Melbourne, Cambridgeshire

Description
Melbourn, a village and a parish in Cambridgeshire. The village stands 1 mile S of Meldreth and Melbourn station on the Hitchin and Cambridge line of the G.N.R., 2 1/2 miles N of Icknield Street and the boundaries with Herts and Essex, 3 NE of Royston, and 10 S by W of Cambridge; is a large place and a seat of petty sessions, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Royston and a police station. The parish comprises 4725 acres; population of the civil parish, 1649; of the ecclesiastical, 1507. The manors belong to the Hitch family and the Dean and Chapter of Ely. The Bury is a chief residence. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely; net value, £225 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Ely. The church is a building of flint in the Perpendicular and Decorated styles, comprises nave, aisles, S transept, chancel, S porch, and an embattled western tower, and has a memorial window to the Hitch family; it was restored in 1884 at a cost of £2200. There is a Congregational chapel which was built in 1865 at a cost of £2300, is in the Italian-Gothic style, of various coloured bricks, and has a front wheel window and two flanking towers. There is also a Baptist chapel.