m 
 
 3 1210 01970 4517 
 
 MONCKTOH : ION:ES
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 RIVERSIDE 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ex Libris I 
 ; C. K. OGDEN j 
 
 
 

 
 Life in Old Cambridge
 
 LIFE IN 
 
 ^ — 
 
 OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 Illustrations of English History 
 
 M. E. MONCKTON JONES 
 
 With Preface by G. K. CHESTERTON 
 
 MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 CAMBRIDGE 
 
 W. HEFFER 6? SONS LTD. 
 
 1920
 
 -DA 63 
 C2SJ45
 
 Contents 
 
 CHAP. PAGB 
 
 Illustrations - - - vii 
 
 Author's Preface - ix 
 
 Introduction - xiii 
 
 I. The Grassland Strip - - 1 
 
 II. The Romans - - - - 15 
 
 III. The Province - - - - 21 
 
 IV. Saxon Times - - - - 31 
 V. The Danes - - - - 55 
 
 VI. The Norman Years - - 74 
 
 VII. Medieval Cambridge - - 86 
 
 VIII. Monks and Friars - - - 100
 
 Illustrations 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Map of Fen and Forest ... Frontispiece 
 Compiled by L. Grimes in the style of the 17th 
 Century explorers) 
 
 Late Celtic Vessel and Kimmeridge Shale 
 
 Urn - 7 
 
 (Camb. Arch. Museum) 
 
 Gold Armilla and Process of Making it - 8 
 
 (From photo in Camb. Arch. Museum) 
 
 Torque, Spearhead, Celt and Celt Moulds 9 
 
 (Camb. Arch. Museum) 
 
 Fleam Dyke 12 
 
 (From a photograph) 
 
 British Shield 15 
 
 (Camb. Arch. Museum) 
 
 Bronze of a Roman Soldier - - - 18 
 
 (From Babington's Ancient Cambridgeshire, p. 77) 
 
 Roman Pottery 24 
 
 (Camb. Arch. Museum) 
 
 Roman Fibula and Knife 25 
 
 (Camb. Arch. Museum) 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Seaxe, and Bill 34 
 
 (Camb. Arch. Museum) 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Fibula and Clasps 35 
 
 (Camb. Arch. Museum) 
 
 Old Cottages now standing at Cherryhinton 36 
 
 (From sketch by P. Johnstone)
 
 Viii ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 North Doorway of Our Lady's Chapel, 
 
 Stourbridge ------ 40 
 
 Saxon Vessel. Roman Vessels 46 
 
 (Camb. Arch. Museum) 
 
 Saxon Brooch ------ 51 
 
 (Camb. Arch. Museum) 
 
 Saxon Spindle -Whorls and Cloth - - 52 
 
 (Camb. Arch. Museum) 
 
 Saxon Disc Ornament ----- 63 
 
 (Camb. Arch. Museum) 
 
 Tower of St. Benet's ----- 67 
 
 (From a sketch by P. Johnstone) 
 
 Castle Hill ------- 87 
 
 (From old illustrations of Cambridge and Bramber) 
 
 Thatched Church ------ 90 
 
 (From a sketch by P. Johnstone) 
 
 Map of Cambridge in 1300 - - - 101 
 
 (From J. W. Clark, Ecclesia de Barnwell, facing 
 p. 336) 
 
 Plan of Cambridge Castle - - - - 114 
 
 (From print made for S. Hooper, 1776) 
 
 View of Cambridge Castle - - - - 117 
 
 (From print made for S. Hooper, 1776) 
 
 Plan of Stourbridge Fair ... - 128 
 
 (From History and Antiquities of Barnwell, Cam- 
 bridge Free Library)
 
 Author's Preface 
 
 This sketch of early life in Cambridge has 
 been compiled in reply to a want expressed 
 in the elementary schools of the town. The 
 many admirable volumes existing on Cam- 
 bridge have been written by scholars for 
 adult and educated readers. They are un- 
 happily for the most part inaccessible and 
 unintelligible to the children. Yet a know- 
 ledge of the factors and the actors which have 
 made up the life of the past is the best means 
 of arousing that community sentiment on 
 which can be based the co-operation of good 
 citizens in the future. 
 
 East Anglia plays, perhaps, the next 
 greatest part to London in the Middle Ages 
 especially in trade and political intercourse 
 with Flanders and the Empire, and all this is 
 reflected in the life of the town, under Saxons, 
 Danes, Normans and Angevins. To give the 
 actual writs and regulations of those rulers 
 to a boy, who hardly understands their 
 wording is more worth doing than it seems, 
 for it is often to awaken in him for the first 
 time a sense that History describes the lives 
 of real people whose influence may still affect 
 his life to-day. For Local History consists of
 
 X AUTHOR S PREFACE 
 
 detail, and it is detail, not generalities, which 
 a child can grasp, and about which his keen 
 imagination loves to play. The legends of 
 Cnut, of Britnoth, of Hereward ; the doings 
 of Friar or Canon, of Sheriff Picot or King 
 John give them actual dramatis persona? for 
 the stage of their constant mental plays, but 
 these characters cannot be given without some 
 ordered background. 
 
 To sketch such a background without 
 offending against the dim truths of Archaeology 
 or contracting the due sequence of time ; to 
 write it in language which will not flow un- 
 heeded over the child's head, involves diffi- 
 culties which those will understand who have 
 attempted it, and which constantly lay the 
 writer open to charges of inaccuracy, the more 
 just in this case since she is qualified neither 
 by long residence nor special study of Cam- 
 bridge, but has had to build on the work of 
 others. In stay of scholars' judgment, she 
 would urge that they should speedily meet 
 the need with more authority and simplicity. 
 
 Most valuable help has been drawn from 
 Cooper's " Annals of Cambridge," Stubb's 
 " Cambridge," Conybeare's " Cambridge- 
 shire," and Mr. A. Gray's " Cambridge," and 
 his pamphlets in the Cambridge Antiquarian 
 Society's publications. To Mr. Gray I am 
 more especially grateful for his great kindness 
 in reading the manuscript and putting me 
 right on important points. I rejoice to have
 
 AUTHOR S PREFACE xi 
 
 this opportunity of thanking Mr. Harold 
 Peake for similar help in Chapter I. ; the 
 Cambridge Antiquarian Society and Baron 
 von Hugel for their kindness in permitting me 
 to use illustrations from their library and 
 copies of objects in the Archaeological Museum, 
 the Committee of the Free Library for the 
 plan of Barnwell Fair ; Father Cuthbert for 
 the use of an extract from his work on " The 
 coming of the Friars Minor," and Messrs. 
 Bowes and Bowes for the arrangement by 
 which it has been possible to include passages 
 from J. W. Clark's " Augustinian Canons of 
 Barnwell." To Miss P. Johnstone my thanks 
 are given for the illustrations, which should, 
 it is hoped, provide children with suggestions 
 for handwork. 
 
 Finally, with Colet's words, I would dedi- 
 cate my ill-finished task to the children: 
 " In which little work if any new things be 
 of me, it is alonely that I have put these parts 
 in a more clear order, and have made them a 
 little more easy to young wits than, me 
 thinketh, they were before. . . . Wherefore 
 all little babes, all little children learn gladly 
 . . . and lift up your little white hands for 
 me." 
 
 M. E. Monckton Jones. 
 
 Barton, Cambs. 
 December 9, 1919.
 
 Introduction 
 
 I know not by what right I block up the 
 Roman road of this valuable history of Cam- 
 bridge, unless it be because I have followed 
 it myself with great pleasure, by private 
 favour of the author, or perhaps because my 
 surname happens to be that of a village in 
 the neighbourhood. I have never been to 
 Cambridge except as an admiring visitor ; 
 I have never been to Chesterton at all ; 
 either from a sense of unworthiness, or from 
 a faint superstitious feeling that I might be 
 fulfilling a prophecy in the country-side. 
 Anyone with a sense of the savour of the old 
 English country rhymes and tales will share 
 my vague alarm that the steeple might crack 
 or the market cross fall down, for a smaller 
 thing than the coincidence of a man named 
 Chesterton going to Chesterton. I have never 
 really studied history at Cambridge, or any- 
 where else. And if I have heartily enjoyed 
 this modern history of Cambridge, I fear it 
 is not because it bears a resemblance to the
 
 XIV INTRODUCTION 
 
 Cambridge Modern History. In short, while 
 my qualifications for pronouncing on the 
 point at all are highly dubious, the strong 
 sympathy I do feel for the work is mostly due 
 to its marked difference from most academic 
 digests. What is the matter with those 
 academic attempts at universal history is 
 that they are generally so very much the 
 reverse of universal. They assemble the 
 specialists, so as to cover all subjects except 
 the real subject. The result is that we only 
 succeed in having all things studied in a 
 narrow spirit, instead of one thing studied 
 in a universal spirit. That is one reason for 
 liking a thing like a local history ; that it is 
 a large story about a little thing. I prefer 
 the philosophical results of a man examining 
 a mole-hill, rather than those of a million 
 moles exploring a mountain. 
 
 It is to be hoped that the example be 
 followed, touching many other English dis- 
 tricts ; nor is there any particular reason 
 why it should not be followed touching all 
 of them. It is true that the author of this 
 book happens to have to deal with one of the 
 towns universally recognised as historic and
 
 INTRODUCTION XV 
 
 picturesque, containing some of the chief 
 monuments of medieval art, as well as 
 some of the chief chairs of modern education. 
 But this particular interest of the pageant of 
 successive periods really belongs less to Cam- 
 bridge as Cambridge than to Cambridge as a 
 country town. Even the most urban towns 
 are mostly made up of country towns ; that 
 is they have grown by absorbing the surround- 
 ing towns and villages. We are tempted in a 
 fanciful fashion to forget that sites at least 
 stand for ever, and cannot be created or 
 destroyed. It is as if we imagined that 
 Brixton had appeared recently as a radiant 
 object in the sky, like the New Jerusalem ; 
 or that the very earth on which Manchester 
 stands had been manufactured in the Man- 
 chester factories. But, indeed, Manchester 
 itself is the clearest of all cases to the contrary. 
 The Manchester School was credited with 
 being unhistorical, or even anti-historical ; 
 but the very name of Manchester is a piece of 
 history, and even of ancient and classical 
 history. There are no new places in Eng- 
 land ; for there is no such thing as a new place 
 in nature, or even in abstract logic. Therefore
 
 XVI INTRODUCTION 
 
 there is no reason why we should not have 
 an epic and almost prehistoric history of 
 West Kensington, or the truth about the 
 romantic story of Clapham. It would be the 
 same great story of Rome, of the Church, of 
 the Crusades, of the great guilds like those 
 that made the cathedrals, if anyone had the 
 moral courage to do for Clapham what the 
 lady who wrote this book has done for Cam- 
 bridge. 
 
 If I might give one example from this book, 
 out of many, of the sort of thing that is so 
 seriously wanted in a popular history, and 
 is so seldom present in one, I would adduce 
 the wisdom of giving in their regular order 
 the actual terms of the charter which King 
 John gave to the burghers. I do not exag- 
 gerate when I say I think them far more 
 important than the charter which King John 
 gave to the barons. The latter is always 
 called the great charter, largely because it 
 was chiefly concerned with great lords ; but 
 this is concerned with smaller men, and 
 therefore with larger matters. It consists of 
 fourteen clauses ; and as we read it we feel 
 passing before us and around us all the living
 
 INTRODUCTION. xvti 
 
 movement of the Middle Ages. Besides the 
 essential things, the general presence of a 
 sort of ideal trading, analogous to the theory 
 of a just price, we have a hundred little things 
 of singular historic interest, especially when 
 they have since grown into larger things. 
 We have, for instance, reference to certain 
 privileges only belonging " to the king's 
 moneyers and servants " ; the latter being 
 the position of the Jews, and probably in- 
 volving many privileges for the Jews. We 
 have the curious feature of continual reference 
 to something rather unique and characteristic 
 of our own history ; the exceptional role and 
 position of the City of London. There is 
 an inevitable reference to ale, which flows 
 as in rivers through all such records ; and 
 especially of an occasion when the burghers 
 were sternly confined to drinking only one 
 kind of ale, instead of absorbing all possible 
 kinds of ale in their due succession. Men are 
 often confined to a sort of " scot-ale " in 
 the tied houses of our own time ; but to-day 
 the celebration lasts all the year round. In 
 short, the mere citation of this medieval 
 document in detail gives the amateur reader
 
 XV111 INTRODUCTION 
 
 like myself a real glimpse of the medieval 
 democracy. From the stock histories of his 
 youth he would have learned little or nothing 
 about that particular date, except the extra- 
 ordinary wickedness of King John and the 
 extraordinary goodness of the British Consti- 
 tution. But to those old Cambridge men 
 King John was only the name of the King 
 who happened to give them the glorious rights 
 of guildsmen. And I very much fear that, 
 to them, the modern thing called the British 
 Constitution would only be the thing under 
 which the rights and the guilds were alike 
 
 gone. 
 
 G. K. Chesterton.
 
 Life in Old Cambridge. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 The Grassland Strip 
 
 What was there 2,000 years ago where Cam- 
 bridge now stands ? A bird taking flight 
 from Castle Hill would have had below him a 
 shining streak of waters, such as you see when 
 the floods are out on the commons. In 
 places it would be half-a-mile or so across, but 
 if he flew north, Ely way, the lake would run 
 into another and another, each wider than 
 the last, so that by Waterbeach there would 
 be a bay with waves chasing each other 
 before the wind. Right away to the Wash 
 and the sea were marshes, and a log or raft, 
 put into the water at Castle Hill, could drift 
 on mile after mile till it came out on to tossing 
 seas. 1 Cam and Ouse and their streamlets ran 
 together into a waste of waters which cut 
 
 1 See W. Stubbs, Cambridge, p. 9. 
 
 1
 
 2 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 off Norfolk and Suffolk from the rest of 
 England, making them almost an island. 
 
 Out of the shallow water of the marsh, reeds 
 and grasses grew thick and tall and made 
 green banks on either side of the river. These 
 banks sloped gently upwards and spread out 
 into wide hillsides, on which might grow gorse 
 and sloe and a few may-trees. Then among the 
 may-trees might come a few birches, white- 
 stemmed and dainty, swinging in the breeze, 
 and here and there a feathery ash-tree or a 
 thickset oak. Closer and closer grow the 
 trees, big beeches and great dark oaks as the 
 hills rise, till presently all light is shut out and 
 you can only see a yard or two either way. 
 For many miles the woods go on, covering 
 the hillsides with a dense coat of timber for 
 many days' journey till they feel the bleak 
 east wind and the salty air of the North Sea. 
 
 Now between the forest and the water 
 there lies only one long narrow strip of open 
 grassland, a sunny upland by which men 
 could travel in the daylight, leaving the dark, 
 tangled forest to left and the shining water to 
 right as they ran southwards from the bracken 
 lands of Norfolk towards the warmer uplands
 
 THE GRASSLAND STRIP 3 
 
 that fence the Thames valley from the North 
 winds. Look at it well, that corridor of grassy- 
 slopes. Some forty miles it runs, flanked by 
 Forest on the one side, Fenland on the other. 
 It holds the secret of the life of Cambridge. 
 
 Whoever comes sailing over the chill North 
 Sea, land where he will along the coast be- 
 tween Thames and Ouse mouths, he must 
 come inland by that grassy slope. If he 
 leave ship at Lynn he cannot cross the 
 marshes but must w r ork along their edges to 
 Brandon before he can turn west and south. 
 If he land at Harwich the Forest faces him, 
 dark, tangled, full of beasts, and he must 
 work northward to turn its outposts till he 
 comes to the open passage at Brandon. And 
 so too if a troop would find its way to the sea 
 from Bedford or north from London, the 
 Forest blocks the Way eastwards, the Marshes 
 bar it on the north, only by Royston slopes 
 to Brandon can it pass to the east and the sea. 
 
 That was the Open Road, " over the hills 
 and far away " ; everyone out of East Ahglia 
 seeking his fortune in the world must tread 
 the springy turf of the Brandon and Royston 
 uplands.
 
 4 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 On the sunny south-looking slopes of the 
 chalk hills lay the pit-dwellings of the first 
 men. To try to live lower down in the valleys 
 was dangerous, for often the water would rise 
 and soak the soil, and any huts or camps they 
 had made would be washed away. It was a 
 pity, for the grass down there was longer and 
 richer than on the hillsides ; in the lakes too 
 and rivers were man}?- fish and wild duck to be 
 caught by those who knew how, and so after 
 a time men did try to live down there in spite 
 of the danger. Leading down to the river was 
 a strip of gravel, and here and there it spread 
 out into a patch of drier ground, a little hillock 
 standing perhaps a few feet higher than the 
 grass elsewhere ; there they would dig out a 
 flat floor for a hut, throwing the earth up in a 
 little round wall into which they thrust 
 strong branches to meet overhead as a roof. 
 The spaces between them they blocked with 
 more earth mixed with reeds or grass, and 
 thatched the top with reeds. When it rained 
 for days together the mud walls began to 
 melt ; then the marsh water too was swollen 
 and rose. They were so often washed away 
 that at last they found a way to protect their
 
 THE GRASSLAND STRIP 5 
 
 huts. All round the dry patch or hillock, 
 on which their huts were crowded together, 
 the men would dig a ditch deep enough to 
 carry off flood water, and with the soil that 
 they dug out they threw up a great bank. 
 Such a place, perhaps, was once the spot we 
 now call Cambridge ; flat as it looks it must 
 have stood above the surrounding marsh when 
 first men built their huts there. 
 
 Beside the group of huts ran the Cam, a long, 
 winding chain of lakes and bogs, and beyond 
 it the sun would set behind a big hillside. If 
 you could get across the water and scramble 
 up the hill you would find the land still rising 
 slowly as you went west away. Where the 
 river ran round the foot of the hill it was easy 
 to cross, for the bottom was gravel. A ridge 
 of gravel began there and passed by the huts 
 and back all the way to the grassland slopes of 
 the Gogs. From the Wash southwards this 
 was the first place where you could cross the 
 marshes. 
 
 There between the river and the grasslands 
 the first dwellers in our district, little wiry 
 men whose ancestors had come from warm 
 lands in the south of Europe made their home,
 
 6 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 many thousand years ago. They were very 
 short, with long, egg-shaped heads, fine 
 black hair and beard and sharp features. From 
 the hill their keen sight might often pick out 
 a troop of men and cattle, moving along the 
 grassway on the slopes of the Gogs, seeking 
 new pasture or going to chaffer for flints at 
 the Royston pit, or northwards to Grimes 
 Graves at Brandon. 
 
 Such a troop running lightly afoot soon beat 
 out a track over the hillsides, winding here 
 to avoid a rough growth of thorn-scrub and 
 oak-tree, mounting higher there to escape 
 from the muddy margin of a marsh or stream- 
 let, and marked along its course by mounds 
 raised to cover the bones of mighty chiefs or 
 to guide strange wayfarers. 
 
 Such was the country round Cambridge 
 in the New Stone Age and Bronze Age. To the 
 north-east were the Brakelands (Norfolk and 
 Suffolk), open common and heath. There 
 the early men clustered around the flinty 
 gravel pit or chalk quarry, fed their reindeer 
 and the little, long-horned oxen on the 
 grasses and mosses, and traded in cattle, 
 hides, pottery and basket-work. To chaffer
 
 8 
 
 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 with them came other groups of the same 
 people from the southern valleys. These 
 had travelled along the upland Ridgeways 
 from Chiltern and the Berkshire Downs, and 
 even distant Stonehenge or Avebury, bringing 
 beads of the beautiful Irish gold or lumps of 
 tin and perhaps lead from Cornwall and the 
 West. 
 
 These old grass ways of the stone users can 
 still be traced and in Berks and Wilts they 
 still sweep on for mile after mile over the 
 wide downs paved with soft springy green 
 turf and thyme. 
 
 Ftocoes of ToaWpa 
 0* <5<M. -VnjilU. 
 
