Papworth St Agnes

PAPWORTH ST. AGNES

"PAPWORTH ST. AGNES, a parish partly in the hundred of Papworth, county Cambridge, and partly in the hundred of Toseland, county Huntingdon, 4 miles south-east of Huntingdon, and 8 north-east of St. Neot's railway station. St. Ives is its post town. The village, which is of small extent, and wholly agricultural, is situated on the line of the ancient Ermine Street, near the old north road. There is a mineral spring of saline chalybeate properties, which at one time was in great repute. The greater part of the surface consists of a wooded valley, sheltered on all sides by hills, which rise to the height of 100 feet. About one-fourth of the land is in grass, and the remainder arable, except a small portion of plantation. The soil is chiefly clay and loam. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £293, and the glebe contains 70 acres. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Ely, value £300. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is situated in Cambridgeshire, and was entirely rebuilt in the last century. The manor belonged to a family of the name of Russell, in King John's time, and subsequently came to the Papworth and Mallory families, and finally became the property of Arthur Sperling, Esq., the present owner. The old Manor House exhibits many traces of its ancient magnificence, especially in its fretted ceilings and substantial masonry."