Kelly's Directory, 1904

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 is the family vault of the Mortlock family:  there is a memorial window, erected by the Rev. E.W. Cory, a former vicar, to the memory of his wife; another by friends of the Rev. J.W. Cory, previously mentioned, 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 £135, 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 is a Congregational chapel, erected in 1852, having sittings for 100 persons, and Wesleyan chapel.  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, Ernest Oswald Fordham, esq., of Odsey, Herts., Alfred Russell Fordham, esq., of Melbourn, the trustees of the late Biscoe Hill Wortham, esq., of Kneesworth (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 £5,776; the population in 1901 was 626 in the civil and 572 in the ecclesiastical parish.  Under the provisions of the “Divided Parishes Act” a part of Meldreth was in 1882 added to Melbourn.

Parish Clerk, Herbert Hale

Post, Tel & Exp. Del. & Postal Order 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.  The nearest money order office is at Shepreth.  Wall letter boxes – North End, cleared at 7.30 a.m. & 8 p.m.; near the station, cleared at 8 a.m. & 11.40 & 8.10 p.m.

There is no school in this parish;  the children attend the Council school in the adjoining parish of Melbourn.

Railway Station, Arthur Scott, Station Master

Carriers – Arthur James Howell, from Bassingbourn, passes through to Cambridge wed.,& and sat.

Private Residents

Bindloss, Geo. Warren, Belmington Close
Bowman, Mrs., The Laurels
Butlin, Mackenzie Charles, M.A., Manor House
Coombe, James, The Homestead
Ellis, Hubert Oslar Shepherd, B.A., LL.B.
Ellis, Mrs.
Ennion, Octavius Robert, Harlech House
Farnham, Charles, Blenheim House
Gibbs, Henry John, Brewery House
Harvey, Rev. Percy, M.A., Vicarage
Hope, Edwin M., The Limes
Mortlock, John George, Meldreth Court
Palmer, Mrs, Rose Cottage
Rogers, William Alex, The Gables
Towers, Robert, The Warren

Commercial

Adcock, Harriet (Mrs.) baker
Adcock, Jas., farmer & miller (water) [Topcliffe Mill]
Bates, William A., Railway Tavern
Bowman, S.D. (Mrs.) farmer & landowner, The Laurels
Cam Blue Lias Lime & Cement Co.Ltd., (Alfred Russell, sec. & managing director)
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
Ennion, Octavius Robert M.R.C.S. Eng. L.R.C.P. Lond
Hale Bros., wheelwrights & blacksmiths
Hale, Herbert, Parish Clerk
Howard, Andrew, farmer
Jarman & Co., brewers & maltsters
Medlock, Geo., farmer, hay & straw dlr.
Meldreth Portland Cement & Brick Co. Limited
Miller, William, beer retailer [The Sailor’s Return]
Nodder, John, carpenter
Palmer, George, fruit grower
Palmer, George, jun., farmer
Palmer, Mark, coal merch., grocer, draper & agent for W.& A. Gilbey Ltd. wine & spirit merchants
Payne, John, beer retailer & farmer [The Dumb Flea]
Saunders, Walter Jas., Orchard Deene [Orchard Dene]
Scott, Arthur, station master
Taylor, Moses, farmer
Thurley, Frederick, beer retailer [The British Queen]
Warren, Amos, baker
Wedd, Walter Jas., farmer, College Farm
Wood, Thos., farmer
Woods, Samuel,  Bell P.H.
Worland, Abbis, assistant overseer veterinary surgeon & beer retailer [The Green Man]

No Comments

Start the ball rolling by posting a comment on this page!

Add a comment about this page

Your email address will not be published.