 Gold Aomtta .froipGruutylw) . 
 (1) 
 
 For centuries the Stone and Bronze users 
 held the land, learning by degrees how to burn 
 the grass and scratch the surface of the hill 
 
 1 The original is in the Fitzwilliam Museum.
 
 THE GRASSLAND STRIP 
 
 9 
 
 sides, so that grains of corn would grow into a 
 sparse crop to make them bread. But at 
 long last the news of their pleasant, peaceful 
 
 A iSp&wVead, f ««}d W) ClRjbtuhjt Coigopcp 
 
 .^^TOOjO&n^taipJiwqitjtjsea . 
 
 homes on the uplands and the wealth of 
 beasts and fodder to be found there, and the 
 
 VFUCe»I.fw>cL 
 /.urruodfyuo.Caivb 
 
 -ABromt CtttTC)ould.opw)iU)d. cloSld; 
 tout)d aCt)iu> £trKt,Catt)bTicUjc,i9C$. 
 
 clean shining Irish gold, led other races, the 
 taller round-headed men of Central Europe
 
 10 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 to come over the sea. These men learnt to use 
 weapons of bronze, and gradually spread over 
 the grasslands of the east and midlands and 
 far north-eastern Scotland. 1 
 
 A few of them seem to have reached our 
 district, for in Barnwell was found one of the 
 pottery vases called Beakers which they made, 
 and a few of their bronze celts or axes, but we 
 don't know whether they settled here. They 
 were half-a-foot taller than the first men, and 
 had beetling eyebrows and big cheekbones. 
 
 The Iron Age 
 
 They were followed by wave upon wave of 
 races from Europe, these new-comers too 
 drawn probably by the wish to trade. Of 
 middle height and beardless, with round 
 bullet-heads, they seem to have been more 
 ready to fight than the rest, or perhaps they 
 had more cause, as each fresh group filled up 
 the open grass lands and had to live nearer 
 the river or to clear away some of the forest. 
 By this time men had found out how to work 
 iron ore into tools and weapons, and had to 
 
 1 See Crawford. Geographical Journal (Aug. and Sept., 1912).
 
 THE GRASSLAND STRIP 11 
 
 build strongholds to keep their families and 
 cattle safe. Tribe after tribe pressed into 
 Britain between 1200 B.C. and the time when 
 Christ was born. One of them was called 
 Britons, and though it was only a small group 
 it gave its name to the land. Coming from 
 over the Channel they settled in the south 
 and east, a strong tribe named the Iceni taking 
 the land between the Wash and the sea. Safe 
 against attack on either side, they found their 
 only danger in the open way across the grass 
 by which for centuries folk had come north 
 from the Downs and Thames to trade and 
 settle. So they planted a settlement at our 
 fords of the river and along the gravel ridge 
 to south of it, higher up, too, where Grant- 
 chester now is they passed the narrower 
 streams. But others could do so, and perhaps 
 wrest the rich grass and riverside lands from 
 them. How should they secure it against all 
 comers from the south ? On the chalk hill 
 tops where little wood could grow except the 
 beeches they built big camps, digging out the 
 soil for 12 or 15 feet, and throwing it up into a 
 great encircling mound on which they could 
 plant a strong fence of timber. This would
 
 12 
 
 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 do well to hold the hill, but enemies could 
 still pass along the open way below to the rich 
 lands of Norfolk and Suffolk. They must 
 bar the open Ridgeway. So they made Dykes 
 of earth such as fenced their camp-villages, 
 
 iS&Lif \>M^M 
 
 ^fe^feM^S 
 
 ^SSBpr 
 
 •h=m 
 
 y\)iT\zamT)yhe>, Oarpbridggshtce . 
 
 but longer and mightier. Like the men of 
 China or Babylon they would build a great 
 earth-wall to shut the open entrance to the 
 land of their tribe. From in under the 
 eastern forest of oaks and beeches on the hills 
 it should run out into the open where wind 
 and sun played hide and seek with the cloud- 
 shadows all along its sides. There the grass
 
 THE GRASSLAND STRIP 13 
 
 grew short and sweet and the Dyke ran on 
 and on down the slopes to where the water of 
 the Fens made marching impossible. Right 
 on down into the water they built it so that 
 there was no room to pass between the dyke 
 and the marsh at one end of the dyke and the 
 forest thickets at the other, and a few Britons 
 on the dyke could challenge all comers from 
 the south. Two such great Banks and ditches 
 run close to Cambridge, the Fleam Dyke from 
 Balsham to Fen Ditton still lies like a great 
 grass swathe across the way to Newmarket 
 and Brandon. Not one or two only were the 
 Dykes, but four. North of it lies " the 
 Devil's Dyke," and to the south two more. 
 An invader trying to come in along the 
 Way would first have had to force the 
 passage of the Brand Ditch, running from 
 the bogs between Melbourne and Fowl- 
 mere to Heydon on the hills above the 
 Thames, then the Brent Ditch near Abing- 
 ton (then that of the so-called Worsted 
 Street), 1 then Fleam Dyke, and at last the 
 mighty Devil's Dyke, a massive pile 30 feet 
 high from the bottom of the Ditch to the top 
 
 x Probably not a dyke; the old name ia Wolf Street Way.
 
 14 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 of the mound and reaching unbroken for 10 
 long miles, from Reach on the water to the 
 forest Wood Ditton. 1 
 
 1 See Conybeare's Cambridgeshire, p. 14.
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 The Romans 
 
 In the Iceni's time the great Roman 
 Empire, under those Caesars who commanded 
 that " all the world should be taxed," had 
 spread northward and westward from Rome 
 
 
 1. "Frept cf ShUld. a. Riveras, fct^jutiN b»<K»l». 
 T»up* tX, CovTvfv jv), Dtas: illy, C*tt)&s, mi». 
 
 till it reached the English Channel. Across the 
 water the men of Gaul had been fighting hard 
 for their freedom with Julius, the first Caesar. 
 They sent for help to their brothers in Britain.
 
 16 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 Reinforcements slipped over from the island 
 to their aid, not as they go now, to France in 
 great steam transports, but in tiny wooden 
 boats, rigged with queer sails of skin or 
 leather. Caesar himself wrote down what 
 they were like. 1 
 
 " The keels somewhat flatter than our ships, 
 so that they can take the shallows more easily 
 at ebb tide ; the prows and the sterns too 
 very upright, suited to the great waves and 
 storms. The ships are made of wood through- 
 out to bear strain and hard use to the utmost ; 
 the rowers benches fixed with iron nails as 
 thick as my thumb to beams a foot wide ; 
 the anchors bound with chains instead of 
 rope ; skins for sails, the leather tanned fine, 
 either because they have no linen or don't 
 know how to use it, or more likely because 
 they have to bear such ocean storms and 
 wind-storms and such weight of ships that 
 they do not think it handy to manage with 
 cloths." 
 
 Wishing to see their land, Caesar gathered 
 a fleet of galleys and sailed to the white cliffs 
 of Kent. Despite resistance he marched his 
 
 1 Caesar D.B.O. iii, Ships of the Veneti of South Brittany .
 
 THE ROMANS 17 
 
 legions into the great forests, seizing camp 
 after camp on the hilltops till he wrested even 
 St. Albans from Caswallon, King of certain 
 of the British tribes in the Thames district. 
 After this Britain was very loosely linked to 
 Rome for a hundred years till Caswallon' s 
 grandson, Cymbeline, made East Anglia his 
 own : his coins are often found here. But 
 the Iceni hated his law, and later helped a 
 Roman army to defeat his son Caradoc, and 
 make Britain into a Roman province. 1 The 
 first orders the new subjects got were to lay 
 down their arms and this no doubt they would 
 have done but the fierce, keen Iceni, who 
 had fought shoulder to shoulder with the 
 Romans against the other tribes, expected 
 better treatment. They thought themselves 
 as good as any Romans, and rather than lay 
 down the spears and swords which they had 
 carried from boyhood they defied mighty 
 Rome, the world-wide Empire, and called 
 the other tribes to help them to turn out the 
 foreigners. They re-built the Dykes ; strong 
 fences of timber were no doubt reared along 
 their crests and all the manhood of the tribes 
 
 1 Gardiner. Students History oj England. Vol. I, p. 2.
 
 18 
 
 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 gathered behind them to withstand the 
 enemy. 
 
 If we try to imagine what followed we may 
 guess that the Roman forces, led by Ostorius 
 Scapula, would march north from Ermine 
 Street along the Icknield Way. Perhaps they 
 crossed the Cam at Shelf ord and rested for the 
 night in the grass at Granhams, where you 
 may still trace three sides of a simple Roman 
 Camp. On the Gogs, just above them, would 
 frown the hill camp of the Iceni. Next morn- 
 ing no doubt the Roman trumpets blew to 
 the attack, and Scapula led 
 his soldiers out. Steadily 
 climbing the long easy slopes 
 they kept their ranks and 
 poured over the earthworks 
 of Vandlebury. But the main 
 resistance had been prepared 
 at the Fleam Dyke. Crowded 
 together on the Dyke the 
 Sww, fipSSwSj. Britons would look out eagerly, 
 only to see stragglers fleeing 
 to them and the enemy following swift 
 behind. Like a steel wall the Roman legions 
 would march up, shield locked in shield, and
 
 THE ROMANS 19 
 
 the rough arrows and spears of the natives rain 
 down harmlessly for the most part on their 
 solid front. Pierced by their javelins, smitten 
 down by their short, keen swords, the Britons 
 soon broke and fled out over the long nine 
 miles to the Devil's Dyke. As when a great 
 sea-dyke bursts the waves pour through and 
 spread along the plain, so men fleet-footed 
 raced the ponies of their leaders for the last 
 shelter. The great thirty-foot Devil's Dyke, 
 crowning the long climb to the moor looked 
 indeed immovably safe, no doubt, for those 
 who could slip in behind it ; but the one 
 entrance was soon blocked, and then the 
 fugitives crowding on one another could not 
 even turn to defend themselves. The Romans 
 coming hard after them found them as easy 
 prey as a flock of sheep, penned for the shear- 
 ing. They did not spare ; when evening fell 
 hardly any of the Iceni was left alive and 
 the rest were slaves. 
 
 Caradoc indeed escaped the slaughter, hav- 
 ing earlier been driven away into the fast- 
 nesses of Wales to raise what help he could, 
 but the next year the Romans had followed
 
 20 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 him even there and shattered the last hope of 
 freedom. 1 
 
 The Roman rule was harsh. Roman money- 
 makers bullied and robbed the Britons for 
 12 weary years till a last outrage against the 
 Queen Boudica brought revolt. The savagery 
 of its short-lived success led to fearful revenge 
 when Rome once more got the upper hand, 
 and the men of Cambridgeshire, who had 
 led the revolt, were wiped out. The Romans 
 drove straight stone-paved roads through the 
 land from camp to camp ; held fortresses at 
 Colchester, at Godmanchester, at Chesterford 
 and in Cambridge itself, which held down the 
 feeble remnants of the warlike tribes till they 
 grew quieter and learned the arts and civil 
 ways of their rulers. 
 
 1 For the sake of the story I have followed Conybeare, p. 19.
 
 Chapter III. 
 The Province 
 
 When the Romans were masters of the land 
 they used many of the old British hilltop 
 forts as camps or outposts and built others of 
 their own fashion. The coasts were guarded 
 by Roman galleys and by camps, such as 
 Caistor and Brancaster, and all the eastern 
 coast was under the rule of a Roman called 
 " The Count of the Saxon Shore" (a name the 
 later story will explain). Each camp was 
 square in shape with gates North, South, 
 East, and West, from which the great roads 
 ran, so that Britain was covered with a stone 
 network of military roads in which the knots 
 were stone cities, each one built about an 
 open market-place or " Forum." The old 
 earthen walls were faced with squared blocks 
 of stone and each gateway was defended by a 
 stone turret. Safe inside the Chester gates 
 Roman nobles built beautiful " Villas," baths 
 and temples ; and even in our days men often 
 find 10 or 12 feet underground remains of the 
 altars they set up to their gods, the pottery 
 they made or brought from Gaul or the coins,
 
 22 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 stamped with their Caesars' names. Near 
 the old fords fine bridges of timber or stone 
 carried the new roads. 
 
 At Cambridge the hillside on the west of 
 the ford became a great oblong Chester, 2,500 
 feet from East to West, and 2,000 feet from 
 North to South, its walls ran from Chesterton 
 Lane, round the site of St. Giles' and the top 
 of the hill, where now St. Peter's stands, 1 
 down again to Merton Hall garden. From the 
 Forum, no doubt a Roman Governor could 
 look out over the whole land, see the distant 
 trees that grew on the Isle of Ely, standing 
 among the northern waters, watch the street 
 that climbed away north-west to Godman- 
 chester, or turning scan the height of Vandle- 
 bury camp for the glitter of the sentinel's 
 signal. To the south as the Roman Peace 
 grew villas began to rise on the pleasant, 
 sunny slopes over which Ermine Street ran, 
 making for Londinium and the galleys that 
 sail for Rome. As their builders cut down 
 the forest above and drained the marshes 
 below troops of slaves went out from every 
 
 1 For inconclusiye evidence of a temple to Diana on this site 
 eee The Cambridge Portfolio, p. 264:
 
 THE PROVINCE 23 
 
 villa to plough and tend the soil, and for the 
 first time the Cambridge lands began to shine 
 with waving fields of wheat and oats and 
 barley. Vineyards too they may have made 
 facing the sun as in their own Italy, rows of 
 short creepers forming glistening patches of 
 green among the cornfields, but above all were 
 great herds of sheep, driven out to crop the 
 sweet grass and thyme of the hillsides and 
 carefully guarded at night from the forest 
 wolves. Beside each villa the slaves quarters 
 or " ergastula " formed the black heart 
 of the domain, where men of Africa, or Asia, 
 or rude tribesmen caught in the woods of 
 Germania or Helvetia bowed under the whip 
 of the freedman who farmed the land for 
 his master. In the forum of Cambridge, 
 as in other cities, no doubt men and women 
 with their children could be seen put up for 
 sale. Here perhaps a learned Greek, whose 
 master had tired of study, would fetch a big 
 price ; there a Walloon captured in the 
 Flemish marshes would be advertised as a 
 skilled boatman, likely to be useful in the 
 Fens ; here again a shivering Egyptian or 
 Arab would be bought to act as stoker in the
 
 *How)ai)Vlssct t 69Ut)dar Lea(Ui)V)ali;SCrcet,t,OT)cUw. 
 
 — — — — — !■— — — — mini i mini — inm— i— muTOTinwi nr ■
 
 THE PROVINCE 
 
 25 
 
 villa " hypocaust." Native cattle, still half 
 wild, would be driven in from the eastern 
 grazing grounds, hustling one another in fear 
 over the strange white bridge 1 , to mingle with 
 oxen shipped hither from Italy and Gaul : 
 the rough, short, dun ponies from the Berk- 
 shire downs would be squealing and biting 
 
 1. goiparjBrotfttpbu&fotwdujC^ 
 
 at the glossy, desert-bred Roman chariot 
 horses as they drank together at the aquaduct. 
 Below on the river the bluff-bowed galleys 
 would lie loading up with grain for Caesar's 
 soldiers in Germania, while the red ware made 
 of Terra Sigillata they had brought, signed 
 with (Cistio Titi) the Flemish maker's mark, lay 
 
 1 No remains of a stone bridge have been found, but a9 a 
 centre of roads it seems probable that Cambridge would have 
 had one.
 
 26 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 heaped upon the straw on the wharf. Soon 
 it would be shown in the dealer's booth and 
 carried to the purchaser's villa at Foxton or 
 Cottenham or out across the hills to Colchester. 
 You may see pieces of them still, and trace 
 the maker's name if you ask in the Archseo- 
 logical Museum. When you handle them 
 try to picture the Cambridge of those days, 
 the stately Roman in his bordered toga 
 entering the temple to pour a goblet of wine to 
 the gods ; the gay young centurion wheeling 
 his century in the Forum changed the guard 
 at the Praetorium ; the farmer citizens from 
 the country villas each followed by his steward 
 and a troop of slaves, meeting to pay their 
 tithes to the decurion, to hear the news from 
 Rome, and enjoy an hour's gossip in the baths. 
 The fortunate Briton who had made friends 
 with the Romans and secured his freedom, 
 dressed now in a toga, aping Roman manners. 
 He stands to listen perhaps to a preacher of 
 the strange new Christian creed and laughs as 
 his Roman friend declares it is only another 
 of the Eastern sects that have been turning 
 the world upside down and should be left to 
 slaves and women.
 
 THE PROVINCE 27 
 
 For while the Romans had been settling 
 their new province of Britain strange things 
 had happened in Rome. 
 
 One day about the time that Scapula 
 subdued the Iceni a troop of men walked out 
 from among the great marble palaces and 
 temples of Rome along the old south road, 
 the Via Appia. They were very plainly clad, 
 quiet but confident in bearing and talked with 
 great eagerness as they hastened along. 
 When they had reached a halting place where 
 three taverns stood, they seated themselves 
 under the shade of an olive tree, but one 
 young man went on down the road and stood 
 looking southwards. Presently he waved his 
 hand, and they sprang up to greet a little 
 group of men coming towards them led by 
 one small of stature and roughly clad but 
 bearing himself like a victorious general. 
 When he reached them he raised his hand in 
 blessing, and they all bowed their heads, then 
 broke into a joyous chant. It was St. Paul, 
 and the Roman Christians were doubly over- 
 joyed when they heard of his escape from 
 shipwreck and thought of the teaching he 
 would give them in the coming days. As a
 
 28 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 prisoner awaiting trial he would be kept 
 in Rome, and they could care for him and 
 learn from his lips the story of his conversion 
 and the work he had done among the Greeks. 
 During all the three hundred years that Rome 
 held Britain St. Paul's disciples learnt and 
 practised the new faith. Sometimes they 
 were left in peace to worship quietly, and then 
 Nero or Domitian would take a fancy to root 
 out the religion which made even slaves inde- 
 pendent and defiant of their orders. Then 
 the Christians would hide in underground 
 burial-places to hold their services or flee into 
 waste places, but their best were taken and 
 brought into the arena to fight with African 
 lions or wild boars from the Apennines, while 
 the city-bred Romans sat on the marble tiers 
 of seats in the great theatre and cheered or 
 hissed as the sight aroused their passions. 
 But " the blood of martyrs is the seed of the 
 Church " : men were moved by the sight of 
 these heroic sufferers and asked what it was 
 that made them go singing to their awful 
 deaths. Many more became Christians, and 
 even among the settlers in Britain the faith 
 spread. The symbol of the cross was raised
 
 THE PROVINCE 29 
 
 over stones that had been pagan altars and 
 temples were turned into churches. At last 
 in 321 a.d. the Emperor Constantine gave 
 leave to all his subjects openly to worship 
 Christ, so throughout Britain the church 
 spread, bishops ruled great districts, and 
 helped the praefects in the cities. 
 
