Kelly's Directory, 1888

Meldreth is a parish with straggling village and station on the Hitchin and Cambridge line of the Great Northern railway, 4 miles north-by-east from Royston, 9 1/2 south-west from Cambridge and 42 from London, on a branch of the river Rhea, in the Western division of the county, hundred of Armingford, petty sessional division of Arrington and Melbourn, union and county court district of Royston, rural deanery of Shingay and archdeaconry and diocese of  Ely.  The church of the Holy Trinity is a building of stone and clunch in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, south aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 5 bells;  in the church is a monument to George Pike, who died in 1658, and the family vault of the Mortlock family; a small stained window has been placed in the chancel by the vicar to the memory of his wife;  another has been erected by friends of the vicar and a third was presented by J. G. Mortlock, esq. in 1885;  the church was restored in 1842 and has 500 sittings.  The register of baptisms and burials dates from 1681:  marriages from 1692.  The living is a vicarage, gross yearly value £500, arising from 193 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Ely and held since by the Rev. Edward William Cory, M.A. of St. Peter’s College, Cambridge, rural dean and surrogate.  Here is a small congregational chapel used for a Sunday School and for evening service, also a Wesleyan chapel.  Charitities producing £12 yearly are distributed in fuel.  Richard William Hitch, esq., of Melbourn, who is the lord of the manor, Christs College, Cambridge, Herbert Fordham, esq. of Odsey Grange, the trustees of the late John Hampden Fordham, esq. Biscoe Hill Wortham, esq., J.P., of Kneesworth House, Charles Ellis and Thomas Westrope Bowman, esqrs. and Mrs Agnes Egg, are the principal landowners.  The chief crops are wheat, barley, beans and peas.  The area is 2,415 acres, rateable value £5,121;  the population in 1881 was 718.

Parish Clerk, Benjamin Hale.

Post Office – Benjamin Hale, receiver.  Letters from Royston at 8 am and 1 pm; dispatched at 5 pm;  on Sundays dispatched at 12 noon.  The nearest money order and telegraph office is at Melbourn.

There is no school in this parish;  the children attend Trigg Charity School in the adjoining parish of Melbourn.

Railway Station, William Fredk. Perkins, station master.

Carriers, William Green from Bassingbourn passes through to Cambridge on Wed. & Sat.

Private Residents

Ball, Francis William, The Grove
Bowman Thos. Westrope, The Laurels
Clear, Miss
Cory, Rev. Edward William, M.A. (vicar & rural dean)
Ellis, Charles
Ellis, Hubert Oslar Shepherd, B.A., LL.B (barrister at law); 3 King’s Bench Walk, Temple, London E.C.
Mortlock, John George, The Court
Palmer, Mrs.
Rumble, Richard
Sheaton, William Issac
Waller, William
Waller, William Mortlock

Commercial

Adams, John, shoe maker
Adcock, David, baker
Adcock, James, miller (water) [Topcliffe Mill]
Adcock, John, tailor
Bowman, Thomas Westrope, farmer & landowner, The Laurels
Bullen, John, blacksmith
Chamberlain, William, shopkeeper
Clear, Samuel, farmer
Conservative Club (Henry Tonson esq. hon. sec.)
Course, Jonathan & William, farmers
Course, Humphrey, shopkeeper
East, John, beer retailer [The Sailor’s Return]
Elbourn, Alfred, machinist & farmer
Farthing, John, Railway Tavern
Flitton, Ralph Henry, miller (steam & water), & corn merchant
Frost, Chas. Alfred, beer retailer & shopkeeper [The Queen Adelaide]
Frost, John, farmer
Hale, Benjamin, wheelwright & blacksmith, Post Office
Howard, Andrew, farmer
Jarman & Co., brewers & maltsters
Jarman, Albert, brewer, (see Jarman & Co.)
Medlock, Geo., farmer & hay & straw dealer
Palmer, George, farmer
Palmer, Mark, coal merchant, grocer & draper
Payne, John, beer retailer [The Dumb Flea]
Peters, George, miller (water)
Thurley, Frederick, beer retailer [The British Queen]
Tonson, Henry, beer retailer [The Green Man]
Warren, Amos, baker
Wedd, Walter James, farmer
Wood, Thomas, farmer
Woods, Samuel, Bell Public House

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