Postal and Commercial Directory, 1873

Meldreth is a parish, village, and railway station, distance 3 miles from Royston in the hundred of Armingford, union and County Court district of Royston, diocese and archdeaconry of Ely, and rural deanery of Shingay.  The church dedicated to the Holy Trinity is an ancient building;  the chancel is now undergoing restoration.  The living is a vicarage, annual value £224 with residence and 112 acres of glebe land in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Ely;  the Rev. C.H. Cory is the vicar.  The Weslyans and Independents have each a chapel.  The parish contains 2,410 acres of land, of which the chief owners are the Rev. E. T. Egg, C. Ellis, G. Howard, H. Fordham, esq., and others.  There are four manors – that of Shene [Sheene], belonging to the Rev. E. T. Egg, Veseys, to Mr. W. Linton, Flambards, to B.W. Wortham, esq., and Topcliffe, to St. Thomas’ Hospital.  The population is about 700.  There is a coprolite mill at the station.

Postal Regulations – Benjamin Hale(s), sub-postmaster.  Letters arrive at 8 am, are dispatched at 6 pm.  The nearest money order and telegraph office is at Melbourn.  Post town Royston.

Principal Residents

Cory, Rev. E.H. vicar
Palmer, Mrs.
Rhodes, Charles, esq. Mavels [Marvells?]
Waller, William, esq.

Commercial

Adams, James, boot and shoemaker
Adcock, John, tailor
Adcock, James, miller [Topcliffe Mill]
Baker, Elizabeth, beer retailer [The Queen Adelaide]
Blott, William, maltster
Course, Humphrey, shopkeeper
East, John, beer retailer [The Sailor’s Return]
Flitton, Charles, corn merchant
Hale Benjamin, blacksmith
Harrup, Aaron, blacksmith
Jarman, William B., beer retailer
Jordan, William, boot and shoemaker
Pain [Payne], Benjamin, beer retailer [The Dumb Flea]
Rhodes, Charles, coprolite merchant
Scowin, Christopher, baker and miller
Smith, Charles, grocer
Stockbridge, Martha, shopkeeper
Tonson, Henry, carpenter and vict. The Green Man
Waller, William, brewer
Warren, Amos, baker
Woods, S., coal merchant & vict. The Bell
Worland, Frederick, shopkeeper
Worland, William, cow leech

Farmers

Blott, William, and landowner
Clear, Elizabeth, and Martha
Clear, William, and landowner
Course, Humphrey
East, John
Elbourn, Alfred
Ellis, Charles, and landowner
Honour, George, and landowner
Howard, Benjamin
Jarman, H. B.
Palmer, George
Rhodes, Charles
Waller, Charles
Waller, William, sec.
Woods, Thomas
Worland, Frederick