 Where Castle Hill stands all these things 
 happened day by day for three hundred years 
 and more till Britons forgot they had ever been 
 free and ignorant or had to fight for fife against 
 the wild beasts or among themselves. But 
 the prosperous, peaceful life began to be dis- 
 turbed by rumours of trouble in Rome. The 
 Emperors had left the city. The Goths were 
 threatening the new capital, Constantinople, 
 then Italy, at last even Rome itself, and 
 sacked it in 410 a.d. The Roman troops 
 were recalled to Italy. Cohort after cohort 
 must have marched into Chesterton from 
 the North ; some came down Watling Street 
 from Chester and the Welsh Marches ; others 
 from the great North Wall through Eboracum 
 (York) and down the Ermine Street or by the 
 Akeman Street from the Coast, where the Count 
 of the Saxon shore held watch and ward against
 
 30 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 those pirates of the Wide Sea. Into the 
 camp on Castle Hill they would pour, rest a 
 night or two, and then march out by the 
 southern gate down Akeman Street to join 
 the road for London or to pass by Silchester 
 to Venta Belgarum (Winchester) and take ship 
 for Gaul and Italy, for ' 'all roads lead to Rome." 
 Legion after legion got their marching orders, 
 and when the wealthy farmers asked " Who 
 guards the Wall ? ' : "Is there no fighting 
 with the Picts ? " centurion or legionary 
 shook his head and muttered grim stories of 
 the blocking of the wide gateways that guard 
 the camps behind the great North Wall, 
 and how a dozen men were left to guard five 
 miles of frontier ; how empty lay the great 
 base camps, while all who still dared live upon 
 the border drew together into the walled 
 chesters for safety. For Home, the Eternal 
 City, was falling and the " Pax Romana," 
 which had brooded over every province, even 
 to distant Britain, was coming to an end. 
 Now every Roman lord and British farmer 
 must look to his own right arm to shield him 
 and his villa.
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 Saxon Times : Pagan and Christian 
 The Desolation 
 
 For a hundred years Cambridge and the rest 
 of Britain suffered grievous things. As the 
 shining legions of Rome marched away south 
 the prosperous Britons and Roman settlers 
 were left to themselves. British chiefs took 
 up the title of King and issued coins stamped 
 with their heads as the Caesars had done ; 
 they are found now sometimes, little hoards 
 of them hidden away in the ground in an 
 earthenware jar or single coins dropped 
 perhaps in hasty flight from a lonely villa 
 beset and burned by the barbarians. In the 
 cities Decurions and Bishops still held rule, 
 and tried their best to keep up the walls and 
 to rally the frightened townsmen in their own 
 defence. For the peaceable farmers and 
 traders found it hard to train themselves in 
 the strict, military discipline which had 
 rendered the legions such a power. The 
 Roman habits and customs, their ways of
 
 32 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 building and farming gradually decayed, and 
 the Christians slipped back into the old 
 heathen practices, sacrificing furtively to the 
 Sun or to some local forest god in the wild hill 
 country. The great Wall in the north was 
 broken down and overrun ; barbarous Picts 
 and their Irish allies swarmed southwards 
 and reached the midlands, plundering and 
 burning the cities and slaughtering the feeble 
 households of the farms and villas. Bravely 
 the bishops tried to rally their poor terrified 
 flocks, going out before them with the Cross 
 to do battle and themselves fighting manfully 
 to beat back the raiders as they did at the 
 " Hallelujah " victory 1 . They appealed in 
 vain for help to the Roman Governor in Gaul, 
 in a letter called " The Groans of the Britons," 
 saying, " The barbarians drive us into the 
 sea ; the sea drives us back to the barbarians '> 
 between them we are exposed to two sorts of 
 death ; we are either slain or drowned." 
 Still the pagans came on. The story of St. 
 Patrick tells how they ravaged a place in 
 North Wales, killed the Decurion and carried 
 off his son, little Patrick, to be a slave and herd 
 
 1 Bede xx.
 
 SAXON TIMES 33 
 
 cattle in Ireland. Such things were happen- 
 ing every day all over the north and the mid- 
 lands. Men shut themselves up within the 
 four walls of a city and built up the wide 
 gateways till there was only room for one man 
 at a time to pass in or out. Lonely villas 
 were abandoned, their treasures buried, and 
 soon the vineyards and cornfields that had 
 made Roman Britain one of the great gran- 
 aries of the world were over-run with weeds 
 and brambles, and grass began to grow between 
 the stones of the straight Roman roads which 
 had knit all quarters of the province up with 
 Rome. 
 
 At last, the south Britons in despair, 
 watching the barbarians draw steadily nearer 
 to their last refuge, sent to the Angles and 
 Saxons of the Continent for help, and in 449 
 a.d. the first Englishmen landed in Kent. 
 It was at Stamford on the Welland that these 
 new allies first did battle against the Picts 
 and Scots, and no doubt the men of Cambridge 
 sent a body of swordsmen to join them as 
 they passed along the Ermine Street to the 
 field of battle.
 
 34 
 
 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 The English 
 
 The English strangers wore sharp, narrow 
 blades, which they called " seaxas." One 
 was found at Barrington in 1890, and is now 
 in the Archaeological Museum. It is an iron 
 dagger-blade, 12 inches long and two in 
 breadth, almost straight, but pointed and 
 grooved. There, too, are bronze and gilded 
 brooches shaped like horses' faces, with which 
 
 Ande-j&xm Zwxt , aud'BUl, found rt TJttTtngfoti, Cambridgeshire, to t8S3uidt887. 
 
 they fastened their plaids at the shoulder or 
 neck, and the round bucklers they carried on 
 the left arm. Those were made of wood or 
 leather crossed with strips of iron or strength- 
 ened by great iron studs and bosses. As 
 they marched along the paved street and 
 looked out on the green pastures and shining 
 waterways of Cambridge and Suffolk the 
 English thought how easily they could sail
 
 SAXON TIMES 
 
 35 
 
 their light ships up into the heart of such a 
 land, and how poor a fight the Britons were 
 likely to put up. So when they had beaten 
 the Picts they sent home for their kin, who 
 came swarming in by the rivers Ouse and 
 Yare and Thames. 
 
 5ibuk, awfP&U: of Ctasra , mitb decpralut ptak stX \yitb silver dlaes, 
 
 Where the Britons resisted their towns were 
 burnt, and they themselves enslaved or driven 
 back into those marsh refuges which had 
 sheltered their early ancestors. The English 
 would not live cooped up in towns, but set 
 up their villages in the open country.
 
 36 
 
 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 Beside the fords of the streams by which 
 they had entered, in an open forest glade on 
 the hillside, or on the sunny uplands from 
 which they could overlook all the valleys, they 
 reared their wooden huts and barns. Cutting 
 
 down beeches or oaks to form upright " crucks 
 or crutches," they set them 15 feet apart 
 like the pillars of a church. A long straight 
 trunk with the bark on, placed from one 
 pair of crutches to another, formed the 
 roof-tree, stout timber beams the rafters, 
 and between the uprights hurdle-work of 
 wattle daubed with straw-bound clay filled
 
 SAXON TIMES 37 
 
 in the gaps and soon dried hard. Then thatch 
 was laid on the rafters from the well-cut gable 
 of the roof-tree to the overhanging eaves, 
 often no more than five or six feet from the 
 ground, as you may see them still in parts of 
 Germany. The daub was washed with blue 
 or pink or yellow, and the pathway paved 
 with rounded flints. While each man had his 
 own cottage nestling in its toft or garden- 
 patch apart from its neighbours, big barns 
 and stables held the corn and cattle of the 
 whole kin or patriarchal family group 1 . 
 
 Such English villages would spring up in 
 Norfolk and Suffolk as the Angles worked 
 their way inland and southward to our own 
 district ; also in the midlands where Mercians 
 turned east till they reached the Cam. Each 
 village had its cluster of huts, its warm 
 meadow for the lambs and kine, its bit of 
 plough-land and its rough pasture on the 
 edge of moor or woodland. Beyond all the 
 land of the tribe was the protecting " mark " 
 or boundary, an earthen mound with quickset 
 
 1 This seems to be implied in Rectitudines Singularum 
 Personarum, see Bland, Brown and Tawney, Select Docts. of 
 Econ. Hist.
 
 38 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 hedge or timber fence and a cleared belt 
 beyond it. In outlying parts the villages 
 still stand much as they did then, a cluster 
 of human nests, thatched and coloured, 
 gathered round an open green, but dominated 
 now by church and manor, where then only 
 the village moot, the mound or tree of public 
 assembly, marked the centre of the village life. 1 
 For these English were pagans, worshipping 
 Thor and Woden, singing the old sagas and 
 keeping the fierce old customs of "an eye for 
 an eye," as their notion of justice. Horrid, 
 ruthless and accursed in the eyes of the 
 Christian Britons, so that none would even try 
 to convert them, superstitious as they were 
 ignorant, they looked with awe and dislike 
 on the walled, four-square Roman cities, and 
 left them to moulder away. If a stone bridge 
 had been built across the Cam it would be 
 let fall to ruin by men to whom ferries and 
 fords were more natural. The villas and 
 streets of the camps collapsed and only the 
 names, Chesterford, Chesterton, etc., showed 
 they had once existed to guard the crossings. 
 For, meeting on the Cam from opposite sides, 
 
 1 See L. Gomme. Primitive Folkmoots.
 
 SAXON TIMES 39 
 
 the Mercians and Angles became bitter 
 enemies. While Mercians held the hill, with 
 a strip known as Aermeswerk, south of the 
 Roman camp, where Magdalene now stands, 
 the Angles held the gravel ridge on the east 
 of the river with a crossing higher up at Elde 
 Newenham. So Cambridge began as two 
 towns, the northern or Mercian, and the 
 southern or Anglian, and each seems to have 
 had its own market and its own three fields. 
 The south-eastern fields were known as Barn- 
 well Field, and reached out to Ditton, Cherry 
 Hinton and Trumpington, while those on the 
 north-west were called Cambridge Field, and 
 reached from Grantchester round to Coton, 
 Madingley, Girton and Chesterton. " Each 
 had its pieces of common pasture. Each was 
 apparently cultivated on the usual three-field 
 system. The three divisions of Barnwell 
 Field were known as Bradmore Field, Middle 
 Field and Ford Field. . . . Those of the 
 western or Cambridge Field were Grithow 
 Field, Middle Field and Carme Field, with the 
 last of which was reckoned Little Field." 1 
 
 1 A. Gray. The Dual Origin oj the Town of Cambridge, 
 p. 2.
 
 T)otfyEoorujay of OurLdAy's C^attd^tourbtld^.
 
 SAXON TIMES 41 
 
 Between the two peoples, Mercian and 
 Anglian lay the Fens and in them a remnant of 
 the first men led a hunted life. Their hand 
 was against every man, and the fair-haired 
 Saxons, whom they ambushed at times and 
 robbed, hated their dark, southern features, and 
 called them "Black Devils" and "British 
 Thieves." To the eastward of their haunts the 
 North and South Folk formed the notable 
 kingdom of East Anglia, under the Uffing, 
 Redwald. At the court of his neighbour. 
 Ethelbert of Kent, Redwald had met the monk 
 from Rome, Augustine, and learned to worship 
 Christ, and when Ethelbert died it was Red- 
 wald who took up his title of Bretwalda. But 
 Redwald was only half a convert, for Bede 
 tells us "in the same temple he had an altar 
 for the sacrifice of Christ, and another small 
 one to offer victims to devils." His son, too, 
 was first heathen, then Christian, and for 
 some years the kingdom was torn by the 
 conflict between the old savagery and the 
 creed of Peace. Redwald's second son, Sige- 
 bert, was driven to France, and there learned 
 from the Frankish churchmen to love the new 
 order.
 
 42 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 Coming back to reign, he was followed by St. 
 Felix of Burgundy, who was made the first 
 bishop of East Anglia. With his help Sigebert, 
 " being desirous to imitate the good institutions 
 which he had seen in France, set up a school 
 for boys to be taught in Letters." 1 Felix, 
 no doubt, tried to convert British as well as 
 Anglians, for he died at Soham, then a sea- 
 port, looking over the watery haunts of the 
 Girvii, and there a monastery was built in 
 his honour. Sigebert was an ardent servant 
 of Christ, and when he had brought order and 
 the new light of education into his kingdom 
 he retired into a monastery hoping to end his 
 days in peace. But he could not be spared. 
 The Mercians had remained pagans, they 
 made a raid across the Cam, and Sigebert 
 came out from the peaceful cloister to stand 
 by his people. Carrying no weapon but a 
 stick, he helped his successor to rally them, 
 and a stand was made, but in the fight both 
 leaders were slain, and yet another of Red- 
 wald's descendants, Anna, became king. To 
 confront the Mercian danger he chose as his 
 
 1 Conybeare's Cambridgeshire p. 45.
 
 SAXON TIMES 43 
 
 homestead, Exiling, a village lying on the 
 western slopes of the downs, backed by the 
 heath now called Newmarket, and over- 
 looking the lines of the great Dykes that still 
 formed the best barrier of defence to all East 
 Anglia and were the scenes of many more 
 great battles. 
 
 From Exning Anna ruled with sword and 
 cross, " a good man and the father of an ex- 
 cellent family," but he too fell at last before 
 the ceaseless onslaughts of the Mercians. 
 They were the only pagans left in England, 
 and the more furious on behalf of Woden and 
 Thor. Their king Penda attacked one Chris- 
 tian king after another till he was supreme 
 in the land. In 654 came the turn of East 
 Anglia, and Anna, calling to his aid his son- 
 in-law, Tonbert, lord of the South Girvii, 
 maybe manned the Dykes with mixed troops 
 of "British thieves" and Saxon Christians. No 
 valour availed against the practised war-lord, 
 Penda. He hurled his hordes over the defences 
 " like a wolf, so that Anna and his folk were 
 devoured in a moment." But this was the 
 night " darkest before the dawn," and next 
 year Penda was killed at Winwaed by an
 
 44 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 allied force of the Christian kings, and Mercia 
 itself was soon forced to lay down the old 
 heathen faith and join the rest of England in 
 the church. 
 
 Nowhere did Christian light shine out more 
 brilliantly than in our Eastern land. Anna's 
 " excellent family " were like stately columns 
 upholding the holy church. One son, Erken- 
 wald, was bishop in the old Roman city of 
 London, guarding the Thames and the church- 
 men's route to Canterbury and Rome. His 
 sisters ruled as abbesses of Barking and of 
 Dereham, while two more, Sexburga and 
 Ermenilda queened it in Kent and Mercia, the 
 one carrying on the work of St. Augustine, the 
 other strengthening the hands of St. Chad in 
 his stern schooling of the Mercians. In France 
 another sister, Sedrida, Abbess of Brie, set 
 up schools to which many English girls went. 
 Best known to us is the last of them all, St. 
 Etheldreda. Married first to Tonbert, she 
 received as dowry the fen-land of Ely, and on 
 his death she became Queen of Northumbria. 
 There at Whitby her aunt, St. Hilda, had 
 founded a famous abbey, and was diligent 
 in reviving Christianity, ravaged by Penda
 
 SAXON TIMES 45 
 
 Fired by her teaching, St. Etheldreda returned 
 to build at Ely a house 1 , which became the 
 beacon-light of the fen-lands, a sanctuary and 
 refuge for the oppressed through many cen- 
 turies, and remains to-day one of the most 
 lovely works of man. 
 
 At this time began to rise in Cambridge- 
 shire and the surrounding country a ring 
 of abbeys, centres both of religious scholar- 
 ship and of wise farming lore, which gave 
 this country-side a foremost place in 
 English history. Ely, Peterborough, Thorney, 
 Ramsey, and Crowland were the most 
 famous. The intercourse which would grow 
 between Ely and Brie is typical of the 
 close contact of East Anglia with the most 
 flourishing ports of France and Flanders for 
 the next thousand years. The great water- 
 way of the Fens and Wash was one with that of 
 the North Sea, the Scheldt and Rhine. From 
 650 a.d. onwards the growing trade of the 
 Frank and Flemish cities would supply the 
 great, monastic houses of East Anglia. Costly 
 embroideries, rich jewelled relics, gorgeously- 
 bound books, spices and incense for the abbey 
 
 1 Bede, chap. xix. and xx.
 
 46 
 
 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 churches came over the Alps and down the 
 Rhine stream from the Levant merchants, 
 and so across the " Wide Sea," to be landed at 
 Ely or Soham or Bottisham, or further up the 
 
 jfj'ixon "Food. Vessel. >ountLaIiiarru)gTon. in 
 C&nfortdqcsforc, in i ss o . 
 
 Jpwonwuo Vessels, Pound at Hars&ro.CSarobs-. 
 
 inland water to Landbeach or the wharves of 
 Cambridge itself. There the Irish boats too 
 came in, their dark, Celtic boatmen wrapped
 
 SAXON TIMES 47 
 
 in heavy frieze cloaks and their monks bearing 
 exquisitely decorated missals 1 , richly enamelled 
 ornaments and weapons and wonderful carved 
 work to sell to their brethren of the South. 
 
 For Ireland was the land of gold, of fine art 
 and most zealous devotion, the centre of 
 learning and of the Faith. For four cen- 
 turies it was from the green island of the 
 western seas that the greatest missionaries 
 and scholars went out to teach Christ to 
 the barbarous Teuton, not in Britain only, 
 but in Saxony, Flanders and Germany, till 
 the days of Charlemagne. In Scotland and 
 Wales their abbeys stood at Iona, at Bardsey, 
 and at Lindisfarne, and all round the northern 
 coasts their little ships plied fearlessly. Ely and 
 her sister abbeys of Peterborough and Crowland 
 were well-placed to receive and rest these 
 ardent venturers for Christ and forward them 
 on their dangerous missions over the North 
 Sea. For their delicate and lovely goods the 
 Anglians would give quantities of their rough 
 pottery and strong basket-ware of the Fens, 
 
 1 A fragment of St. Luke's Gospel in Corpus Christi Library 
 is of Seventh Century Irish workmanship. The initial letters 
 are most beautifully coloured and decorated with figures of 
 birds intertwined into a plaited pattern
 
 48 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 and store their ships afresh with fish and meat 
 and corn from the abbey lands. So they 
 would pass on to be the founders of the first 
 bishoprics in Germany. 
 
 From a.d. 673 to 679 St. Etheldreda ruled 
 in Ely and over the 300 square miles of half- 
 submerged lands known as the Isle. Men of 
 many races came to kneel at the shrine and to 
 traffic, and so at a later time a fair sprang up. 
 This went on year after year until in Norman 
 days King Henry I. ordered all boats to 
 go to Cambridge to unload, and then no 
 doubt only the lighter trifles were carried to 
 Ely, to St. Audrey's fair, and her name 
 became the word for worthless, " tawdry " 
 baubles. 
 
 But one solid relic of St. Audrey's reign 
 remains, the stone base of a cross kept in 
 Ely Cathedral. These words are cut upon 
 it:— 
 " Lord, give Thy light and peace to Owen. Amen." 
 
 Till recently it stood in Haddenham. 
 This Owen was St. Audrey's prime minister 
 or Over-Alderman. His name is a British 
 one and no doubt he ruled her Girvian 
 people in the Fens. He lived, perhaps,
 
 SAXON TIMES 49 
 
 at Winford, and died in a monastery 
 at Lichfield. Bede says " He fully forsook 
 the things of this world, quitting all that he 
 had, clad in a plain garment and carrying 
 an axe and hatchet in his hand, . . . signi- 
 fying that he did not enter the monastery to 
 live idle, as some do, but to labour." 1 Such 
 men in every abbey taught the Anglians to 
 forsake war and roystering and to use the 
 axe against their natural enemies of forest 
 and fen, to labour and learn to turn the wild 
 country into fertile farms. 
 
 No part of England was more productive 
 and well to do than Cambridgeshire. The 
 lands which the Romans had farmed were 
 easy to clear and cultivate ; the great abbeys 
 followed the rules of the Benedictine houses 
 abroad and their stewards organised great 
 troops of peasants working on the level lands, 
 growing corn and wine and herding sheep 
 and pigs. Children were gathered to the 
 monastery schools and taught useful crafts 
 and trained in obedient diligence and rever- 
 ence for holy men and things. Pilgrims and 
 travellers passed along the ancient Way and 
 
 x See Conybeare, p. 54.
 
 50 L1IE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 the Roman streets, slept at the abbey guest- 
 house, marvelled at the rare glass windows 
 of the churches, and told thrilling tales of 
 adventure and miracle in return for the plenti- 
 ful fare and home-made wine or ale of the 
 religious hospices. The old Pilgrims' Way 
 that winds over the hills from Walsingham 
 to Bury and on through Ickenham still shows 
 where the troops of travellers, pilgrims, 
 merchants and soldiers passed. South-west 
 beyond Cambridge St. Mary's chapel crowned 
 and gave its name to the first line of hills as 
 a landmark to guide the wayfarers towards 
 the Ermine Street. 
 
