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- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
Little Wilbraham is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, 6 miles (10 km) east of Cambridge between the A11 major road and the A1303. It is in the district of South Cambridgeshire. It is a small village with a population of 425 at the 2011 UK census. The church of Saint John the Evangelist lies to the east of the village.
The parish includes a hamlet named Six Mile Bottom. The name is derived from its distance from the start of Newmarket Racecourse and because it lies in the base of a valley. Six Mile Bottom railway station served the village from the 1860s (by the Newmarket and Chesterford Railway) until 1967.
History
Little Wilbraham was an independent village by 1086, known by that name by the 13th century - however also known as 'Little Wilborham' during the early 17th century. In the mid-nineteenth century burials were excavated in the village, dating to the early medieval period, recovering 188 inhumations and 125 cremations, with notable finds including an iron-bound bucket and a horse burial. The Domesday Book recorded 13 peasants in 1086. The number of landholders increased to about 40 by 1279. In 1563 there were only 21 families. Under Charles II (late 17th century), there were about 40 dwellings and 124 adults. By the 1750s, this stood at 41 families with 183 adults. The total population rose steadily to reach 392 in 1851 and then 412 in 1881 before falling gradually to 266 in 1951.
Nowadays, a few small farmhouses and cottages survive from the 17th and early 18th century including White Hall, a timber-framed building from around 1600. Since 1800, there has been a divide in habitation in the village. To the east, on a street called Green Street by 1460, lay the rectory and the church whilst to the west most of the farmhouses and cottages existed in a section called Hawk Street.
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).
- "WILBRAHAM (Little), a parish in Chesterton [registration] district, Cambridgeshire; 1¾ mile NNW of Six-Mile-Bottom [railway] station, and 6 E of Cambridge. It includes Six Mile Bottom hamlet, and has a post-office under Cambridge. Acres: 1,800. Real property: £2,705. Population: 353. Houses: 87. Spears, swords, knives, axes, bronze fibulæ, glass beads, pottery, and other relics were found here in an ancient Saxon cemetery. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely. Value: £326. Patron: Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The church was recently repaired. There are a national school, a charity of £71 a year, and a commonage of 30 acres."
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
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