Grafham Parish Page

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Grafham with East Perry

Grafham, Grafam (xi-xii cent.), Grofham, Graffeham (xiv-xvi cent.), Peri, Pirie (xii cent.), Est Perye, Pirie in Grafam (xiv cent.).

The parish of Grafam with East Perry is half arable with the rest being grass. The soil is boulder clay and the sub-soil is Oxford clay. Although there is no no woodland in the parish, in 1086 there was a panage one league square. Other early references indicate that, before the 14th century, there must have been a fair amount of woodland. The Diddington Brook (sometimes called the Grafham Brook and which is now dammed to produce Grafham Reservoir), which flows into the River Ouse, runs from north-west to south-east and forms the parish boundary on the south-west and south sides of the parish. The land rises from the brook, where it is about 90 ft. above sea-level, to about 189 ft. at Grafham village on the north side of the brook, and to 182 ft at East Perry on the south side.

The somewhat scattered village stands on high land at the meeting of the by-roads: one (now diverted because of the reservoir) from Great Staughton by Church Hill, another from Easton by Hartham Street (which is now only a track), yet another from Ellington by Breach Road, and another from Huntingdon and Buckden. The church is on the south side of the village, and to the north of it is the Rectory. The Fox Inn, in the village, is a 17th century timber-framed building. About a quarter of a mile to the north-west of the church is the moated site of the Manor House of the Engaines, who in the 14th century are said to have had a park leading to Sibthorpe in Ellington. This was also the site of the manor house of the Bigg family in the 17th and 18th centuries. Half a mile to the east of the village is another moated enclosure.

The western part of the hamlet of Perry is in the parish of Great Staughton. The eastern part of Perry is in the parish of Grafham and was formerly the least populous part of Perry.

The village feast was formerly held on the second day after the feast of St Lawrence (12th August), but in 1375 it was found to interfere with the harvest; it was changed to the feast of St. Theckla the Virgin (23rd September).

There was an Act of Parliament for the inclosure of the parish in 1774 and a resulting award in 1776, and a further Act for inclosing 2000 acres of Great Staughton with Grafham in 1807. During the 1960s, the Diddington Brook was dammed to produce a reservoir called Grafham Water which now has a leisure complex attached. The formation of Graham Water in the later 20th century has divided the village of Grafham, which is on the north, from that of East Perry which is on the south. Grafham and Perry are now regarded as two separate places, with Perry allied with Great Staughton.

Cemeteries
Census
Church History
Church Records
Civil Registration

Maps
Population
Poorhouses, Poor Law etc.
Statistics

Cemeteries

Monumental inscriptions for the parish of Grafham have not yet been recorded by the Huntingdonshire FHS.

Census

Census information for this parish (1841 - 1891) is held in the Huntingdon Records Office.

The full 1841 Census of Grafham Parish is available as fiche set C108.

The full 1851 Census of Grafham Parish is available as fiche set C58.

The full 1891 Census of Grafham Parish is available as fiche set C13.

A surname index of the 1881 Census of the St. Neots Registration District, in which Grafham was enumerated (RG11/1611, Folios 73a - 80b), and which took place on 3rd April 1881, is available as fiche set C5.

The above mentioned fiche sets are available from the Huntingdonshire FHS.

Church History

OS Grid Square TL 160692.

The church of All Saints consists of a chancel, nave, north aisle, south chapel, west tower and south porch. The walls are of pebble and stone rubble with stone dressings, and the roofs are covered with tiles and lead.

The church is not not mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086, and the north arcade of the nave, dated to around 1250, appears to be the earliest work which remains. However, the fact that the chancel is some half a century later seems to point to an earlier church on the site, although no vestige of it now exists. The south chapel was added early in the 14th century and, towards the end of this century, the north aisle was rebuilt.

The tower and spire were built around 1400, but the stair-turret at its south-east angle was added a little later. The rood-stairs were built in the 15th century. The porch was built, or rebuilt, in 1657 and apparently some work was done to the chancel in 1689. In 1724, the "steeple and Bell-loft" were in need of much repair, and in 1748 the Archdeacon recorded 'the whole church very bad and nasty'.

A new floor, considerably raised, was put down in 1880 and the steeple was pointed in 1884. The church was restored in 1901-3 when most of the walls were under-pinned, a new buttress built onto the south side of the chancel and the porch rebuilt. The spire was pointed in 1906 and the lead on the aisle roofs was recast in 1908.

Church Records

Baptisms: 1581-1851 (indexed transcription), 1814-1874, 1875-1993.
Banns: 1754-1812 (indexed transcription), 1823-1992.
Marriages: 1586-1851 (indexed transcription), 1837-1963.
Burials: 1586-1851 (indexed transcription), 1814-1993.
Bishop's Transcripts: 1604-5, 1607-8, 1610, 1612, 1617-19, 1626, 1631-2, 1660-7, 1669-72, 1680, 1695, 1687, 1690-6/1697-1702, 1704-13, 1715, 1717, 1720-61, 1763-9/1770-1813/1813-18, 1820-5/1825-35, 1837-40, 1842-4, 1847, 1851-5.

These are available in the Huntingdon Records Office.

The Huntingdonshire Marriage Indexes include marriages from this parish. These are, at present, issued in alphabetical listings in series: 1601-1700, and 1701-1754, and are available from the Huntingdonshire FHS.

[Last updated: 17 March 2003 - Martin Edwards]