 Now after Anna's day there was one ruler 
 for all the kin of the English, Egbert of 
 Wessex, and the men of Cambridge and East 
 Anglia came in to him and had help of him 
 against the men of Mercia in 825 a.d. Freed 
 from that danger Cambridge began to grow. 
 Each people had their own town and market- 
 place, the Mercians on the fortified hillside, the 
 Anglians on the patches of dry ground known 
 as " hills " amid the marsh of the Eastern 
 side. The gravel ridge, a mile or so wide, 
 that runs from the Gogs to Magdalene Bridge,
 
 SAXON TIMES 51 
 
 was their main roadway, with houses on 
 either side, then on Market Hill, Peas Hill and 
 St. Andrew's Hill, three more clusters of huts 
 soon ran into one town, while all around open 
 marshy fields gave pasture and ploughland 
 as far as Trumpington, Hint on and Ditton 
 villages. The many ancient roads meeting 
 at the ford brought traffic from the abbeys 
 to meet the merchants riding up from London 
 and the ships that unloaded at Magdalene 
 Wharf, so Egbert gave the town the right to 
 have a mint and make coins stamped with his 
 device. 
 No doubt Cambridge like other villages 
 had its Reeve and four good 
 men to represent it, chosen by 
 cUwsja the Folkmoot ; it is certain that 
 the Hundred Moot was held 
 here, which met at first by the Bridge. 1 
 
 Try to picture the Saxon place with its 
 groups of tiny cottages, built of timber and 
 hurdle-work daubed with mud, and thatched 
 with straw or reeds. Here or there larger 
 buildings, made of the same simple local 
 means, are the common barns or may be 
 
 1 See Liber Eliensis, p. 13o.
 
 52 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 known by the wooden cross or bell-turret 
 for churches, and round them every day you 
 may see monks dressed like the Italian peasants 
 in rough woollen cloaks and hoods going in and 
 out, building a new house for themselves or a 
 hospice for travellers, showing some peasant 
 
 1. Anglo -Saxoi) ^piQdLt^ot^lromBarr^gtbn^Car^bs. 
 a .£axoT) wovt^tr^ato^.enUcgcd/oiu^ui CawidgC'. 
 
 from the hills how to fashion a plough or yoke, 
 teaching the children to repeat their prayers, 
 or two townsfolk how to calculate the value 
 of the goods they would barter. On Sundays 
 and feast-days the people flock to common 
 worship. Many come long distances out of 
 the fens, bringing with them the pots or
 
 SAXON TIMES 53 
 
 baskets they have made since the last feast, 
 others come down from the hills with skins 
 of wolves or wild-cats. After church they 
 stand about offering these things in exchange 
 for the salt some seaman has brought in or 
 the flax the monks have been growing. So 
 the churchyards become the market places, 
 and men who live in the outlying hamlets 
 look to Sunday as the one day of the week 
 in which they can leave their labour of dyking 
 or clearing the forest and meet their fellows, 
 see the alderman presiding in the Moot to 
 settle the last quarrel with the Mercians or 
 bring their share of wheat or swine to pay 
 tithe and house-penny as a freeman should. 
 
 All round the town the land lies open, with- 
 out hedges or trees or houses. Some of it is 
 being ploughed; by the many winding branches 
 of the river are meadows of lush grass ; further 
 off in the plough-land ponies and small 
 cattle are being kept together by a herd while 
 they graze the rough grass and weedy stubble 
 of the last year's harvest field. Away on the 
 slopes of the hills herds of half wild pigs are 
 rooting and munching under the trees and 
 filling themselves with acorns and beechnuts.
 
 54 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 Here and there a rough sledge or cart with 
 solid wooden wheels bumps and rumbles along 
 the old Roman street or makes its heavy way 
 along some field track or " headland " to 
 where the " hayward " guides a line of 
 mowers. A few old thorn bushes give patches 
 of shade where children roll and play in the 
 short, trodden grass of the " balk " while 
 their parents work at the crops, each on his 
 own strips. In the clear water of the meres 
 boys are bathing and swimming, disturbing 
 the fishermen in their light skiffs of wicker 
 and skin, or sending the waterfowl whirling 
 up in a cloud only to circle and settle a little 
 further off.
 
 Chapter V. 
 
 The Danes 
 
 But while Cambridge began to draw the life 
 of the countryside round its two towns, the 
 coast of Anglia was overhung by a worse form 
 of the danger that had always threatened it 
 since the Roman Count had watched for 
 pirates on the Saxon shore. 
 
 In 787 a.d. three ships, better manned and 
 longer than any of the Saxon or English ones, 
 but built like them narrow and light with 
 high carved beak and stern and steered by a 
 fixed stern oar, came lifting and falling over 
 the crests of the North Sea. Watchmen, 
 who first espied the coloured sails and strange 
 Raven banner, ran hot-foot to warn the Reeve, 
 whom the King had chosen to rule that 
 country. 
 
 " Then the Reeve rode to the place, and 
 would have driven them to the King's town, 
 because he knew not what men they were. 
 And then and there did they slay him. These
 
 56 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 were the first ships of Danish men that sought 
 the land of Angle-kin." l 
 
 So without warning or parley began the 
 first of the Norse raids, which were once more 
 to make East Anglia and Cambridgeshire 
 desolate. Fleet after fleet came on before 
 the North-east wind and raced up the river 
 mouths, the ships rowed by 30 or 40 oars 
 apiece. The crews hauled up their boats and 
 built or seized a stronghold on the higher 
 ground, where they could be secure through 
 the winter months ; thence they would march 
 out afoot or on captured horses, raid the great 
 abbeys, sacking all their wealth and burning 
 the fine stone and timber towers till they 
 flared like beacons of disaster over the red- 
 dened water of the Fens. 
 
 Thetford was commonly the headquarters 
 of this pagan army, and from there they must 
 have marched by Cambridge every time they 
 would go inland either to York or the Mid- 
 lands or over the Chiltern Hills to harry 
 Bucks, and Hertfordshire and the soft Thames 
 Valley. In 870 a.d. they rode back and 
 martyred St. Edmund at Bury, " and trod 
 
 1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 787 a.d.
 
 THE DANES 57 
 
 down all the land and brake down all the 
 Minsters that ever they came to," even Ely 
 not escaping. In 875 three of the Viking 
 chiefs " sat down " in Cambridge " one whole 
 year," until at last they were overpowered 
 and had to " steal away " westwards into 
 Dorsetshire. Three years later Alfred beat 
 their host at Ethandune in the hills of Somer- 
 set near Athelney, baptized their leader, 
 Guthrum, in the font at little Aller (pro- 
 nounced Oiler) by the Parrot and so made 
 peace, dividing the land between them. 
 Cambridge, lying just north of the boundary, 
 the River Lea and Watling Street, fell to the 
 share of the Lords Danes and was ruled by 
 their Lagemen from the Moot place by the 
 bridge. 
 
 In 905 a.d. Alfred's son Edward took arms 
 again and drove the Danes northward from 
 the Watling Street boundary, and here in 
 Cambridgeshire his Kentish men, lingering 
 under Siwulf the Alderman, and Kenwulf 
 the Abbot, fought to a standstill on the 
 Dykes, slaying the Danish King but losing 
 their own leaders and the field of battle. 
 Seven years later, Edward and his sister,
 
 58 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 Ethelfled, Lady of the Mercians, gathered 
 their joint strength and laid down sound 
 plans of conquest. Marching steadily north- 
 east, they gave battle again and again and 
 won back stretch after stretch of the country ; 
 built earthen strongholds to keep it secure ; 
 planted new settlements of Wessex men as 
 at St. Ives, and grouped the Hundreds in 
 Counties round each of the reviving towns. 
 And so at last in 921 a.d. " all the (Danish) 
 host among the East Anglians swore to be at 
 one with King Edward, that they would all 
 that he would, and would hold peace toward 
 all to whom the King should grant his peace, 
 both by sea and land. And in especial did 
 the host which owed fealty to Cambridge 
 choose him to father and to lord ; and there- 
 to swore oaths, even as he then bade it." 
 
 Each hundred in the new county of Cam- 
 bridgeshire held some ten villages or " tith- 
 ings," where each man was known to his 
 neighbours and answerable to the whole 
 village for any misdeed, as was the " tithing " 
 itself to its fellow- villages and to the Hundred 
 moot. 
 
 Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk lay
 
 THE DANES 59 
 
 apart from the rest of England, eut off by 
 the waters, all but an island and hard to come 
 at even from the south. While loyal to Edward's 
 heirs, these counties lived a life of their own 
 and their Hundred moots seem to have sent 
 men to a Witan of their own, 1 which every 
 freeman might attend from all East Anglia, 
 though few probably troubled to take long 
 journeys to do so. At the Witan presided 
 an Alderman for all three shires, the most 
 famous being Brithnoth. The Ramsey Chron- 
 icler tells how this hero marched out to his 
 last battle with the Danes at the Blackwater 
 in Essex. On the way he refused to take 
 food unless the men of his hearthward or 
 bodyguard could share it. "I cannot fight 
 without my men, neither will I feed without 
 them." The battle is recorded in the famous 
 saga called " The song of Maldon." They 
 had reached the place of battle, and Brithnoth 
 dismounted to fight among his men on foot 
 as Saxons did, when the Vikings sent a mes- 
 senger to demand ransom : — 
 
 " Thy realm may est thou ransom 
 By sending the Seamen, 
 
 1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1004 a.d.
 
 60 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 To their own full doom (i.e. terms), 
 
 Gear and gift. 
 
 Then back with our booty 
 
 To ship will we get us, 
 
 Fare forth on the flood 
 
 And pass you in peace." 
 
 Brithnoth answered as a true Englishman 
 
 " Hear thou, sailor, 
 What saith this people, 
 For ransom we give you 
 Full freely our weapons, 
 Spear-edge and sword-edge 
 Of old renown. 
 
 This bode in return 
 
 Bear back to thy shipmates, 
 
 This word of high warning, 
 
 That here stand undaunted 
 
 A chief with his chosen : 
 
 This land will we fight for, 
 
 For Ethelred's realm, 
 
 For our King, folk, and country. 
 
 Then waded the water 
 Those wolves of the slaughter 
 Nor stayed them the stream : 
 Pressed over Panta (Blackwater) 
 The Vikings' war : 
 O'er the wan waterway 
 Weapons they waved, 
 Their shields to shore 
 The shipmen bore."
 
 THE DANES 61 
 
 The fight was bitter ; the Danes were so 
 badly mauled that they made off without 
 waiting for more " ransom," but Brithnoth 
 fell, and his faithful hearthward bore his head- 
 less body back to Ely. There they had rested 
 and feasted on their way out, and Brithnoth 
 had repaid the Abbot's hospitality by princely 
 gifts, the grant of jurisdiction over many 
 villages of his in Cambridgeshire. Among 
 them were Trumpington, Teversham, Trip- 
 low, Fulbourn, Hardwicke, Impington, Crox- 
 ton, Soham, and Papworth. His widow gave 
 a golden collar and a tapestry record of his 
 deeds to the abbey, and there his tomb can 
 still be seen. It was King Alfred who had 
 revived Ely after the Danish raids, sending 
 eight monks to repair one aisle of the old 
 church, and this served nineteen years later 
 as a refuge to the whole country-side. King 
 Sweyn had come to take vengeance for the 
 treacherous massacre of his subjects on St. 
 Brice's Day. The men of Cambridge made 
 a heroic stand at Ringmere, and the King 
 punished it by a merciless harrying of the 
 whole district with fire and sword. 
 
 In 1010 a.d., " while all England shook "
 
 62 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 before Sweyn "as a reedbed rustling before 
 the wind," Ulfcytel, "the Ready," Brith- 
 noth's successor as Alderman, rallied the 
 forces of whom the Danes themselves had 
 said in 1004 that " never worse hand-play 
 had they met in England " ; he stood against 
 them at Ringmere, but his forces broke ; 
 " Soon fled the East English. Then stood 
 fast Grantabrygshire alone " ; so fast stood 
 they and so worthily that " while English 
 kings rule, the praise of Cambridgeshire shall 
 flourish." But no one shire could long with- 
 stand a king's host, and the Danes took the 
 fiercer vengeance, riding throughout the dis- 
 trict for three weary months, destroying all 
 save Ely, safe behind her floods. Cambridge 
 was sacked and burnt. " And they even 
 went into the wild fens, and there they des- 
 troyed men and cattle and burned throughout 
 the fens. What could be moved that did 
 they lift, what they might not carry that did 
 they burn . . . and so marched they up and 
 down the land." 1 Of all the villages none 
 suffered more than Balsham, small and re- 
 mote as it was. The old church tower still 
 
 1 See Ingulf. History of Croyland.
 
 THE DANES 
 
 63 
 
 stands with the narrow winding stairway on 
 which one man barricaded himself safely, 
 only to find when the raiders rode off that all 
 
 £avot)Btot)3C-gUt Disc , set u>Ub Kve 
 gart)ets,el[c. Foutj&at Atiujciton HUl , 
 0ucTT)UcBo1Xott) Caxtjbrldgcsbvrc- 
 
 his kinsfolk were slain or enslaved, and he 
 alone remained of the whole ham. At Bar- 
 rington fierce fighting seems to have held the
 
 64 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 ford across the Cam, for there were found in 
 1875 skeletons of men and horses, a " seaxe," 
 shield-bosses, swords, daggers, spearheads, a 
 green glass brooch with the Danish snake- 
 headed raven cut upon it, and a bronze 
 charm with Saracenic characters such as the 
 Danes wore, and which are still found from 
 time to time in places where they lived in 
 England. The final battle of Assandun, in 
 which Edmund Ironside was defeated, was 
 perhaps fought at Ashdon on the borders of 
 Cambridgeshire. 
 
 The Danes, after harrying Mercia, had 
 made off towards the ships they had left in 
 the Thames estuary; but Edmund, guided 
 perhaps by the monks of Ely, 1 who would 
 have watched the line of smoking villages 
 left in the enemy's wake, made hard after 
 them, and overtook them by the rising 
 Bourne. There the king charged under his 
 royal banner and the Golden Dragon flag of 
 Wessex. " Brandishing his good sword, he 
 clove like a thunder-bolt the Danish battle- 
 line," but some felon raised the cry " Flet 
 Engle," Dead is Edmund," and started a 
 
 1 See Liber EHensis, p. 196.
 
 THE DANES 65 
 
 panic. " Thus did he betray his King and 
 Lord and the whole people of Angle-kin. 
 There did the whole English nation fight 
 against him ; and there had Cnut the victory. 
 There was slain Bishop Ednoth (of London) 
 . . . and Ulfcytel of East Anglia. . . . And 
 all the nobility of the English nation was there 
 undone." 1 In 1020 a.d. Cnut built at Assandun 
 " a minster of stone and lime, for the souls of 
 the men who were there slain." 2 For Cnut 
 was Christian and a good king, and befriended 
 Ely though the monks had gone against him 
 at Assandun. Many stories are told of his 
 love of Ely ; of his song : — 
 
 Merry sang the monks in Ely 
 
 As Cnut, king, rowed there by. 
 
 "" Steer lads near the land 
 
 And hear we the monks chant." 
 
 Merie sungen the Muneches binnen Ely 
 Da Cnut ching reu ther by. 
 " Roweth cnites noer the land 
 And here we ther Muneches saeng." 
 
 Of his love of attending the services at Ely 
 the quaintest tale is told. 
 
 The Feast of the Purification was at hand. 
 Cnut was at Soham and could not get through 
 
 1 Anglo-tSuxon Chronicle, 1010. 2 Canterbury Chronicle.
 
 66 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 to Ely by reason of the unusual frost and ice. 
 " The water of the marshes was frozen. His 
 good mind would not change, but he was 
 anxious and groaning. He thought, trusting 
 in the Lord God, to cross the mere from Soham 
 to Ely in a sledge if the hard frost did not 
 stop, but that he would make the rough 
 journey with more safety and with less fear 
 if someone should go before him. Now by 
 chance there stood by in the crowd a great 
 hulking man from the Isle, one Brihtmer 
 Budde, so called from his thickness. He 
 offered to go before the king. They crossed 
 safely, and Cnut constantly told the story, 
 and praised God for the wonder that so great 
 and bulky a rustic should make not the least 
 stumble on the way, so that he himself, being 
 both active and of small size, could follow 
 straight on without fear." So pleased was he 
 that he called Brihtmer to his presence 
 and granted the serf freedom and possession 
 of his hut and land for ever ; and the Ely 
 monk who tells the tale says " his children's 
 children live there free and in peaceable pos- 
 session to this day." 1 
 
 1 Liber Eliensis, p. 203.
 
 Xfyejbwer of JD J3et)et's C^)urc1? ; Ckotrdcc.
 
 68 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 It was about this time that the burnt huts 
 of Cambridge must have been rebuilt, for 
 Cnut had a mint at the town, and the coins 
 made here were marked with the old name of 
 the place, " Grant " for " Grantebrigge." 
 It was perhaps soon after this that the 
 first stone church, St. Benet's, was built. 
 Most of the churches of those days were 
 made of timber, and the masons who built 
 St. Benet's tried to make the stone they 
 used into the round shape of turned logs to 
 decorate the windows, as you may see in the 
 tower of that church. 
 
 Of the life of Cambridge in later Saxon 
 times we do not know much, though Domesday 
 Book tells us that the Confessor's Sheriff 
 made each burgher or free householder in the 
 town " pay for his protection three days' 
 ploughing yearly or the value of it in money, 
 as well as the " heriot " of 20s. paid when they 
 came into their land. Somewhere about this 
 time, too, the people of standing, called thanes, 
 joined in a gild, partly to help each other in 
 time of need, partly to keep order and put an 
 end to bloodshed. It is one of the oldest 
 gilds in all England, and Cambridge may well
 
 THE DANES 69 
 
 be glad to have the record of some of its 
 rules. 
 
 Gild of Thanes of Cambridge 
 
 " Here in this writing is the declaration of the laws 
 which the members of the Gild of Thanes at Granta- 
 brycge have resolved upon. 
 
 The first is that each give his oath to the others on 
 the sacrament of fidelity before God and before the 
 world, and the whole society shall (up)hold him that has 
 most right. 
 
 If any member die let the whole gildship bring him 
 (for burial) to the place he chooses, and he who does not 
 come thereto shall pay a syster 1 of honey ; and the gild- 
 ship shall pay half of the expense of the funeral feast of 
 the departed ; and each shall give twopence 2 in alms, 
 and as much of the sum collected as is right shall be 
 offered at St. Atheldritha's. 
 
 And if any member have need of the assistance of his 
 fellow members, and it be told the reeve nearest that 
 member, in the case of the member not being near, and 
 the reeve neglect it he shall pay a pound. And if the 
 Lord (of the gild) neglect it he shall pay a pound, unless 
 he be on Lord's need 3 or be very sick. 
 
 If anyone kill a member let the fine be not less than 
 eight pounds. Then if the slayer refuse to pay the fine 
 let all the gildship avenge the member and every one 
 bear his share. If one do it 4 let all bear equally. And 
 
 1 A syster is probably 15 pints. 
 
 2 The penny was worth about 3d. 
 
 3 On business of his office. 
 
 4 i.e. if one does vengeance.
 
 70 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 if any member slay a man and he be needy and he must 
 make compensation for his deed, and the slain man be a 
 man of twelve hundred shillings, 1 let each member give 
 half a mark 2 to help him. If the man slain be a ceorl let 
 each give two oras, 3 if a Welshman 4 one ora. If the 
 member slay any one by wrong and by folly let himself 
 bear the consequence of what he has done. And if a 
 member slay his fellow member by his own folly let him 
 satisfy the kinsman himself, and buy again his place in 
 the gild with eight pounds, or lose for ever the right of 
 fellowship and fraternity. And if any member eat or 
 drink with him who has slain his fellow member unless it 
 be in the presence of the king, 5 or of the bishop of the 
 province, or of the aldermen, he shall pay a pound, unless 
 he can make it appear by two witnesses that he did not 
 know him. 
 
 If any member abuse another let him pay a syster of 
 honey, and if anyone abuse one not a member, let him 
 pay one syster of honey, unless he can clear himself by 
 his two witnesses. 
 
 If a servant draw his sword let his lord pay a pound 
 and the lord may have it as he can, and let all the gildship 
 help him that he recover his money. And if a servant 
 wound another, let the lord (of the wounded) avenge it, 
 and let the whole gildship inquire that he have not life. 
 
 And if a servant waylay a man he shall pay a syster of 
 
 1 i.e. of weregild rated at 1,200 shillings, but its value varied 
 
 constantly. 
 
 2 Mark = 13/4. 
 
 3 Ora was of two kinds 16 pence and 20 pence. 
 
 4 Welsh commonly used for British, i.e. non-Saxon. 
 
 6 Wherever the king went his "peace" went with him and 
 thus gave sanctuary.
 
 THEJ3ANES 71 
 
 honey, and if anyone have a foot-setting he shall do the 
 same. 
 
 And if any member die or be sick abroad his fellow 
 members shall fetch him and bring him dead or alive 
 whither he wishes, under the same penalty as has been 
 named. If he die at home the member who does not go 
 to fetch his body, and the member who does not attend 
 his morrow speech, shall pay his syster of honey." 
 
