Place:Great Eversden, Cambridgeshire, England

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

Great Eversden is a village 6 miles southwest of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, England. The Prime Meridian runs through the parish just to the east of the village, separating it from Little Eversden. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 UK census was 241.

Great Eversden is a small village of about 85 houses. It broadly takes the shape of a cross, with the Haslingfield to Kingston, Cambridgeshire road forming the east and west arms (called Church Street and the High Street), and the no-through-roads of Chapel Road and Wimpole Road forming the north and south arms.

The history of Great Eversden is closely related to that of its neighbour Little Eversden, though the two have formed distinct parishes since at least the 13th century. The parish of Great Eversden, covering 1400 acres, lies between the Bourn Brook to the north and Mare Way, the ancient ridgeway, to the south. Little Eversden lies to the east of Great Eversden.

There has been a church in the parish since at least 1092. It has been dedicated to St. Mary since at least the 13th century, but the original church was replaced in the 13th century. The 13th century church was razed to the ground in the mid 15th century when it was struck by lightning.

The current church was completed in 1470, consisting of a chancel, nave with north porch, and west tower, and includes two misericords built at this time. It is worth noting that one of the misericords shows the family crest of the Beauchamp family (a fess between six cross crosslets) which may indicate that the family paid for much of the church, or that the misericords were installed for canons to pray for the dead of that family.

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• Original historical documents relating to Cambridgeshire are now held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at Shire Hall, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4GS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