Kelly's Directory, 1900

Meldreth is a parish and straggling village on a branch of the river Rhea, with a station on the Hitchin and Cambridge line of the Great Northern railway, 4 miles north-by-east from Royston, 9 ½ south-west from Cambridge and 42 from London, 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 Holy Trinity is a building of stone and clunch in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, south aisle, south porch and an embattled tower containing a clock and 5 bells; in the church is a monument to George Pike, esq., who died 1658, and beneath it the family vault of the Mortlock family:  there is a memorial window erected by the vicar to the memory of his wife; another by friends of the vicar and a third was presented by J.G. Mortlock, esq., in 1885: the church was restored in 1898 at a cost of £1,200, and has 300 sittings.  The register of baptisms and burials dates from 1681; marriages 1692.  The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £185, arising from 124 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Ely, and held since 1894 by the Rev. Percy Harvey M.A. of Cavendish College, Cambridge.  There are Congregational and Wesleyan chapels.  Charities producing £12 yearly are distributed in fuel.  Messrs. Philip and Arthur Meyer of Orwell, who are lords of the manor, Christ’s College, Cambridge, Herbert George Fordham, esq., J.P. of Odsey, Herts, Alfred Russell Fordham, esq., the trustees of the late Biscoe Wortham, esq., of Kneeesworth (d.1895), Hubert Oslar Shepherd Ellis, B.A., LL.B., Mrs. S.D. Bowman, John George Mortlock, esq., and Mrs. Agnes Egg are the principal landowners.  The soil is strong clay; subsoil chalk.  The chief crops are wheat, barley, beans and peas.  The area is 2,513 acres; assessable value £3,766;  the population in 1891 was 713 in the civil and 642 in the ecclesiastical parish.  Under the provisions of the “Divides Parishes Act” part of Meldreth was in 1882 added to Melbourn.

Parish Clerk:  Herbert Hale

Post & Telegraph & Express Delivery Office; Miss Elizabeth Hale, sub-postmistress.  Letters arrive from Royston, (Herts.) at 5.50 a.m. & 1.25 p.m. dispatched at 7.45 a.m. & 1.30 & 7.55 p.m.; on Sundays dispatched at 7.55 p.m.  Postal orders are issued here but not paid.  The nearest money order office is at Shepreth.  Wall letter boxes, North End, cleared at 7.35 a.m. & 8 p.m.; near the Station, cleared at 8.a.m. & 12.40 & 8 p.m.

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

Railway Station, Arthur Scott, station master.

Carriers;  Arthur James Howell from Bassingbourn passes through to Cambridge on Wed., & Saturdays.

Private Residents

Bindloss, George Warren, The Lodge
Blomfield, John Frederick, Orchard Deene [Orchard Dene]
Bowman, The Laurels
Butlin, Mackenzie Charles, M.A., Manor House
Buttean, Alfred James, The Retreat
Ellis, Hubert Oslar Shepherd B.A., LL.B.
Ellis, Mrs.
Farnham, Charles, Blenheim House
Gibbs, Henry John, Brewery House
Harvey, Rev. Percy M.A., Vicarage
Hope, Edwin, The Limes
Irvine, Archibald Henry, The Gables
McDonnell, Arthur Penrose, M.A.,
Mortlock, John George, Meldreth Court
Palmer, Mrs, Rose Cottage
Worland, Mrs,  Valley House

Commercial

Adcock, David, baker
Adcock, James, farmer
Bowman, S.D. (Mrs.) farmer & landowner, The Laurels
Cam. Portland Cement Co.Ltd., (Alfred Russell, Sec. & managing director)
Clark, Sarah (Mrs.) , Railway Tavern
Conservative Club (H.O.S. Ellis, pres.)
Course, Humphrey, Fredk., shopkeeper
Course, Jonathan, farmer
Driver, Nathan, miller (water) [Flambards Mill]
East, John, farmer
Elbourn, Alfred, machinist & farmer
Elbourn, Percy E., machinist
Hale Bros. wheelwrights & blacksmiths
Hopley, Samuel, miller (water & steam)
Howard, Andrew, farmer
Jarman & Co., brewers & maltster
Medlock, Geo., farmer & hay & straw dlr.
Meldreth Portland Cement & Brick Co.
Miller, William, beer retailer [The Sailor’s Return]
Nodder, John, carpenter
Palmer, George, fruit grower
Palmer, George jun. farmer
Palmer, Mark, coal merchant, grocer, draper & agent for W. & A. Gilbey Ltd. wine & spirit merchant
Payne, John, beer retailer & farmer [The Dumb Flea]
Taylor, Moses, farmer
Thurley, Frederick, beer retailer [The British Queen]
Warren, Amos, baker
Wedd, Walter Jas., farmer, College Fm.
Wood, Thomas, farmer
Woods, Samuel, Bell, P. H.
Worland, Abbas [Abbis], vet.surgeon & beer retailer [The Green Man]

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