 Some of these rules are not easy to under- 
 stand. " Let the whole gildship inquire that 
 he have not life " seems to mean that they 
 are to set justice to work to punish the crime 
 with death. The word foot-setting is prob- 
 ably used for " trap " or " snare " ; and the 
 " morrow speech " is no doubt a meeting 
 held in praise of the dead. We do not know 
 the later history of this gild, but it is tempting 
 to guess that it was the germ of the ruling 
 group known as " the men of Cambridge " 
 since it was made up of the thanes. 
 
 Not long before this, about the year 930, a law 
 had been made that " If any man fare three 
 times over the Wide Sea (? North Sea) by his 
 own means, he shall be of thane-right worthy," 
 and it may be that some of these Cambridge 
 thanes had risen in this way. A gild of water- 
 merchants ruled at this time in Paris, which
 
 72 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 still uses their seal of a sailing ship ; perhaps 
 our gild of thanes did the same for Cambridge. 
 Many gilds arose in the next three centuries, 
 and every one of them was under the guardian- 
 ship of some holy saint. For the Church took 
 care to guide and help men in all their doings, 
 and no man would have dared to do without 
 its help, not even the king. In this way the 
 Church had learned to make good rules and 
 plans, and it is no doubt partly from such 
 bodies as the gilds, and partly from having 
 to judge of fair-play in the Moots that Saxon 
 townsmen learned to manage their own town 
 affairs. The Church had practised managing 
 matters for nearly six hundred years in Italy 
 and France and the countries of the Mediter- 
 ranean before St. Augustine came to England, 
 so his followers could aid the Saxon kings to 
 write down their best customs as laws or 
 " dooms," and to plan their councils. These 
 little bands of peaceable townsfolk joining 
 together against any troubles that might come 
 upon them, illness or fire or raiding pirates 
 or plundering barons must have learned that 
 " union is strength," and the Church sanc- 
 tioned and guided the clubs they formed, and
 
 THE DANES 73 
 
 encouraged them to meet in the churches. 
 Gilds were formed to do neighbourly work, 
 to feast together or walk in procession in 
 honour of their saint or founder ; to say ser- 
 vices and hear masses for one who died, care 
 for his burial, put together money for his 
 widow, and look after his children ; also 
 they made rules that work should be carefully 
 and honestly done, and no man defrauded 
 of what was due to him.
 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 The Norman Years 
 
 Already we have traced a number of changes 
 in the life of Cambridge. We come now to 
 the greatest, the Norman conquest ; each 
 left some mark in the customs and character 
 of the people here as in the rest of England, 
 and this the most. The wide, well-managed 
 villa-farms of the Romano-British had been 
 covered up by the free villages of the Saxon 
 kin with their lands owned and tilled in 
 " common " fields. These again were mas- 
 tered in part by the Vikings, and the Dane 
 law governed all the towns north of Watling 
 Street, making them more eager for trade 
 and shipping than other parts. The English 
 " earls " yielded to Danish " jarls " of higher 
 standing, and when Edward the Confessor 
 died, Jarl Gyrth, Godwin's son was ruler of 
 all East Anglia, and led his housecarls to his 
 brother Harold's aid at Hastings, only to 
 fall beside him. We know little in detail of 
 the doings of Cambridge folk in the first years
 
 THE NORMAN YEARS 75 
 
 of the Conquest except that the reason 
 William built one of his new castles, probably 
 of earth and timber, on the hilltop was, as 
 Fuller says, " that it might be a checkbit to 
 curb this country which otherwise was so 
 hard-mouthed to be ruled." This was done 
 as he marched homewards in 1068 from his 
 stern handling of rebellious Yorkshire. Now 
 as of old to hold the Cam bridge-way was to 
 grip the key of this country-side, and William 
 was too good a king to miss it. Two years 
 later, however, Ely became the City of Refuge 
 for all who withstood him. In 1070 a.d. 
 " came King Sweyne from Denmark 1 into the 
 Humber. . . . Then came into Ely Christien, 
 the Danish bishop, and Earl Osbern, and the 
 Danish domestics with them ; and the Eng- 
 lish people from all the fen-lands came to 
 them, supposing that they should win all 
 that land. Then the monks of Peterborough 
 heard say, that their own men would plunder 
 the minster ; namely Hereward and his gang ; 
 because they understood that the king had 
 given the abbacy to a French abbot, whose 
 name was Thorold. . . . Then came they in 
 
 1 Not to be confused with Cnut's father.
 
 76 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 through fire at the Bullhithe Gate ; where 
 the monks met them and besought peace of 
 them. But they regarded nothing. They 
 went into the minster, climbed up into the 
 holy rood, took away the diadem from our 
 Lord's head, all of pure gold, and seized the 
 bracket that was under His feet, which was all 
 of red gold. They climbed up into the 
 steeple, brought down the table that was hid 
 there, which was all of gold and silver, seized 
 two golden shrines, and nine of silver, and took 
 away fifteen large crucifixes, of gold and of 
 silver ; in short, they seized there so much 
 gold and silver, and so many treasures, in 
 money, in raiment, and in books, as no man 
 could tell another ; and said, that they did it 
 from attachment to the minster." 1 The next 
 year " went Earl Morkar to Ely by ship ; 
 but Earl Edwin was treacherously slain by 
 his own men. Then came Bishop Aylwine, 
 and Siward Barn, and many hundred men 
 with him, into Ely." They crowded in across 
 the marshes to the little island, ten miles long 
 by five wide, and found there abundance of 
 food in the corn and cattle of the Abbey, the 
 
 1 See Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1070.
 
 THE NORMAN YEARS 77 
 
 stags, goats, hares, fish and fowl of all kinds that 
 the island produced. A Norman knight whom 
 they captured told afterwards how they fared. 
 " In the eddies at the sluices of these meres 
 are netted innumerable eels, large water- 
 wolves, with pickerels, perches, roaches, bur- 
 bots, and lampreys, which we call water- 
 snakes. There you find geese, teal, coot . . . 
 herons and ducks, more than men can number. 
 ... I have seen a hundred — nay, even three 
 hundred — taken at once, sometimes by bird- 
 lime, sometimes in nets or snares." 1 
 
 Thus stored with food of all sorts and sur- 
 rounded by the great, natural moat of the 
 Fens, Ely made a first-rate stronghold. The 
 monk Thomas of Ely, who tells the story, 
 says, " King William, when he knew that most 
 strong fighter, Hereward to be there, gathered 
 exceeding much valour to fight against them, 
 and devised evil against the holy place and 
 how to ruin it." With his boats-carls he 
 came up the Ouse to Brandon and Reach on 
 the east to beset the Isle, " with a host which 
 no man could number," while on the south he 
 had others to try to make a causeway over 
 
 1 Liber Eliensis, p. 232.
 
 78 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 the marsh with faggots and sandbags from 
 Willingham to Aldreth. But Hereward led 
 sallies out against them, drove them off and 
 bore back much spoil into the Isle. " When 
 the king heard that he was wroth and com- 
 manded to summon the strong and brave 
 from all the townships and towns to hunt 
 them out." These Hereward again beat off, 
 and then the king's great men came to him 
 and said, '"Let us make peace with yonder 
 men ; for the place which we beset is fortified 
 and we do not prevail against them : ac- 
 cording to the traditions of their fathers have 
 they borne themselves against us. And the 
 word was pleasing in the eyes of the King 
 and of his princes : he sent to them to make 
 peace.' . . . But the English outlaws hardly 
 trusted him, and soon claimed that he had 
 broken faith with some of their friends and 
 the struggle began again. Once more William 
 tried his plan of a causeway, ' he ordered all 
 kinds of things to be thrown in, many trees 
 and faggots not a few, with sheepskins scraped 
 and filled with sand,' but this time when his 
 soldiers rushed on to it, eager to get at the 
 rich plunder of the abbey, it gave way under
 
 THE NORMAN YEARS 79 
 
 them and many were drowned or choked in the 
 mud. Then the story tells that a sorceress 
 was brought and set in a tower to hearten 
 the troops by her incantations. Now Here- 
 ward did a brave thing. He wanted to find 
 out their plans, so taking his pet mare, Swallow, 
 who always looked awkward and flagging, 
 but was of fine breed, extraordinary speed 
 and active to endure long lasting work, he 
 dressed up as a potter. He cropped his long, 
 thick hair and beard, put on the pale clay- 
 smeared smock and took the earthenware 
 pots. That evening he got to the witch's 
 house and she took him in, thinking him a 
 poor man. He spent the night there and could 
 have killed her but wanted to hear the plans 
 she was making. In the morning he slung 
 the pots on his shoulders again and went 
 along, shouting out "Pots, pots, good pots 
 and bowls : earthenware of all sorts and the 
 best make," and so made his way to the 
 quarters of the king. Then he was taken 
 by the king's servants into the kitchen, where 
 they bought pots. Where amongst others 
 present was a reeve from the neighbourhood, 
 who swore that he had never seen anyone
 
 80 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 looking more like Hereward. And when he 
 said so busybodies and hangers-on ran up 
 from all directions to spy and make up their 
 minds whether it really was Hereward or a 
 man like him, and this story became known 
 in the Hall among the pages and nobles. And 
 looking hard at him they would not believe 
 that clumsy countryman to be Hereward 
 and denied it. He stood like a stupid and 
 made no reply to those who questioned him in 
 French, although he understood it very well. 
 For they asked if he had sometimes seen or 
 known that rascal. To whom at last he gave 
 this answer in English : Would that that 
 man of Belial were here now, hateful to me in 
 everything ; I might be well avenged of him. 
 For he himself stole my one cow and four 
 sheep so that I am forced miserably to beg 
 and thrown into such great misery that I can 
 scarcely carry on a wretched life by means of 
 this mare and the pots, with great shame and 
 toil. 
 
 " And while this bickering was going on, 
 one came from the king's presence and ordered 
 them to hasten the king's meal ; on which 
 account the wrangling died down meanwhile.
 
 THE NORMAN YEARS 81 
 
 But before long the cooks and riff-raff eating 
 and drinking got thoroughly drunk, and 
 noticing Hereward, thought him a dolt ; so 
 they seized him with his pots all round him, 
 blindfolded him and drove him on to them 
 to smash them. Then thumping him with 
 their fists they tried cruelly to pull out the 
 hair on his chin and by way of a game to shave 
 his head. But it hardly happened as they 
 expected, they soon paid the forfeit. At 
 this point, when try as he might he could no 
 longer keep his temper, one of them hit him 
 on the head, whom in return he gave back a 
 blow under his ear so that he fell as if dead. 
 When his comrades saw that, all fell upon 
 him with prongs and forks, and he, seizing a 
 stake from the hearth, defended himself 
 against them all, one being killed and many 
 wounded. He was seized, dragged out and 
 made over to the guard. And whilst he was 
 kept under guard, there came a man carrying 
 fetters in one hand to bind him and a drawn 
 sword in the other : which Hereward striking 
 from his hand seized and quickly slew him 
 with his own weapon and wounded the others. 
 And so escaping by the fence he found his
 
 82 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 mare and mounted her, and as she galloped 
 off the crowd of lads tried to pursue her ; 
 but her great speed plunged him with her into 
 the wood of Sumersham and by the light of 
 the moon he came by night into the Isle and 
 set his armed men where ever there were con- 
 venient points, lest by chance any trouble 
 from the enemy should come upon them 
 unawares. 
 
 Now when the king, returning home knew 
 of this, he applauded Hereward's unconquer- 
 able courage, giving orders positively that if he 
 were at any time seized he should be kept 
 unharmed." l 
 
 Another story is told of him by Gaimar, in 
 quaint old Norman-French verses, like this: — 
 
 Then the king bade 
 
 Build a bridge over marsh ; 
 
 Said he would slay all 
 
 None should escape him. 
 
 When these knew it in Ely 
 
 They put them at his mercy ; 
 
 All went crying for mercy 
 
 Save Here ward, right bold. 
 
 He fled with few folk 
 
 Geri with him, his kinsman, 
 
 With them were five comrades. 
 
 1 Liber Eliemis, pp. 235-6.
 
 THE NORMAN YEARS 83 
 
 A man who brought fish 
 
 To the guards along the marsh 
 
 Played the true man and courteous 
 
 In his boat took them, 
 
 With reeds and flags hid them 
 
 Towards the guards began rowing 
 
 As evening grew dusk, 
 
 Nigh their camp in his boat. 
 
 The French were in a tent 
 Guy the Sheriff, their captain, 
 He knew well the fisher, 
 Knew well 'twas he coming, 
 Of him none took notice. 
 They saw the fisher rowing, 
 'Twas night, they sat eating. 
 
 From the boat came forth Hereward, 
 
 Bold as a leopard ; 
 
 His comrades came after 
 
 Made for the tent through a covert, 
 
 With them followed the fisher. 
 
 Hereward was erst his Lord. 
 
 How shall I tell it ? the knights 
 Were surprised at their meal. 
 Grasping axes entered those, 
 They were no fools at striking 
 Slew twenty-six Normans, 
 Twelve English were slain there. 
 
 Great the fear through the dwellings, 
 All shared in the flight,
 
 84 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 Left horses all saddled, 
 
 The Outlaws sprang on them, 
 
 Each chose a rare, good horse. 
 
 The wood was near, they entered it, 
 
 They went not at random, 
 
 Knew well all that country, 
 
 Had many their friends there. 
 
 At a town that they came to 
 
 Found ten of their party. 
 
 These joined them to Hereward. 
 
 Erst were they eight, now were ten more. 
 
 Eighteen were the comrades. 
 
 Before they passed Huntingdon 
 
 Had a hundred well-armed men 
 
 Of Hereward's liege vassals, 
 
 They were his men and faithful. 
 
 Ere the morn's sun was risen 
 
 Seven hundred had joined him 
 
 They followed to Bruneswald. 1 
 
 By such deeds of rare daring and craft 
 Hereward kept up the courage of the English 
 and beat off and disheartened William's 
 Norman vassals. But the monks of Ely 
 grew weary of the rough life. They knew 
 too that the Holy Father at Rome had blessed 
 the king's banner when he set out, and being 
 loyal churchmen and learned clerks they 
 
 1 Gaimar's Chronicle of Hereward contains many other stories, 
 mainly legendary. Gaimar, Lestorie des Engles, vol. ii. (see 
 " Rerum Britannicarum.")
 
 THE NORMAN YEARS 85 
 
 held it wrong to resist the Lord's Anointed. 
 So they sent word to William that they would 
 submit to him and do his will, and they showed 
 him a way across the marshes. His men 
 followed it, and entered Ely, and Hereward 
 was forced to flee. For some years he wan- 
 dered as an outlaw, but William had always 
 praised his gallant spirit, and at last it is said 
 that he made friends with him and promised 
 that he should hold his lands in peace.
 
 Chapter VII. 
 
 Mediaeval Cambridge 
 
 In the fight for VAy, Cambridge was the King's 
 headquarters, and Castle Hill must have 
 swarmed with the barons and their vassals, 
 
 called in from " all the townships and towns," 
 with all the supplies too and the serfs who 
 had to bring them ; the bussearls or boatmen 
 foreed to do service by water when the king 
 summoned them ; the machines of siege, and 
 heavy wagons to draw them. The Cam 
 would he crowded with boats, rafts of timber 
 and faggots for the causeway, and barges 
 heavy laden with goods for the camp. No 
 doubt all this brought some wealth to the 
 burghers, and about this time some of the 
 oldest buildings began to rise. William's 
 first Castle was most likely a timber one, of 
 two or three stories, no wider than a church 
 tower, it was probably set up on the green 
 mound that is still there, made by William's 
 men to bear it. The bottom story would be 
 built of solid logs with no door or windows.
 
 MEDIAEVAL CAMTJRTDflE 
 
 87 
 
 The entrance would be in tho second storey, 
 to which men would climb up by a ladder or 
 sloping plank that could be drawn up after 
 them in case of attack. The ground iloor 
 was used only as a cellar or " Donjon " to 
 store food or prisoners in, and gave that 
 
 CaaBU Hill , CAtubruixje , 
 U)itl) the j'xeep euij^tsttd. , 
 
 name to tho whole tower. By the end of his 
 reign William had begun to build stronger 
 towers of stone, called keeps, but these were 
 often too heavy for the earthen mounds, 
 which gave way under them. Perhaps that 
 
 1 Aflur the pliin of Hrumljor Custlo, by C. Aulnlown. 
 in their G lory " Horiea. 
 
 Castlei
 
 88 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 was why the Keep of Cambridge Castle was 
 built afterwards below and a little to the 
 north of the motte or mound. A great Gate- 
 house was also built on the Huntingdon Road, 
 and four smaller towers between them. These 
 were all joined to one another by stone walls 
 known as " curtains." The Borough covered 
 the whole hilltop from Mt. Pleasant to 
 Chesterton Lane. In the outer Bailey, or close 
 about the Castle walls would cluster the huts 
 of the villeins and serfs who gave their crops 
 or their labour for the right to their land and 
 to shelter in case of need. Their houses 
 would be of wattle and daub, probably one 
 room only with holes for window or chimney, 
 thatched and surrounded with tiny gardens of 
 herbs. The boundary of the Castle area 
 where Histon Road begins was marked in 
 later days by a stone Cross known as " the 
 High Stone Cross at Castle End." All this 
 part of Cambridge was sometimes called " the 
 Borough," and the oldest houses in the place 
 are still to be found there, such as " The Old 
 White Horse " and " The Three Tuns Inn." 
 
 From this high point Cambridgeshire was 
 ruled by the King's Sheriff, called Picot. He
 
 MEDIAEVAL CAMBRIDGE 89 
 
 had been made lord of Bourn, and other 
 manors. He or his successor is thought to 
 have built the old Manor Hall, now called 
 Merton Hall. It was the sort of house used 
 by the Norman gentry everywhere, one long 
 room with stone pillars, 15|ft. apart, four on 
 each side, dividing it into nave and aisles ; one 
 end was marked off by screens for the kitchen, 
 and at the other end an alcove built out at 
 right angles was the private parlour, or 
 " soler " of the Lord and Lady. The hall 
 was raised on vaulted cellars where stores 
 and cattle could be kept, and so the entrance 
 was by some stone steps forming a short out- 
 side stair. In the one great room the whole 
 life went on ; men worked, played, fed, and 
 slept there, and the women too. Like the 
 smaller houses it would have no chimney, 
 but a hole in the centre of the roof over the 
 great hearth, though this was covered later 
 by a little turret or " louver " with open sides, 
 such as you may see in the Hall of Queens' or 
 Peterhouse. Old pictures shew the Hall 
 with a thatched and gabled roof, and in old 
 days it was common for churches to be roofed 
 with thatch ; instances are still to be
 
 90 
 
 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 seen at Long Stanton and at Ickenham, in 
 Suffolk. 
 
 Before the Conqueror's reign ended, the 
 great reckoning was made of all the land and 
 property in the country which could pay 
 anything into the King's treasury : we know 
 
 
 j. 
 
 
 it as Domesday Book. The monk who wrote 
 the story of Hereward gives this account of 
 it : " He (William) laid an unbearable tribute 
 on the English and ordered an account of 
 the whole of England in that year, how much 
 land each of his barons was holding, what
 
 MEDIAEVAL CAMBRIDGE 91 
 
 knights holding in fee, what hides, what 
 villeins, what beasts, yea, what live cattle 
 each man possessed in his whole kingdom 
 from the greatest to the least, how much each 
 taxable holding paid ; and the land was 
 vexed with many mischiefs by reason of these 
 doings. And terror and distress such as were 
 not from the beginning arose in all men's 
 minds. And in that day all nature was grieved, 
 strife waxed among men, pestilence among 
 beasts, ruin and famine in the land." 1 
 
 The century after the Conquest must have 
 changed the look of Cambridge more than 
 any later one. Besides the Castle and stone 
 Manor house the Normans reared several 
 other beautiful buildings. The most famous 
 for many years was Barnwell Priory, and in 
 the history of its life we can see a picture of 
 what monks were doing all over England at 
 this time. 
 
 Barnwell Priory 
 
 In 1092, Hugolina, the wife of Picot the Sheriff, 
 lay grievously ill. Her husband prayed with 
 her for her recovery, and together they vowed 
 
 1 Liber Eliensis, p. 228.
 
 92 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 if she were given health to found a house for 
 six Augustine Canons and dedicate it to Saint 
 Giles. In a few days the Lady was well, and 
 the vow was soon redeemed, St. Giles' being 
 built just below the Castle mound between 
 Chesterton and Huntingdon Way. 
 
