Somersham, Huntingdonshire

Description
Somersham, a village and a parish in Hunts. The village stands adjacent to the St Ives, March, and Wisbech section of the G.E.R., on which it has a station, 5 1/2 miles NNE of St Ives. It was once a market-town, and also a resort of visitors to a chalybeate spa; consists chiefly of one street about a mile long, running from E to W, crossed by a shorter one near the centre; and has a feast on 24 June, a fair on the Friday before 22 Nov., and a post, money order, and telegraph office under St Ives. The parish comprises 4516 acres; population of the civil parish, 1381; of the ecclesiastical, with Colne, Pidley, and Fenton, 2095. There is a parish council consisting of thirteen members. The manor was given in 991 by Brithnoth the Saxon to Ely Abbey; passed to the bishops of Ely, the queen of Charles I., Colonel Wanton, the Hammonds, the Montagues, and the Burtons; and belongs now to the Elgood family. A palace of the bishops stood a short distance S of the church, but has disappeared. Roman coins have been found. The living is a vicarage, united with Colne and Pidley, in the diocese of Ely; joint net value, £300 with residence. The church is an ancient building in the Early English and later styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, N and S porches, and an. embattled western tower. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels.