Place:Burwell, Cambridgeshire, England

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

Burwell is a village and ancient parish in Cambridgeshire, England, some 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Cambridge. It lies on the southeast edge of the Fens. Westward drainage is improved by Cambridgeshire "lodes" (waterways), including Burwell Lode, a growth factor in the history of the village. It had a population of 6,309 in the 2011 UK census.

Within the village is the 12th-century Burwell Castle whose final wall was knocked down by the Fire Brigade testing a fire hose in the 1930s; the dry moat is still visible. It was built during "The Anarchy", the mid-12th-century conflict in the reign of King Stephen. Despite a settlement that the throne would pass to Henry II on Stephen's death, the Barons took the opportunity to fight their own battles. Of these, Geoffrey de Mandeville (died 1144) was notably troublesome. After turning against Stephen, he set up an impregnable base around Ely, from which he attacked towns such as Cambridge. The king therefore ordered castles be built to surround him. The few known potential sites of these included Rampton (Giant's Hill), Ramsey (Booth's Hill), Burwell, and possibly Knapwell. At Burwell, a moat was constructed and the stone keep was partially built when Geoffrey attacked and was mortally wounded. His revolt then collapsed and the castle was left unfinished.

Old maps sometimes name the village in the plural, "Burwells" which may refer to a pair of ancient parishes: Burwell St. Mary and Burwell St. Andrew (redirected here) which existed until the 17th or 18th century, or to a distinction between the High Town round the churches in the south of the village and the newer North Street and Newnham parts, separated by a causeway.

The village is located at the head of Burwell Lode, a man-made waterway that connects it with the River Cam which flows generally northward from Cambridge to The Wash. The present course, laid out in the mid-17th century, replaced an older route that was probably Roman in origin. The lode splits in two at the village, each branch serving a series of basins, warehouses and wharves located at the bottom of long strips of land, with merchants' houses at the far end of them.

The village and lode gained importance with the opening in the 1850s of the Burwell Chemical Works owned by T. T. Ball. By the 1890s, this had become the Patent Manure Works owned by Colchester and Ball. About 10,000 tons of goods a year were shipped along it, using three steam tugs and a fleet of lighters. Prentice Brothers Ltd built barges in the village until 1920, and continued repairing them there after they bought the fertiliser factory in 1921. The factory was later owned by Fisons. Boats continued to be used to move the fertiliser to Fenland farms until 1948. Commercial use of the lode ceased in 1963, when the traffic in sugar beet stopped.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Burwell, Cambridgeshire.

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