 But Robert, their son, when his father died, 
 was accused of joining in a plot to murder 
 King Henry I. ; so he fled from the land, and 
 his place and the office of sheriff were given to 
 Pain Peverel, who had carried the standard of 
 Duke Robert of Normandy on his crusade. 
 Peverel wished to add to the number of 
 the Canons, and "perceiving that the site 
 on which their house stood was not large 
 enough for all the buildings needful to 
 his Canons, and was devoid of any spring 
 of fresh water, Pain Peverel besought 
 King Henry to give him a certain site 
 beyond the Borough of Cambridge, extending 
 from the highway to the river, and sufficiently 
 agreeable from the pleasantness of its position. 
 Besides, from the midst of that site there 
 bubbled forth springs of clear, fresh water, 
 called at that time, in English, Barnewelle, 
 the Children's Springs — because once a year,
 
 MEDIEVAL CAMBEIDGE 93 
 
 on St. John Baptist's Eve, boys and youths 
 met there, and amused themselves in the 
 English fashion with wrestling matches and 
 other games, and applauded each other in 
 singing songs and playing on musical instru- 
 ments. Hence by reason of the crowd of 
 boys and girls who met and played there, a 
 habit grew up that on the same day a crowd 
 of buyers and sellers should meet to do busi- 
 ness. There too a man of great sanctity 
 called Godesone used to lead a solitary life, 
 having a small wooden oratory that he had 
 built in honour of Saint Andrew. He had died 
 a short time before, leaving the place without 
 any habitation on it, and his oratory without 
 a keeper." 
 
 King Henry granted Peverel 13 acres of 
 land round about the springs, and in 1112 the 
 Canons were removed from St. Giles and a 
 new church begun with " ponderous work- 
 manship " in the Norman style. In 1122 
 Pain died, and his son " William was not so 
 eager for the building of the church as his 
 father had been, but went to the Holy Land 
 and presently died there." 1 
 
 1 J. W. Clark, Camb. Antiquarian Soc, Proc. XXXIII.
 
 94 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 The ponderous Norman church was never 
 continued, but the Priors had built a lighter 
 one, which was finished by the 5th Prior and 
 Everard de Beche in 1190 and consecrated 
 to St. Giles and St. Andrew, and in the next 
 half century the 9th Prior " built the f rater 
 and the farmery, the great guest hall, the 
 granary, the bakehouse and brewhouse, the 
 stable for horses (oxen were still used for 
 ploughing, but men travelled on horseback), 
 the inner and outer Gatehouse and the walls 
 of the new work . . . almost to the top. He 
 finished the chapel of St. Edmund and covered 
 it with lead." Barnwell became one of those 
 great church houses that were centres of life 
 for farmers and lay folk, merchants as well 
 as priests. But in the Middle Ages men 
 might not carry on trade unless they had 
 received leave by charter from their lords, 
 or could shew that to do so was an old custom. 
 The buying and selling which had grown up 
 at the Barnewelle on Midsummer Eve became 
 a great fair, but it does not seem to have been 
 formally licensed by the King till John 
 reigned, though the canons had increased it 
 year by year.
 
 MEDIEVAL CAMBRIDGE 95 
 
 Another noble building of Norman Cam- 
 bridge was the Round Church of which we 
 still have the nave, with its beautiful doorway- 
 covered with (restored) Norman mouldings, and 
 its short columns of workmanship as ponderous 
 as Peverel's. It was probably built between 
 1120 and 1140 by Ralph the Bearded and the 
 Brothers of the Holy Sepulchre, an order of 
 fighting monks like the Templars, whose 
 church in London it resembles in plan. They 
 are both plainly the work of men who had 
 been to the East and seen there the church of 
 the Holy Sepulchre after which they are named. 
 
 Cambridge was still a tiny place when 
 Domesday Book was written. It contained 
 10 wards but only 373 dwellings. On the 
 northern side 27 houses had been pulled 
 down to clear a site for William's castle. 
 Picot too, the Sheriff, had made himself hated 
 by pulling down houses and seizing common 
 land to build himself three mills, by Silver 
 Street. He added heavily to the dues, the 
 three days' ploughing became nine, and the 
 " heriot " x " eight pounds, a palfrey, and a 
 
 1 Heriot. — A forced gift made by the heir on taking up his 
 father's lands, probably a survival of the old practice of giving 
 stock with land.
 
 96 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 complete suit of knightly armour." Besides 
 having to take their corn to his mills to be 
 ground the people felt the Conquest in other 
 ways. The native English Thanes are not 
 spoken of in Domesday; they seem to have 
 died or been made villeins. Norman knights are 
 in their places. William of Malmesbury, the 
 chronicler of the Conquest, laments : " Now is 
 England become the home of foreigners, the 
 hold of strangers ; not one Englishman is 
 there now left who is either Earl, Bishop or 
 Abbot; strangers be they all"; and this 
 seems truer of Cambridgeshire than of other 
 parts, for the struggle of Hereward's men met 
 punishment by outlawry and dispossession. 
 Many of the foreign lords had greater lands 
 elsewhere ; and it is said that Cambridgeshire 
 " from that day to this has been singularly 
 lacking in ' county ' families." 
 
 The growth of the town may have owed 
 much at this time to the " King's Jews." The 
 Jewry was opposite the Round Church in the 
 angle of the High Ward formed by Trinity 
 Street and Sidney Street. Jews, accursed by 
 crusaders and scattered throughout the world, 
 held together then as now like the members of
 
 MEDIAEVAL CAMBRIDGE 97 
 
 one clan, and were always ready to stand by one 
 another or combine forces and funds in pursuit 
 of their trade. This unity and their clever- 
 ness with money made them the bankers of 
 the Middle Ages ; kings and other rulers 
 found them the best agents for raising large 
 sums in sudden cases of need, and took them 
 under their special protection. Jews were 
 the only men who had capital, and when 
 Henry I.'s writ made Cambridge the one port 
 of the county they no doubt lent large sums 
 to the traders and merchants, and their 
 chambers would be filled with their bonds. 
 Englishmen are never ready to welcome 
 foreigners and the Church then taught them 
 to abhor Jews ; as money-lenders and sharp 
 creditors these had a third claim to 
 envy and malice, and the king's protection 
 must have been often needed when the 
 servility of the poor Jew or the arrogance of 
 the rich one angered their burly English 
 debtors and neighbours. Jews were the 
 King's servants, and it was from the 
 King, Henry III., that the burghers ac- 
 quired the house of a rich Jew, called 
 Benjamin, for a town gaol. Jews were
 
 98 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 among the first to build stone houses in 
 England. 
 
 The life of Cambridge was further enriched 
 in Henry the First's reign by the founding 
 of the Nunnery of St. Mary and St. Rhadegund. 
 This was at first a little cell by the riverside 
 where a handful of devout women took refuge 
 from the world about 1133, just before the 
 troublous times of Stephen. Almost at the 
 same date the Hospital of St. John was built 
 by Henry Frost, a burgess, for a Master and 
 Brethren of the Augustine Order to care for 
 the sick and poor townsmen. The old hospital 
 has given place to St. John's College, where 
 its foundations are still to be seen, and in 
 Jesus College part of St. Rhadegund's Church 
 and Nunnery remain to form what some think 
 the most interesting of all college chapels. 
 King Stephen granted to the nuns the right 
 to hold a fair in the town, and it soon got the 
 name of Garlic Fair. 
 
 In the Jewry and opposite Jesus Lane stood 
 the church of All Saints, while a second, "All 
 Saints by the Castle," stood across the river 
 till at the time of the Black Death it was 
 deserted, became ruinous, and the haunt of
 
 MEDIEVAL CAMBRIDGE 99 
 
 wild beasts. On the north of the bridge, too, 
 were the Norman churches of St. Giles and 
 St. Peter. Two ancient arches have been 
 kept in St. Giles, one of them the Norman 
 chancel arch blessed by the great and meek 
 St. Anselm, and a Norman font is in St. Peter's. 
 These would be the churches that suffered 
 at the hands of a brigand baron in Stephen's 
 reign, who posed as a friend of Matilda, and 
 against whom Stephen built a stronghold at 
 Burwell, of which only the foundations can 
 now be seen. This Galfrid de Mandeville 
 raided the countryside, sacking Cambridge, 
 and " not sparing even the churches." He 
 was shot through the head when attacking the 
 fort of Burwell, and died " excommunicate 
 and unabsolved, nor was the earth suffered 
 to give a grave to the sacrilegious offender." 1 
 
 1 Conybeare, Cambridgeshire, p. 111.
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 
 Monks and Friars 
 
 In Cambridge of the Middle Ages three main 
 streets led south and east. Bridge Street 
 linked Huntingdon Road with the main road 
 to Colchester, known as Hadstock Way, with 
 Barnwell Gate where the Post Office now 
 stands. Westwards from Bridge Street one 
 might turn aside at the Jewry into High Ward 
 to reach Trumpington Gate ; while nearer 
 still to the river ran Milne Street serving the 
 Sheriff's and King's mills, and traceable now 
 in the lanes on which Trinity Hall and Queens' 
 College open. Beyond the Gates were the 
 common fields of the southern town, which 
 was fortified by a moat or watercourse, 
 always known as The King's Ditch, for all 
 waters not private were the King's. Starting 
 from the King's Mill in Mill Lane it ran by 
 way of Pembroke Street and St. Andrew's 
 Street to Christ's, and so to Park Street 
 and into the river opposite Magdalene. It 
 took the place of the walls which surrounded
 
 102 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 most mediaeval towns. Outside Trumpington 
 Gate was the village of Little St. Mary, and 
 beyond it, where Downing College now is, the 
 common arable " St. Thomas' Leas " and the 
 common pasture of Coe Fen. Beyond the 
 King's Ditch, which crossed Jesus Lane, 
 Maid's Causeway ran out between meadow 
 and ploughland to Barnwell Priory. 
 
 The following extracts from the book of the 
 rules of the monastery give a good idea of the 
 life and duties of these Canons. It was 
 written in 1295 or 1296, nearly 200 years after 
 the foundation of the house, and the rules 
 would continue in force until Henry VIII. 
 dissolved it. 
 
 CUSTOMS OF AUGUSTINIAN 
 CANONS OF BARNWELL PRIORY. 1 
 4. The road of Canons Regular is the rule of blessed 
 Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. 
 
 6. OF THE REVERENCE DUE TO THE PRELATE. 
 
 . . . in the first chapter that he shall hold . . . all officers 
 are to prostrate themselves before him and lay their 
 keys at his feet. ... In whatever place he passes before 
 them they ought to rise and bow, and remain standing. 
 . . . Whoever brings him a book, or anything else, ought 
 
 1 Customs of Aug. Canons, J. W. Clark, 1897, Macmillan and 
 Bowes. Liber Memorandorum Ecclasiae, de Bernewelle, 
 Book viii, Consuetudinarium.
 
 MONKS AND FRIARS 103 
 
 to bow. ... To him alone is entrusted the decision as 
 to punishment of more serious offences. . . . When 
 he is present no brother should leave the precinct 
 of the monastery without his permission. Within 
 the precinct brethren who go either to the granges, 
 the tailor-house, the garden, or the other offices, though 
 they have received permission from the Sub-Prior, should 
 bow to the Prelate, if he come in, and ask leave of him, 
 and intimate to him the permission they had previously 
 obtained. 
 
 7. The Prelate ought to be careful that ... he 
 neither abuse the high office he has undertaken . . 
 nor be lukewarm or remiss. . . . For he ought not to 
 have honour without trouble. . . . He ought to sleep 
 with the rest in the Dorter, to eat with them in 
 the Frater ... to make his round within and without 
 the offices ; for who will then find him to be idle ? . . . 
 On all double feasts ... he says first and second 
 Evensong, Mattins and High Mass. . . . the Prelate 
 ought not to ring the bell ; or even give the signal in the 
 Dorter to wake the brethren. He must by no means 
 presume, without the advice and consent of the Chapter, 
 to sell or exchange, to give or alienate, church property as 
 lands, tenements ; to expel a brother from the monastery ; 
 to receive back one who has been expelled ; to admit a 
 novice or a lay-brother ; or to present incumbents to 
 vacant churches or vicarages. 
 
 10. Op the Provost who is called Sub-Prior. 
 , . . when the Prelate is absent, or even when he is 
 present, the Sub-Prior acts as his subordinate. . . . 
 It is . . . his duty ... to make his round, in order 
 that he may restrain those who are walking to and fro ;
 
 104 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 and those behaving in an unseemly manner. He should 
 specially do this after Compline, when silence will be 
 most complete, and no one is allowed to leave the Dorter. 
 Then, if it be winter-time, he is to light a lantern, and 
 visit different offices round the Cloister, and the Farmery 
 also, because at that time neither those who have been 
 bled, nor those who are infirm ought to remain there, 
 but only the sick who are lying there in bed. He ought also 
 to shut the doors round the Cloister, to exclude all 
 secular persons, to take the keys with him, and 
 deposit them in the Dorter, and so at length sleep with 
 the Convent. . . . 
 
 11. . . . the Prelate ought not either to appoint or 
 to depose the Sub-Prior without the advice of the 
 spiritual brethren, nor except in hearing of the Chapter. 
 
 13. The Precentor, who is also called Librarian . . . 
 has charge of the books ... it is part of his duty to 
 rule the Quire. ... let no one set their opinion above 
 his ; and let no one disturb what he has begun by 
 beginning anything else, or by beginning in any other way. 
 
 14. Of the safe keeping of the books. 
 
 The Librarian . . . is to take charge of the books of the 
 Church ; all which he ought to keep, and to know under 
 their separate titles ; and he should frequently examine 
 them carefully to prevent any damage or injury from 
 insects or decay ... he has to provide the writers with 
 parchment, ink and everything else necessary for 
 writing ; and personally to hire those who write for 
 money. . . . 
 
 The press in which the books are kept ought to be 
 lined inside with wood, that the damp of the walls may 
 not moisten or stain books. . . .
 
 MONKS AND FRIARS 105 
 
 Further, as books ought to be mended, printed and 
 taken care of by the Librarian, so ought they to be 
 properly bound by him. 
 
 15. Of the office of the Sacrist. 
 
 18. Of rising for Mattins. 
 
 Brethren ought to rise for Mattins at midnight. Hence 
 the Sub-Sacrist, whose duty it is to regulate the clock, 
 ought before then to ring the little bell in the Dorter to 
 awaken the Convent. . . . Next, when the lantern has 
 been lighted, which one of the younger brethren ought 
 to carry in front of them, and a gentle signal has been 
 given, they should put on their shoes and their girdles, 
 march into Church in procession, and devoutly and 
 reverently begin the triple prayer, six at a time. 
 
 20. At daybreak, at a signal from the Warden of the 
 Order, all the brethren ought to rise. No one ought to 
 remain in bed any longer without a very reasonable 
 excuse. When they leave the Dorter, after washing 
 their hands and combing their hair, they ought to go to 
 the Church before they turn aside to any other place. . . . 
 After this, while the priests are preparing themselves for 
 private masses, let some attend to the duties assigned 
 to them, others take their books and go into the cloister, 
 and there read or sing in an undertone. 
 
 Of Novices. 
 
 25. ... let the master teach him how to keep guard 
 over his eyes. After this let him lead the Novice into the 
 Quire, and there let him say the Lord's Prayer three 
 times on his knees, with as many salutations of the 
 Blessed Virgin. Then let his master lead him to his bed 
 in the Dorter, and there, if it be needful, let him receive
 
 106 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 his tunic and girdle, and utter his private prayers. 
 Then, returning with his master into the Cloister, or 
 rather the Chamber, let him be taught how to behave at 
 the whole Mass, always guarding his eyes. After Mass 
 let him be taught how he ought to behave at meals, at 
 grace before and after, and at the noontide repose if it 
 ought to be held, and at Nones. Then let him be taught 
 how he ought to behave at Evensong, at Supper, at 
 Collation, at Compline, and at the triple prayer ; and 
 how, after receiving the holy water, he should cover his 
 head and pass through the Cloister to the Dorter, and 
 how he is to take off his shoes under his habit. . . . 
 Next his master is to be at his side when he goes to bed, 
 and shew him how to arrange his habit round about 
 him. When it is time to get up for Mattins, the Master 
 is to come to the novice, and help him with his clothes 
 and shoes, and make him sit before his bed, with his head 
 concealed in the depths of his hood. There he is to sit 
 and wait for the ringing, and go with the convent into 
 the Church, and, when Mattins are over, return with the 
 Convent to his bed in the Dorter. . . . Let him honour 
 his seniors. Let him learn the signs for the avoidance of 
 too much talking. Let him speak in gentle, not in 
 clamorous tones ; let his gait be devout, not hurried ; 
 let him be pleasant with everybody. 
 
 28. Of Silence. 
 
 Silence is to be kept according to the Rule (of St. Augus- 
 tine) in the Church, the Dorter, the Cloister, and the 
 Frater ; but it may be broken in the event of four 
 accidents, namely : robbers or thieves ; sickness ; fire 
 and workmen. Moreover, it may be broken for the sake
 
 MONKS AND FRIARS 107 
 
 of a King or Princess, an Archbishop or a Bishop. . . . 
 Silence is to be kept in the Cloister from morning till 
 after Chapter ; but after Chapter, if no Hour follow 
 immediately, the brethren may have leave in each day for 
 talking in the Cloister, which may last until the ringing 
 of the Hour (Service) preceding High Mass. . . . 
 
 29. Of the Chapter. 
 
 The Chapter-House is a place for confession, necessary 
 to the soul, but hateful to devils. As brethren sin daily, 
 they ought to come daily to the Chapter-House, that they 
 may there amend their daily faults. . . . No one ought 
 to offer any defence of an accused brother, or even to 
 speak unless called upon. . . . 
 
 A matter that has been once settled by the Chapter 
 ought not to be again unsettled without the consent of 
 the Chapter. 
 
 30. Of Processions. 
 
 All the brethren ought to assemble for all the processions 
 on Sundays, and other solemn processions. All those 
 who have been bled, all the officers, and even the infirm 
 or feeble, who can be present without danger, ought to 
 come to the blessing of water and to the procession. . . . 
 In the Sunday procession round the Cloister the bearer 
 of the holy water ought always to go first ; next those 
 who carry the cross and the tapers ; next after them the 
 Sub -Deacon with the book ; the Deacon next after him ; 
 lastly, the Priest. The Convent, the juniors at their 
 head, are to follow at a slow pace ; the Prelate, turning 
 neither to the right nor to the left, but walking in the 
 middle of the path, will be the last in the procession. 
 On all Wednesdays and Fridays throughout Lent,
 
 108 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 the convent ought to walk round the Cloister without 
 shoes. 
 
 31. Of the Fraterer. 
 
 It is the duty of the Fraterer to lay the table-cloths . . . 
 to set clean salt on each table in clean salt-cellars, and 
 if it should have got damp, to serve it out for use in the 
 kitchen, dry and wipe out with a cloth the damp salt- 
 cellars, and so set on clean salt. . . . He ought also to 
 fetch bread for the use of the brethren from the cellar, 
 and to be careful that the bread is clean and not burnt, 
 nor gnawed by mice, nor dirty. . . . The jugs ought to 
 be washed inside and out once a week ; and the Frater 
 ought to be cleaned thoroughly with besoms as often as it 
 requires it. The Almoner will provide baskets and 
 besoms for collecting the remnants of the table. . . . 
 
 The Fraterer ought also to provide mats and rushes to 
 strew the Frater and the alleys of the Cloister at the 
 Frater door, and frequently to renew them ; in summer 
 to throw flowers, mint and fennel into the air to make 
 a sweet odour ; in summer to provide fans. When cups 
 and spoons are broken he is to get them mended, and 
 he is to count them every day to see that none are 
 missing, and at night to lay them up in a safe place. 
 
 32. In the Frater. 
 
 While the brethren are sitting at table . . . they 
 ought to speak sparingly, and not to let their eyes 
 wander. . . . No one is allowed to exchange fish for 
 meat ; no one may whittle, or write, or look at a book 
 ... no one may rise from table or leave the room, or 
 fetch anything for himself from the hatch. No one may 
 come in after the second dish has been set on the table.
 
