Church of St. Mary is an ancient edifice of brick and stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, restored in 1873 by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, clerestoried nave, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 5 bells; there are a number of curious brackets, and in the south porch the remains of an ancient font and a stoup: the restoration of the church was Partially effected in 1894 at a cost of £831, and completed in 1901 at a cost of £950: new choir stalls were erected in 1906 by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, at a coat of about £300, and a new altar presented: a fine east window was erected in 1920, at a cost of £400, in memory of the 25 men of the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-1918; in 1922 a window was erected in the Lady chapel, at a cost of £175, in memory of the Rev. B. D. Jones, a former vicar: in 1923 an ancient window was re-opened and a new stained window inserted in memory of Capt. and Mrs. Grimwade: the church affords 360 sittings. The register dates from the year 1557."
"A new Primitive Methodist chapel was opened in 1926, and seats about 300."
[Kelly's Directory - Cambridgeshire - 1929]
Wisbech St. Mary: Records of baptisms 1557-1880, marriages 1557-1676, 1697-1960, burials 1557-1879 and banns 1754-1837 reside in the Wisbech Museum. Microfilm copies of baptisms 1557-1880, marraiges 1560-1676, 1697-1960, burials 1557-1879, banns 1754-1863, 1805-45 and an indexed transcript of marriages 1560-1813 reside in the Cambridge Record Office. The Bishop's Transcripts for the years 1600-40, 1661-1857 can be found in the Cambridge University Library.
"THOLOMAS DROVE is a hamlet 2 miles south-west of Wisbech St. Mary. There is a Primitive Methodist chapel."
"THORNEY TOLL is a hamlet 7½ miles west from the parish church; it is included in the ecclesiastical parish of Guyhirn, which see. There is a United Methodist chapel in the Fen, at a place called 'The Alley.'"
[Kelly's Directory - Cambridgeshire - 1929]
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 Cambridge Record Office for the years 1798-1803 and 1935-48.
[Last updated 22 December 1999 Martin Edwards]