Kelly's Directory, 1912

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, 91/2 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 western tower, containing a clock and 5 bells; in the church is a monument to George Pike esq., who died 1658, and 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. E.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 £200 arising from 124 acres, 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 a Wesleyan chapel.  Charities producing £10 yearly are distributed in fuel.  Mrs. Hannah Bonnett of Cambridge, who is lady of the manor of Argentines and Trayles, Christ’s College, Cambridge, Alfred Russell Fordham, esq. of Melbourn, Hubert Oslar Shepherd, B.A. LL.B., Mrs. S.D. Bowman, John George Mortlock, esq., and Mrs. Agnes Egg, lady of the manor of Sheen, are the principal land owners.  The soil is strong clay; subsoil chalk.  The chief crops are fruit, wheat, barley, beans and peas.  The area is 2,513 acres;  rateable value £4,520;  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

Clerk to the Parish Council & Assistant Overseer, Miss M. Elbourne.

Post & T. Office – Miss Elizabeth Hale, sub-postmistress.  Letters arrive from Royston (Herts.) at 6 & 11.20 a.m.; dispatched at 8.35 a.m. & 1.35 & 8 p.m.; on Sundays, dispatched at 8 p.m.  Shepreth & Melbourn are the nearest money order offices.

Wall letter boxes – North End, cleared at 8.30 a.m. & 8 p.m.; near the Station, cleared at 8.45 & 10.45 a.m. & 8.10 p.m.

Council School (mixed), erected in 1909, for 120 children;  average attendance, 80;  Fredk. Aldridge, master.

Railway Station, Arthur Scott, station master

Carriers – Arthur James Howell, from Bassingbourn, passes through to Cambridge on Wed. & Sat. & John Guiver, to Royston daily.

Private Residents

Bindloss, Geo. Warren, Belmington Close
Bowman, Mrs, The Laurels
Bromley, Miss, Montford
Ellis, Hubert Oslar Shepherd, B.A., LL.B.
Farnham, Mrs, Blenheim House
Gibbs, Henry John, Brewery House
Harvey, Rev. Percy, M.A., Vicarage
Hodgkinson, Alfred, Court Lodge
Hope, Edwin M., The Limes
Jenkins, Mrs, The Warren
Johnston, Samuel Logan, The Grove
Lowe, Mrs.
Mortlock, John George, Meldreth Court
Palmer, Mrs.
Russell, Frederick
Williams, John Sydney

Commercial

Adcock, J. & Sons, millers (water) [Topcliffe Mill]
Adcock, Edwin, miller (water)
Adcock, Harriet (Mrs), baker
Adcock, Harry, farmer
Bowman, S.D. (Mrs), farmer & landowner, The Laurels
Cam Blue Lias Lime & Cement Co. Ltd (Alfred Russell, sec & managing director)
Conningsby A.R. & Son, coal merchants, Station Yard
Conservative Club (H.O.S. Ellis, pres.)
Course, Humphrey Fredk., shopkeeper
Course, Jonathan (Mrs), farmer
East, William, farmer
Elbourn, Percy E., machinist & farmer
Gipson, Herbert, carpenter & joiner
Gregor & Williams, physicians & surgeons
Gregor, Edmund William L.R.C.P., London M.R.C.S. Eng. Physician & surgeon (firm Gregor & Williams)
Hale Bros., wheelwrights & blacksmiths
Harrup, Charles, beer retailer
Howard, Alwyn, farmer
Howard, Andrew, farmer & fruit grower
Jarman & Co. brewers & maltsters & stores. Albert Street, Cambridge; & High Street, Buntingford, Herts.
Kirby, Benjamin, Railway Tavern
Lambeth, Wm., farmer, Orchard Deene [Orchard Dene]
Medlock, Geo., farmer & hay & straw dealer
Meldreth Cement Co.
Miller, Charles, beer retailer [The Sailor’s Return]
Nodder, Alexander, fruit grower
Nodder, John, carpenter
Palmer, George, fruit grower
Palmer, George, jun., farmer
Palmer, Mark, coal merchant
Pepper, Andrew, farmer
Pepper, Samuel, farmer
Taylor, Moses, farmer
Thurley, Charlotte (Mrs), beer retailer [The British Queen]
Warren, Amos, baker
Wedd, Walter, Jas. Farmer
Williams, John Sydney, physician & surgeon (firm Gregor & Williams)
Worland Abbis, farmer.