 MONKS AND FRIARS 109 
 
 ... If both dishes, or one of them, be found to be 
 spotted with dirt, let an alternative be provided. 
 
 The servitors are to serve the food quickly and 
 actively, not running or jumping in an unbecoming 
 fashion, and they are to hold the dishes neither too high 
 nor too low, but so that the food may be seen by him 
 who carries it. The dishes are not to be broken, or dirty, 
 or unsuitable, or smeared on the under side. The 
 servitor should use both hands, and carry only a single 
 dish, except when he is serving eggs. If he cannot bring 
 the brethren all they ask for, he ought, nevertheless, to 
 reply to them civilly. . . . There is to be no talking at 
 the kitchen-hatch, because the noise might be heard by 
 the brethren. 
 
 33. The Dorter. 
 
 A brother may enter the Dorter as often as he has need 
 to do so, but he ought not to linger there unless he wish 
 to change his sheets or to make his bed. 
 
 34. Respect due to the Convent. 
 
 When the Convent is talking no secular ought to come 
 near nor even to stand at a distance listening and looking 
 towards them. 
 
 Should the Convent go beyond the precincts in pro- 
 cession, they ought to be preceded by cross, candles, and 
 so forth ; and their freemen ought to turn out of their 
 path any horses and carts advancing in an opposite 
 direction, in order to prevent them passing through the 
 midst of the Convent, or to stop them until the Convent 
 have passed by. 
 
 35. Or the Almoner and his kindness. 
 
 The Almoner ought to be kind, compassionate and God- 
 fearing. He ought also to be discreet and careful in
 
 110 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 making his apportionments. He ought to endow with a 
 more copious largess pilgrims, palmers, chaplains, 
 beggars, lepers. Old men and those who are decrepit, 
 and lame, and blind, or who are confined to their beds, 
 he ought frequently to visit, and give them suitable 
 relief. 
 
 40. Of the Grainger and of the Receivers. 
 All the property of the monastery, both in corn and in 
 money . . . passes through the hands of the Grainger 
 and the Receivers. Whatever belongs to bread and 
 beer, to seed or allowance, ought to come out of the 
 granary ; whatever belongs to money ought to be 
 handed out of the treasury by the hands of the Receivers. 
 
 The Grainger ought ... to set down on tallies all the 
 profits of the manors, and to write out tallies of each. . . . 
 The Receivers ought to do the same by help of tallies 
 and rolls, and when the Prelate chooses, lay a final 
 account before the Convent. 
 
 41. Of the Hosteller. 
 
 ... it becomes him to have not merely facility of 
 expression, but also elegant manners and a respectable 
 bringing up . . . for friends are multiplied by agreeable 
 words. . . perfect cleanliness and propriety should be 
 found in his department, namely, to keep clean cloths 
 and clean towels ; cups without flaws ; spoons of silver ; 
 mattresses, blankets, sheets not merely clean but 
 untorn ; proper pillows ; quilts to cover the beds of 
 full width and length and pleasing to the eyes of those 
 who enter the room ; a proper laver of metal ; a basin 
 clean both inside and out ; in winter a candle and 
 candlesticks ; fire that does not smoke ; writing materials,
 
 MONKS AND FRIAftS 111 
 
 clean salt . . . the whole Guest-house kept clear of 
 spiders-webs and dirt, and strewn with rushes under- 
 foot ; . . . a sufficient quantity of straw in the beds ; 
 keys and locks to the doors, and good bolts on the 
 inside, so as to keep the doors securely closed while the 
 guests are asleep. 
 
 42. Of the Chamberlain. 
 
 It is the chief duty of the Chamberlain to provide warm 
 water for the shaving of the Convent, and soap for 
 washing their heads. He is to provide soap for the baths 
 of the brethren, if it be asked for. 
 
 The Chamberlain ought to provide a laundress of good 
 character and good reputation to wash the garments of 
 the Convent. She must be able properly to mend and 
 wash all the linen of the brethren, namely, surplices, 
 rochets, sheets, shirts and drawers. The linen ought to 
 be washed once a fortnight in summer and once in three 
 weeks in winter. 
 
 44. Or the Master of the Farmery. 
 
 The Master of the Farmery . . . who ought to have the 
 care of the sick, ought to be gentle, good tempered, kind, 
 compassionate to the sick, and willing to gratify their 
 needs with affectionate sympathy. It should rarely or 
 never happen that he has not ginger, cinnamon, peony, 
 and the like, ready in his cupboard. . . . 
 
 No secular ought to enter the Farmery . . . women 
 never. Physicians, however, may enter, and take their 
 meals with the sick if they have obtained leave. 
 
 The Master of the Farmery ought frequently to . . . 
 ask them, with kindly interest, whether they wish for 
 anything. . . . Further, he should provide ... a fire
 
 112 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 on the hearth, should the state of the weather require it, 
 a candle, a cresset, and a lamp to burn all night ; and 
 everything that is necessary, useful and proper. 
 
 52. Of Lay -brethren. 
 
 Lay-brethren are not to be admitted to the habit, unless 
 they are instructed in some craft which is useful to the 
 monastery ; for, as regular Canons ought to be occupied 
 day and night in things spiritual, so lay-brethren ought 
 to labour for the profit of the Church in things corporeal ; 
 for in a monastery no one ought to eat his bread unless 
 he work for it. 
 
 Of the Chapter (from Customs of St. Victor). 
 
 He who makes an accusation is first to say : " I accuse 
 such or such a brother." The accused . . is to answer 
 nothing from his place, but to come in front of the Abbot, 
 to bend the knee, and then, standing upright, to await 
 patiently . . . if he is not conscious of it he is to say 
 briefly ..." My lord, I do not remember that I did or 
 said what my brother mentions." Then his accuser may 
 not repeat his accusation, and the accused, if the Abbot 
 so direct, may go and sit down. . . . When anybody 
 has to receive discipline, he is to rise to his knees and 
 modestly divest himself of his garments. Then, bending 
 forward, he is to remain covered with the same garments 
 from his girdle downwards, and as he lies there he is either 
 to be completely silent or to say merely : " It is my fault, 
 and I will amend myself." Meanwhile no other brother 
 is to speak unless one of the Priors should humbly inter- 
 cede for him ; and he who flogs him is not to cease from 
 flogging till the Abbot bids him. When he has ceased, 
 he is to help the brother to put on his clothes ; who.
 
 MONKS AND FRIARS 113 
 
 clothed and standing upright, is not to stir till the Abbot 
 says : " Go and sit down." Then he is to bow, and go to 
 his place. 
 
 Ely had long been another of these great 
 houses. Since Here ward's day Normans from 
 1081 to 1199 were building its magnificent 
 cathedral, and in Ely, Barnwell and Cambridge 
 had a keen rival. Ely was a centre for 
 pilgrimage and the first good harbour for 
 incoming ships, but Cambridge at the Con- 
 quest became the seat of the King's Sheriff 
 who had to gather his dues from towns and 
 traders. When men might trade at Soham or 
 Reach, Bottisham or Ely, just as they chose, it 
 would be hard for the Sheriff's men to make 
 sure that no little boats escaped them, and the 
 King's dues must often have gone unpaid. 
 This, rather than care for the welfare of Cam- 
 bridge, probably caused Henry I. to issue a 
 writ addressed to all great people who might 
 raise claims to levy dues in any part of the 
 county. It runs : — 
 
 " Henry, King of the English to Hervey, 
 Bishop of Ely, and all his Barons of Cam- 
 bridgeshire, Greeting : I forbid that any boat 
 shall ply at any hithe in Cambridgeshire, save
 
 114 
 
 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 at the hithe of my borough of Cambridge, 
 nor shall barges be laden save in the borough 
 of Cambridge, nor shall any take toll else- 
 where but only there ; and whosoever shall 
 do forfeit in the borough, let him there do 
 
 planot 
 
 Ckrobr 
 Castle. 
 
 right ; but if any do otherwise, I command 
 that he be at right thereof before my justice 
 when I command that there be plea thereof. 
 As witnesses : the Chancellor and Miles of 
 Gloucester and Richard Basset at London." 1 
 
 1 See Cambridge Borough Charters. — Bateson.
 
 MONKS AND FRIARS 115 
 
 The effect of this writ must have been to 
 decide the rivalry in favour of Cambridge by 
 drawing all the shipping away from Ely : 
 perhaps it was now that the wares at St. 
 Awdry's Fair became " tawdry," being re- 
 duced to such light trifles as could be carried 
 overland, while the heavy goods went up by 
 barge to the hithes that lined the banks of 
 the Cam above and below Magdalene Bridge. 
 Cambridge became in practice a Staple town, 
 the only channel of trade for the countryside, 
 and the burgesses waxed fat accordingly. 
 Soon they began to try to shake off the hand 
 of the Sheriff in money matters. The way 
 to do this, which was becoming usual since 
 London had set the example in 1100, was to 
 get leave from the King to " farm " x the dues 
 which the town had to pay to him. Such 
 dues were the " haw gavel," a small rent on 
 each house, the " land gavel," a rent on the 
 strips of the plough land, a payment for the 
 right to have a market and the tolls which 
 were taken there, the fees paid by men who 
 had to go to the King's court for justice, pay- 
 
 1 To farm the taxes was to have the right of collecting all 
 dues from the burghers on condition of paying a fixed round 
 sum yearly to the king; as publicans did in Palestine to Caesar.
 
 116 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 ments to the King's miller for grinding corn in 
 his mill, and so on. These three last might vary- 
 very much from year to year ; if, instead of 
 them, a lump sum of a fixed amount were 
 to be paid year by year, both parties might 
 gain. The king would be certain what revenue 
 he could expect; and if the tolls, etc., increased, 
 the town would reap the benefit by collecting 
 them themselves. Thus somewhere between 
 1161 and 1189 the men of Cambridge must 
 have asked for this privilege, for there is a 
 charter from Henry II. granting the town 
 the ridit to " farm " the dues : — 
 
 " Henry by the grace of God King of 
 England and Duke of Normandy and Aqui- 
 taine and Count of Anjou, to his Justices, 
 Sheriffs, and all his Ministers and faithful 
 people Greeting. Know ye that I have 
 delivered at farm to my burgesses of Cam- 
 bridge, my town of Cambridge to be holden 
 of me in chief by the same farm which my 
 Sheriffs were wont to render to me, and so 
 that they themselves do answer therefor at 
 my exchequer. And therefore I command 
 that ye guard and maintain the said bur- 
 gesses and all things to them belonging as
 
 MONKS AND FRIARS 
 
 117 
 
 though they were mine own, so that no one 
 may in any wise cause to them injury or 
 damage or grievance. For I will not that 
 they answer therefor to any but to me and 
 at my Exchequer. As Witness : Roger the 
 son of Reinfrid at Qu6villy." x 
 
 Vim) o^ Carntaidge Capita, froniaij atjcltqt dmwog, supposed 
 to have 'Wen drau>n about t^e rcum of Qiuet) EUisijellj. 
 
 This charter marks in a sense the beginning 
 of the self-governing life of the town. Hence- 
 forth it is a tenant in chief of the king ; the 
 Sheriff, while he still held the King's court in 
 the borough had no longer any excuse for 
 
 1 The King was this year in Normandy; his hunting seat was 
 at Qu6villy.
 
 118 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 meddling with its trade or making any exac- 
 tions on the burgesses. It is quite in keeping 
 with Henry II. 's treatment of his sheriffs, 
 whose power he sternly checked. Before his 
 reign they were usually local men and used 
 their local influence to make themselves 
 almost strong enough to defy the King, often 
 too their sons succeeded them. To prevent 
 this Henry in 1167 had removed every sheriff 
 in England from his office, replacing only the 
 upright among them, and sending even those 
 to fresh counties. 
 
 It is to be noted that this charter does not 
 give the right for good, but only for the king's 
 reign, unless it were renewed. The final 
 grant or " fee farm " was given by King John. 
 
 Thus the most opposite interests, those of 
 the King, the Prior and Nun, the down- 
 trodden Shylock of the Jewry, the worldly- 
 minded, comfortable burgher, and the grasp- 
 ing Norman noble, all played their part in 
 developing the wealth and fame of the new 
 royal port of Cambridge. 
 
 Hitherto history has rarely recorded the 
 life of the people, but now and then when 
 some king moves across the stage " the light
 
 MONKS AND FRIARS 119 
 
 that beats upon a throne " throws the hum- 
 bler, attendant figures into relief. 
 
 King John is such an one. In the second 
 year of his reign he granted a charter which 
 confirmed the old rights and gave important 
 new ones to the townsmen : — 
 
 I. That they should have a gild of merchants [a most 
 important right which was often the beginning of self- 
 government]. 
 
 II. That no burgess should plead without the walls 
 of the borough of any plea, save pleas of exterior tenure 
 (except the King's moneyers and servants). 
 
 III. That no burgess should make duel ; [i.e. trial by 
 battle] and that with regard to pleas of the Crown the 
 burgesses might defend themselves according to the 
 ancient custom of the borough. [Probably by bringing 
 a certain number of neighbours to swear to their up- 
 rightness.] 
 
 IV. That all burgesses of the merchants' gild should 
 be free of toll, passage, lastage, pontage, and stallage in 
 the fair, and without, and throughout the ports of the 
 English Sea, and in all the King's lands on this side of the 
 sea, and beyond the sea (saving in all things the liberties 
 of the City of London). [Toll = a payment to the 
 King ; passage = pajmient made bj T a passenger ; 
 lastage = payment on every load passing ; pontage = 
 payment for crossing bridge ; stallage = paj-ment 
 for right to erect a booth to sell goods.] 
 
 V. That no burgess should be judged to be in mercy 
 as to his money, except according to the ancient law of
 
 120 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 the borough which they had in the time of the King's 
 ancestors. [To be in mercy — to be liable to fine.] 
 
 VI. That the burgesses should have justly all their 
 lands and tenures, wages, and debts, whosoever may owe 
 the same, and that right should be done to them of their 
 lands and tenures within the borough, according to the 
 custom thereof. 
 
 VII. That of all the debts of burgesses that should 
 be contracted at Cambridge and of the pledges there 
 made, the pleas should be holden at Cambridge. 
 
 VIII. That if anyone in all the King's dominions 
 should take toll or custom of the men of Cambridge of the 
 merchants' gild, and should not make satisfaction, the 
 Sheriff of Cambridgeshire, or the Reeve of Cambridge 
 should take therefor a distress at Cambridge (saving in all 
 things the liberties of the City of London). 
 
 IX. That for the amendment [upkeep] of the borough, 
 the burgesses should have a fair in Rogation Week, with 
 all its liberties as they were accustomed to have. 
 
 X. That all the burgesses of Cambridge might be free 
 of yereshive and scotale if the King's Sheriff or any other 
 Bailiff had made scotale. [Yereshive or Geares-Gifu 
 was an annual gift or exaction commonly required by 
 Sheriffs : Scot-ale a feast at which only the Sheriff's ale 
 might be drunk. In a second Charter, of the year 1207 
 King John granted the farm for good or " in fee-farm."] 
 
 XL That the burgesses might have all other liberties 
 and free customs which they had in the time of the King's 
 ancestors, when they had them better or more freely. 
 
 XII. That if any customs should be unlawfully levied 
 in war, they should be quashed.
 
 MONKS AND FRIARS 121 
 
 XIII. That whosoever should come to the borough of 
 Cambridge with his merchandise, of whatever place, 
 whether stranger or otherwise, might come, tarry, and 
 return in safety, and without disturbance, rendering the 
 right customs. 
 
 XIV. That anyone causing injury, loss or trouble, to 
 the burgesses, should forfeit £10 to the King. 
 
 XV. That the burgesses and their heirs, might have 
 and hold the foregoing liberties, of the King and his 
 heirs, peaceably, freely, quietly, entirely, and honour- 
 ably in all things. 
 
 In this year 1201 John lodged for a night 
 or so at Barnwell Priory. Its Early English 
 Church to St. Giles and St. Andrew, with its 
 central tower, unhappily struck by lightning 
 in 1287, formed the heart of a great group of 
 buildings, standing amid fields and groves 
 by the waterside, where a ferry crossed to 
 Chesterton. Behind the church lay Maids' 
 Causeway, while between road and river stood 
 the farmery, and the Canons' land stretched 
 out to the site of Stourbridge Fair. The Fair 
 brought crowds of merchants and drovers, 
 fishermen with oysters and herrings from 
 Colchester, etc., whose tolls no doubt made a 
 good sum. 
 
 But the crowd would also bring beggars 
 and vagabonds, as the races do now, and
 
 122 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 so certain Friars of St. Mary Magdalene 
 set up a refuge for those most miserable 
 of all wanderers, the lepers. Camp-followers 
 of the Crusaders spread this Eastern 
 disease all over Europe at this time. 
 Charity for their distress and a wise care for 
 the health of the town were no doubt equal 
 motives for the rule by which they were for- 
 bidden to pass through Barnwell to go within 
 two miles of Cambridge. King John sup- 
 ported this regulation by granting to the 
 friars the dues of the fair to be held in the 
 close of the leper's hospital of St. Mary Mag- 
 dalene at Stourbridge, and at the same time 
 authorised the Prior and Canons of Barnwell 
 to hold Midsummer Fair. Stourbridge Fair 
 was to be held on the Vigil and Feast of Holy 
 Cross, which would begin on September 7th. 
 By Barnwell Station still stands the hospital 
 chapel raised by those friars, a solid stone 
 building made for long use, but with the rare 
 decoration of a hooded doorway and windows 
 with fine Norman work. Though we have no 
 lepers now we might well use it for other 
 needs. Many are glad to have it lit and cared 
 for in God's service again.
 
 MONKS AND FRIARS 123 
 
 Not far away on the road to Ely stood 
 another Norman house built by other Bene- 
 dictines, Denny Abbey, perhaps the finest 
 piece of Norman work in the count}*- ; it 
 passed into the hands of Templars, and later 
 became a nunnery. It is now a farmhouse. 
 
 Much later than the Benedictine monks and 
 Austin Canons, whose houses since Saxon Eng- 
 land became Christian had been springing up 
 all over the land, there had come to Cambridge 
 in the 13th century new streams of puritanic 
 Christians, the friars. Sworn like the early 
 monks to poverty, they differed from them 
 in their aims, which were, not by leaving the 
 world to rescue their own souls, or by cease- 
 less prayers to atone for the worldliness of 
 others, but to go about the world doing good 
 and preaching to the poor. Already in 1201 
 the Friars of St. Mary Magdalene were caring 
 for the lepers at Barnwell, and in 1224 the 
 Grey Friars came to Cambridge. These had 
 been founded by the devoted, gentle St. 
 Francis of Assisi, and lived in the Old Syna- 
 gogue ; fifty years later they began to build 
 " a noble church " where Sidney Sussex now 
 is.
 
 124 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 These Franciscans were vowed to complete 
 poverty ; and in Cambridge, as elsewhere, they 
 settled in the poorest quarter. The con- 
 temporary account, written by T. of Eccleston, 
 
 says : 
 
 " At Cambridge the brethren were at first received by 
 the burgesses who made over to them an old synagogue 
 near the prison. The neighbourhood of the prison, how- 
 ever, was intolerable to the brethren, since both the}' 
 and the gaolers had to use the same entrance ; so our lord 
 the King gave them 10 marks, with which they were 
 able to buy out the lease from the Court of Exchequer. 
 Then they built a chapel so very poor that one carpenter 
 made and set up in one day fourteen pairs of rafters. 
 So on the feast of St. Lawrence (Aug. 10th), though 
 there were as yet but three brethren, namely, Brother 
 William of Esseby, and Brother Hugh of Bugeton, 
 both clerics, and a novice named Brother Elias, who was 
 so lame that he had to be carried into the choir, they 
 sang the office solemnly according to note, and the 
 novice wept so much that the tears ran freely down his 
 face. Now this novice afterwards died a most holy 
 death at York." . . . 
 
 " The first guardian of Cambridge was Brother Thomas, 
 of Spain/' 
 
 " The custody of Cambridge was particularly remark- 
 able for its want of temporal goods, so much so that at 
 the time of his first Visitation of England, Brother 
 Albert of Pisa found the brethren ... to be without 
 mantles."
 
