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"DOWNHAM parish extends over an area of 10,550 acres, according to the parliamentary return, and 9,575 exclusive of 490 occupied by roads and rivers, according to local survey. The population is about 2,300 souls. The amount of assessed property is about £12,000. The soil is verv rich. The Bishop of Ely and the Master and Fellows of Clare college, Cambridge, are among the principal proprietors of the place. Downham was one of the manors given to the convent of Ely by Duke Brithnoth. On the division of the possessions of the church, in the time of Hervey the first bishop, Downham was one of those annexed to the see, and became one of the chief residences of its prelates. Bishop Wren, who was arrested here, and sent prisoner to the tower in 1642, was the last occupant of Downham palace. Having been suffered to go to decay during the interregnum, and no repairs having been attempted by the succeeding prelates, Bishop Patrick, who was promoted to this see in 1691, procured an Act of Parliament to enable him to lease out the mansion and demesnes, and to secure himself and his successors from delapidations. The living is a rectory, a peculiar in the deanery of Ely, valued in the King's books at £17 2s. 1d., but now returned at £1,108. nett, per annum. The Bishop of Ely is patron, and the Rev. F. Fisher, incumbent. The tithes were committed in 1838 for a rent charge of £1,280., and there are about 140 acres of grebe land. Here are chapels for the Baptists and Methodists, and there are also two Methodist chapels in the Fens. The Town Land consists of 180 acres and 18 tenements; the cottages are let rent free to the poor, and the rent of the land (£158. per annum,) is applied to the use of the poor, &c. The School is held in the ancient Guildhall, the master being allowed £6. per annum, out of the town estate, for which 15 children are taught free!"
[A BRIEF HISTORY OF ELY and neighbouring villages in the Isle by J.H. Clements 1868].
The Census Records from 1841-1891 can be found in the Cambridge Record Office. In addition the 1851 Census for Downham is available in full transcript form, on microfiche, from the Cambridgeshire Family History Society Bookstall.
"The church of St. Leonard is a structure of rubble in the Transition Norman and Early English styles, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave of five bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing 4 bells, two of which are dated 1659 : the clerestory windows are very small and are deeply splayed internally : the inner porch doorway is a good example of Transition Norman : in the chancel is an arcaded double piscina with cinquefoil-headed arch, but portions of the arch and one basin have been cut away to admit the insertion of a window : the rood screen is of carved oak : the chancel was restored and a vestry and organ chamber erected in 1890, at a cost of £1,144 : in 1897 and 1899 extensive restorations were carried out at a cost of £800 : the church had been previously reseated, and now affords 300 sittings : the north aisle was restored in 1912. The register dates from the year 1558, but is not continuous."
[Kelly's Directory - 1929]
Downham, St Leonard: The registers are still in the church from 1558. Microfilm copies of these records for baptisms 1558-1791, 1813-75, marriages 1558-1875 and burials 1558-1790, 1813-75, reside in the Cambridge Record Office and there are also photocopies of baptisms 1791-1838 and burials 1791-1812. The Bishop's Transcripts 1599-1693, 1705-99 and 1813-62 can be found in the Cambridge University Library. Indexed transcripts exist for marriages 1558-1754.
Pymoor Methodist Church: A copy of marriages 1961-63 at Pymoor Methodist Church exists in the Cambridge Record Office.
Primitive Methodist Church: Records also exist for the Ely Primitive Circuit of which Downham is part.
Wesleyan Methodist Church: Records also exist for the Ely Wesleyan Circuit of which Downham is part.
"PYMORE is a small hamlet, about two miles and a half from Downham, containing a few scattered houses.
OXLODE is another small hamlet on the banks of the Hundred-feet river, about three miles from Downham, containing a few good farm houses, from forty to fifty cottages, and a neat Wesleyan chapel. [A Church school has lately been erected here.]"
[A BRIEF HISTORY OF ELY and neighbouring villages in the Isle by J.H. Clements 1868]
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 1750-1948.
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[Last updated 20 March 2003 Martin Edwards]