Place:Parson Drove, Isle of Ely, England

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Parson Drove is a fen village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. A linear settlement, it is 6 miles (10 km) west of Wisbech, the nearest town. The village is named after the central thoroughfare along which the village developed, a green drove, much wider than the current metalled road (B1166 road). The population at the 2001 UK census was 1,030. The population is now included in the civil parish of Wisbech St Mary.

Other nearby towns include Peterborough, 19 miles (31 km) to the west, and King's Lynn, 21 miles (34 km) to the east.

However, Parson Grove has more links with the parish of Leverington, immediately to the northeast, which was the ecclesiastical parish of which it was a chapelry. GENUKI does not have an article on Parson Grove, but includes it in its article on Leverington. However, Bishop's Transcripts for the years 1603-39 and 1661-1850 can be found in the Cambridge University Library with some extra entries in the Leverington transcripts. Indexes to transcripts exist in Cambridgeshire Archives for marriages 1603-1754. Microfilm copies of baptisms 1657-1971, marriages 1657-1969, burials 1657-1954 and banns 1756-1817, 1854-1971 reside at the Cambridgeshire Archives.

Parson Drove has buildings dating from the 16th century, ten of which are Grade II listed. "The Cage" was built in 1829 as a village lock-up for local criminals and stray livestock, and housed the village fire pump for nearly 100 years.

The village churches are The Emmanuel Church (also called the "New Church") which dates from 1873 and contains chandeliers originally from St Paul's Cathedral, and St. John the Baptist (also called the "Old Church") which dates from the 12th century, and includes additions and renovations from the 14th, 15th, and 17th centuries; it is Grade II* listed, and under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

The following description from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72 is provided by the website A Vision of Britain Through Time (University of Portsmouth Department of Geography).

"PARSON-DROVE, a village and a chapelry in Leverington parish, Cambridge. The village stands ¾ of a mile S of the boundary with Lincoln[shire], and 4½ W of Wisbeach [railway] station; and has a post-office under Wisbeach. The chapelry contains also the hamlets of Drove Fen, Swan Gull, and Murrow. Acres: 4,460. Real property: £8,871. Population in 1851: 946; in 1861: 876. Houses: 193. The living is a [perpetual] curacy in the diocese of Ely. Value: £271. Patrons: Trustees. The church was built a shorttime before the Reformation; is in the early English style; and consists of nave and aisles with a tower."

Research Tips

• Original historical documents relating to Cambridgeshire are now held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at Shire Hall, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4GS
• The Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Family History Society has transcribed the parish registers for many if not all the ancient parishes of Cambridgeshire and these can be purchased from the Society as separate pdfs.
• A History of the County of Cambridge. Seven volumes from British History Online (Victoria County Histories). This is by far the most complete history of the parishes of the county to be found online. From the numbering it would appear that some parts of the county are yet to be published online, but the first two volumes for any county are of little interest to the genealogist. The chapters are ordered by the divisions of the county called hundreds, but each parish is listed in the volume's content page.

• A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 3, the City (Cambridge) and University of Cambridge (published 1959)
• A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 4, City of Ely; North Ely and South Ely, Witchford and Wisbech Hundreds (the cathedral city and liberty of Ely and the rural areas to the west and northwest, including the port of Wisbech) (published 2002)
• A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 5, the Hundreds of Longstowe and Wetherley, west of Cambridge (published 1973)
• A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 6, the three Hundreds of Chilford, Radfield and Whittlesford (in the south of the county, on the border with Essex) (published 1978)
• A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 8, Armingford and Thriplow Hundreds (south and west of Cambridge) (published 1982)
• A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 9, Chesterton, Northstowe, and Papworth Hundreds (the suburban and rural areas to the north and northwest of Cambridge) (published 1989)
• A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 10, Cheveley, Flendish, Staine and Staploe Hundreds (northeastern Cambridgeshire) (published 2002)

• GENUKI has a page on Cambridgeshire and pages for each of the ecclesiastical or ancient parishes in the county. These give references to other organizations who hold genealogical information for the local area. Each parish page includes a map of the parish provided by Open Street Maps.
• The FamilyTree Wiki has a series of pages similar to those provided by GENUKI which may have been prepared at a later date.
• A Vision of Britain through Time, section "Units and Statistics" for each parish and borough leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from about 1800 through 1974.
• Map of Cambridgeshire divisions in 1888 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Map of Cambridge divisions in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time