 MONKS AND FRIARS 125 
 
 Other reformers followed, the Austin Friars 
 settling on Peashill, the Carmelites or White 
 Friars on the site of Queens'. Before the end 
 of the century the Pope's " Black Dogs," the 
 Dominicans, took up their place outside 
 Barnwell Gate, opposite Dowdiver's lane. 
 
 The Fairs 
 
 In the commercial as well as the religious 
 life of Cambridge, monks and friars played 
 their part. At the great religious festivals, to 
 which pilgrims from all parts of England and 
 from abroad used to flock, fairs were held. In 
 Cambridge there were four. The oldest seems 
 to have been Midsummer Fair, held " from 
 the time of which the memory of man does not 
 run." The name suggests that it may even 
 have been a survival of pagan, midsummer 
 revels. However that may be, this fair came 
 under the sanction of the church. The Prior 
 and convent of Barnwell held a charter from 
 Henry III., dated 1229, giving them the right 
 to hold this fair. In 1298, the Prior having 
 seized the goods of a felon who had fled from 
 the fair, the Mayor challenged his jurisdiction ;
 
 126 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 but the following agreement was reached 
 between them : 
 
 I. That all who lived within the town or liberties of 
 Cambridge, and who, according to the custom of the 
 town, sustained or were obliged to sustain the burdens 
 arising in the town, as in watches, tallages, scotages, 
 suits of court, and other contributions, should be free in 
 the said fair of stallage, boothage and toll. 
 
 II. That the goods of thieves, fugitives and cutpurses, 
 if any such should be thereafter taken, or found in the 
 said Fair by the Prior or his bailiffs, should be immedi- 
 ately delivered to the bailiffs of the town, and that the 
 burgesses of Cambridge should indemnify the Prior and 
 Convent for so doing. 
 
 III. That all who live in the town and liberties, and 
 do not bear nor are obliged to bear the duties or perform 
 the services before mentioned, should be as much obliged 
 to the Customs of the Fair as those that come from any 
 other place. 
 
 This agreement left the Mayor the un- 
 challenged authority for the keeping of the 
 peace within and without the town. In the 
 next year the Prior's right to hold the Fair 
 at all was inquired into by the king's Itinerant 
 Justices under the act of " Quo Warranto," 
 passed twenty years earlier. He produced 
 Henry III.'s charter, and his right was allowed. 
 It seems to have been exercised peacefully for 
 two hundred years ; then in 1496, " the Prior
 
 MONKS AND FRIAKS 12*7 
 
 and Convent of Barnwell leased for one year 
 to the Mayor and bailiffs, the Fair called 
 Barnwell Fair." 1 
 
 Another fair, said to have been called 
 " Garlic Fair," was granted to the nuns of 
 St. Rhadegund and held in the summer. 
 
 A third fair is said by Carter to have been 
 held " in the town of Cambridge " in Rogation 
 Week ; the town certainly enjoyed the profits 
 of a fair held at Reach in that week. But by 
 far the most important fair of all was that of 
 Steersbrigge, or Stourbridge. This fair had 
 been granted by King John to the Friars of 
 St. Mary Magdalene for the support of the 
 Leper Hospital which they had built. In 
 early times this fair opened on the 7th of 
 September, and lasted until Michaelmas. By 
 the time of Elizabeth, it begins on the Feast 
 of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, i.e. August 
 24. A full account of the fair is given by 
 Carter : 
 
 " Near half a mile east of this village [Barnwell] Stur- 
 bridge Fair is kept, which is set out annually on St. Bar- 
 tholomew by the Mayor, Aldermen, and the rest of the 
 Corporation of Cambridge ; who all ride thither in a 
 grand procession, with music playing before them, and 
 
 Cooper's Annals of Cambridge.
 
 
 3?U*j eJ /5tflurWidm.Tair,take*)i72.S
 
 MONKS AND FRIARS 129 
 
 most of the boys in the town on horseback after them, 
 who, as soon as the ceremony is read over, ride races 
 about the place ; when returning to Cambridge each boy 
 has a cake and some ale at the Town Hall. On the 7th 
 of September they ride in the same manner to proclaim 
 it ; which being done, the Fair begins, and continues 
 three weeks ; though the greatest part is over in a fort- 
 night. 
 
 § 14. " This Fair, which was thought some years ago 
 to be the greatest in Europe, is kept in a cornfield, about 
 half a mile square, having the River Cam running on the 
 north side thereof, and the rivulet called the Stour (from 
 which and the bridge over it the Fair received its name) 
 on the east side, and it is about two miles east of Cam- 
 bridge market-place ; where, during the Fair, coaches, 
 chaises, and chariots attend to carry persons to the Fair. 
 The chief diversions at Sturbridge are drolls, rope- 
 dancing, and sometimes a music-booth ; but there is an 
 Act of Parliament which prohibits the acting of plays 
 within fifteen miles of Cambridge. 1 
 
 § 15. "If the field (on which the Fair is kept) is not 
 cleared of the corn by the 24th of August, the builders 
 may trample it underfoot to build their booths ; and, on 
 the other hand, if the same be not cleared of the booths 
 and materials belonging thereto by Michaelmas Day at 
 noon, the plough-men may enter the same with their 
 horses, ploughs, and carts, and destroy whatever they 
 find on the premises. The filth, dung, straw, etc., left 
 behind by the fair-keepers, make amends for their 
 trampling and hardening of the ground. 
 
 1 This Act continued to be enforced till the middle of the 
 nineteenth century.
 
 130 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 § 16. " The shops or booths are built in rows like 
 streets, having each their name ; as Gar lick Row, Book- 
 sellers'-row, Cook-row, etc. And every commodity has 
 its proper place, as the Cheese Fair, Hop Fair, Wool Fair, 
 etc. ; and here, as in several other streets or rows, are all 
 sorts of traders, who sell by wholesale or retail, as gold- 
 smiths, toy-men, brasiers, turners, milliners, haber- 
 dashers, hatters, mercers, drapers, pewterers, china 
 warehouses, and, in a word, most trades that can be 
 found in London, from whence many of them come. 
 Here are also taverns, coffee-houses, and eating-houses 
 in great plenty, and all kept in booths, in any of which 
 (except the coffee-booth) you may at any time be ac- 
 commodated with hot or cold roast goose, roast or boiled 
 pork, etc. 
 
 § 17. " Crossing the main road at the south end of 
 Gar lick Row, and a little to the left hand, is a great 
 ►Square, formed of the largest booths, called the Duddery, 
 the area of which Square is from 240 to 300 feet, chiefly 
 taken up with woollen drapers, wholesale tailors, and 
 sellers of second-hand clothes ; x where the dealers have a 
 room before their booths, to take down and open their 
 packs, and bring in waggons to load and unload the same. 
 In the centre of this Square was (till within these three 
 years) erected a tall May-pole, with a vane at the top ; 
 and in this Square, on the two chief Sundays during the 
 fair, both forenoon and afternoon, Divine Service is read, 
 
 1 The special development of the woollen trade in this fair is 
 said (by Fuller) to have been due to certain traders from Kendal 
 in Westmorland (famed through many centuries for its manu- 
 facture of cloth), who were here weather-bound on their way to 
 the great entrepot at Norwich, and found a ready sale for the 
 goods which they spread out to dry.
 
 MONKS AND FRIARS 131 
 
 and a sermon preached from a pulpit placed in the open 
 air, by the Minister of Barnwell ; who is very well paid 
 for the same by the contribution of the fair-keepers. 
 
 § 18. "In this Duddery only, it is said, there have 
 been sold £100,000 worth of woollen manufacturers in less 
 than a week's time ; besides the prodigious trade carried 
 on here, by the wholesale tailors from London, and most 
 other parts of England, who transact their business 
 wholly in their pocket-books, and meeting here their 
 chapmen from all parts, make up their accounts, receive 
 money chiefly in bills, and take further orders. These, 
 they say, exceed by far the sale of goods actually brought 
 to the Fair, and delivered in kind ; it being frequent for 
 the London wholesale men to carry back orders from 
 their dealers for £10,000 worth of goods a man, and some 
 much more. And once in this Duddery, it is said, there 
 was a booth consisting of six apartments, all belonging to 
 a dealer in Norwich stuffs only, who had there above 
 £20,000 worth of those goods. 
 
 § 19. " The trade for wool, hops, and leather here is 
 prodigious ; the quantity of wool only sold at one fair is 
 said to have amounted to £50,000 or £60,000, and of 
 hops very little less. 
 
 " September 14, being the Horse Fair da}', is the day 
 of the greatest hurry, when it is almost incredible to con- 
 ceive what number of people there are, and the quantity 
 of victuals that day consumed by them. 
 
 " During the Fair, Colchester oysters and white her- 
 rings, just coming into season, are in great request, at 
 least by such as live in the inland parts of the kingdom, 
 where they are seldom to be had fresh, especially the 
 latter.
 
 132 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 § 20. " The Fair is like a well-governed city ; and less 
 disorder and confusion to be seen there than in any other 
 place where there is so great a concourse of people : here 
 is a Court of Justice always open from morning till night, 
 where the Mayor of Cambridge, or his Deputy, sits as 
 Judge, determining all controversies in matters arising 
 from the business of the Fair, and seeing the Peace there- 
 of kept ; for which purpose he hath eight servants, called 
 Red-coats, attending him during the time of the Fair and 
 other public occasions, one or other of which are con- 
 stantly at hand in most parts of the Fair : and if any 
 dispute arise between buyer and seller, on calling out 
 ' Red-coat,' you have instantly one or more come running 
 to you ; and if the dispute is not quickly decided, the 
 offender is carried to the said Court, where the case is 
 decided in a summary way, from which sentence there 
 lies no appeal. 
 
 § 21. " About two or three days after the Horse Fair 
 day, when the hurry of the wholesale business is over, the 
 country gentry for about ten or twelve miles round begin 
 to come in with their sons and daughters ; and though 
 diversion is what chiefly brings them, yet it is not a little 
 money they lay out among the tradesmen, toy-shops, 
 etc., besides what is flung away to see the puppet shows, 
 drolls, rope-dancing, live creatures, etc., of which there 
 is commonly plenty. 
 
 § 22. " The last observation I shall make concerning 
 this Fair is, how inconveniently a multitude of people are 
 lodged there who keep it ; their bed (if I may so call it) 
 is laid on two or three boards, nailed to four pieces that 
 bear it about a foot from the ground, and four boards 
 round it, to keep the persons and their clothes from falling
 
 MONKS AND FRIARS 133 
 
 off, and is about five feet long, standing abroad all day if 
 it rains not. At night it is taken into their booths, and 
 put in to the best manner they can ; at bed-time they get 
 into it, and lie neck and heels together until the morning, 
 if the wind and rain do not force them out sooner ; for a 
 high wind often blows down their booths, as it did a.d. 
 1741, and a heavy rain forces through the hair-cloth that 
 covers it. 
 
 § 23. " Though the Corporation of Cambridge has the 
 tolls of this Fair, 1 and the government as aforesaid, yet 
 the body of the University has the oversight of the 
 weights and measures thereof (as well as at Midsum- 
 mer 2 and Reach Fairs 3 ) and the licensing of all show- 
 booths, live creatures, etc. ; and the Proctors of the 
 University keep a Court there also to hear complaints 
 about weights and measures, and see that their Gowns- 
 men commit no disorders." 
 
 The great concourse of people to this fair 
 brought much fame and profit to the town, 
 helping to spread its European repute of the 
 
 1 The tolls were originally granted (by King John) to the 
 Lepers' Hospital at Stourbridge. 
 
 2 Midsummer Fair is held on Midsummer Common, between 
 Cambridge and Barnwell, and was of old connected with 
 Barnwell Priory. The Common derives its name from the fair. 
 
 8 Reach is situated at the Fenward extremity of the Devil's 
 Dyke, and is about seven miles from Cambridge: It is now 
 quite a small village, but its position made it a place of great 
 importance in early times. A Roman villa has been unearthed 
 there, and local tradition declares that the place once possessed 
 seven churches. Its situation at the River Gate of the Icenian 
 and East Anglian realms must have made it from the first a 
 place of traffic, and its Fair remained famous for many centuries.
 
 134 LIFE IN OLD CAMBRIDGE 
 
 place among classes other than merely intel- 
 lectual, especially in the Empire and the Low 
 Countries, where the sacks of English wool 
 were worked up into bales of cloth, until 
 English merchants began to compete in this 
 stuff. 
 
 With the Renaissance and the religious 
 changes of the sixteenth century, the system 
 of fairs began to yield place to the use of 
 permanent shops, and in 1516 the burgesses of 
 Cambridge got control of Stourbridge Fair. 
 The award runs " the mayor, bailiffs and 
 burgesses and their successors for evermore 
 shall have, hold and enjoy, keep and maintain 
 the said fair called Stibridge Fair . . . yearly 
 from the feast of St. Bartholomew to the feast 
 of St. Michael the Arcangel in September."
 
 JEftag (A /3tourtauWTa«:,taktt)i72 5 
 
 c
 
 Index 
 
 A. 
 
 Aermeswerk p. 39 
 
 Africa 23, 28 
 
 Akeman Street 29 
 
 Albert of Pisa 124 
 
 Alderman 53, 57, 59, 69, 127 
 
 Aldreth 78 
 
 Alfred 57, 61 
 
 Aller 57 
 
 All Saints 98 
 
 „ by the Castle 98 
 Almoner 109 
 Alps 46 
 Angles, Angle-kin, Anglians 
 
 33, 37, 38, 39, 41, 50, 56, 
 
 64 
 Anna, King of East Anglia, 
 
 c. 650 42, 43, 44, 50 
 Arab 23 
 
 Archaeological Museum 26 
 Ashdon 64 
 Asia 23 
 
 Assandun, Battle of 64, 65 
 Athelney 57 
 Augustine, Benedictine monk 
 
 41 
 Augustinian Canons, followers 
 
 of Augustine of Hippo in 
 
 Africa, c. 410 91, 98 
 Austin (^ Augustinian) Friars 
 
 125 
 Avebury rings 8 
 Aylwine, bishop 76 
 
 B. 
 
 Babylon 12 
 
 Bailey 88 
 
 Balk, a grass line to divide 
 strips of ploughland 54 
 
 Balsham 13, 62 
 
 Bardsey 47 
 
 Barking 44 
 
 Barnwell 10,91,92,94,102, 
 121, 125 
 „ field 39 
 „ Fair 94 
 „ Gate 100 
 
 Barrington 63 
 
 Beakers 10 
 
 Bede, the Venerable, a Bene- 
 dictine monk, first Eng- 
 lish historian 41, 49 
 
 Bedford 3 
 
 Benedictine 49, 123 
 
 Berkshire downs 8, 25 
 
 Bishops 29, 32, 70 
 
 Black Death 98 
 
 Blackwater River 59 
 
 Booksellers' Row 130 
 
 Borough 88, 92 
 
 Bottisham 46, 113 
 
 Boudica (Boadicea) 20 
 
 Bourn Manor 88 
 
 Bourne Rivulet 64 
 
 Bradmore Field 39 
 
 Brand Ditch 13 
 
 Brandon 3, 6, 13, 77 
 
 135
 
 136 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Brakelands 6 
 
 Brent Ditch 13 
 
 Bretwalda 4 1 
 
 Bridge Street 100 
 
 Brie, town in N.E. France 
 
 44,45 
 Brihtmer Budde 66 
 Britain 11, 15, 16, 17, 21, 
 
 28, 31, 33 
 Brithnoth 59, 60, 62 
 British Thieves 41, 43 
 Britons 11, 13, 18, 20, 26, 
 
 29, 31, 33, 38 
 
 „ Groans of the 32 
 Bronze Age 6 
 Bruneswald 84 
 Bucks 56 
 Budde 66 
 Bullhithe Gate 76 
 Burgesses 116, 119-21 
 Burwell 99 
 Bury St. Edmunds 50, 56 
 
 c. 
 
 Caesar 15, 16, 22, 25, 31 
 
 Cam 1, 5, 37, 38, 64, 75 
 
 Cambridge-shire 5, 6, 13, 
 20, 23, 31, 32, 33, 34, 45, 
 50, 51, 55, 56, 57, 58, 62, 
 68,74, 113, 121-138 
 
 Camps 11, 12, 21,30 
 
 Canons 92, 102 
 
 Canterbury 44 
 
 Caradoc 17, 19 
 
 Carme Field 39 
 
 Carmelites 125 
 
 Castle 86-8, 91 
 „ hill 1, 29, 30 
 
 Caswallon 17 
 Causeway 77, 78, 86 
 Celtic 46 
 Centurion 26 
 Chamberlain 111 
 Chapter 107, 112 
 Chariot 25 
 Charlemagne 47 
 Charter 94, 117, 126 
 Cheese Fair 130 
 Chester 20, 21 
 „ ford 20, 38 
 „ ton 29, 38, 92, 121 
 „ ton Lane 22, 88 
 Chilterns 8, 56 
 China 12 
 Christian 26-8, 32, 41, 43, 
 
 44 
 Christien 65, 75, 123 
 Church 28, 72 
 thatched 89 
 Cloister 104 
 Cloth 131 note 
 Cnut 65-7 
 Coe Fen 102 
 Cohort 29 
 
 Colchester 20, 100, 121, 131 
 Compline 104 
 Confessor, Edward the 68, 
 
 74 
 Conquest, the Norman 74, 
 
 75 
 Constantine, Emperor of 
 
 Rome, a.d. 305 29 
 Constantinople 29 
 Cook-row 130 
 Corporation 127, 133 
 Cottenham 26
 
 INDEX 
 
 137 
 
 Count of the Saxon Shore 
 
 21, 29, 55 
 Court of Exchequer 124 
 
 „ Justice 132 
 Crowland Abbey 45, 47 
 Croxton 61 
 Crucks, crutches 35 
 Crusade, crusaders 92, 93, 
 
 96, 122 
 Curtain walls 88 
 Cymbeline 17 
 
 D. 
 
 Danes 55-7, 59, 61-2, 64 
 Danish 74, 75 
 Daub 35-7, 8S 
 Decurion, a Roman taxpayer 
 
 26, 32 
 Denny Abbey 123 
 Devil's Dyke 13 
 Domesday Book 68, 90, 95 
 Dominican Friars 125 
 Domitian 28 
 Donjon 87 
 Dorsetshire 57 
 Dorter 103-7 
 Dowdiver's Lane 125 
 Downing College 102 
 Downs 1 1 
 
 „ Berkshire 8 
 Duddery 130 
 Dykes 12,13,17,18,19,43 
 
 E. 
 
 Earl 74, 96 
 „ Edwin 76 
 ,, Morkar 76 
 ,, Osbern 75 
 
 East Anglia 3, 17, 41, 43, 
 
 45, 50, 58 
 Eboracum 29 
 Eccleston, Thomas of 124 
 Edmund Ironside 64 
 Ednoth, Bishop 64 
 Edward the Elder, son of 
 
 Alfred 57, 58 
 Edward the Confessor 68, 
 
 74 
 Egbert of Wessex 50, 51 
 Ely 1, 44, 45, 47, 48, 61, 65 
 „ Isle of 22, 48, 64 66, 75- 
 
 86, 113 
 „ Thomas of 77 
 Empire, Holy Roman 134 
 English 15, 34, 93, 96 
 East 62, 64 
 
 Ergastula, barracks for Ro- 
 man slave -labourers 23 
 Erkenwald, son of Anna 44 
 Ermine Street 18, 22, 29, 33 
 
 50 
 Ethandune 57 
 Ethelbert of Kent 41 
 Etheldreda (St. Awdrey) 43, 
 
 44, 47, 48, 115 
 Ethelfled 58 
 Ethelred 60 
 Europe 5, 10, 129 
 Everard de Beche 94 
 Exchequer 117 
 Exning 43 
 
 F. 
 
 Farm of the town 116 
 Farmery 91, 111 
 Fee-farm of the town 118
 
 138 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Fens 13, 23, 41, 47, 50 
 
 FenDitton 13 
 
 Flanders, Flemish 47, 23, 
 
 25, 45 
 Fleam Dike 12, 13 
 Folkmoot (see Moot) 51 
 Ford 5, 22, 36, 38 
 
 „ Field 39 
 Forum, a Roman market 
 
 square 21, 23, 26 
 France 16, 41, 72 
 Franciscans 123-4 
 Frank, French 41, 45, 75, 
 
 80 
 Frater 94, 103, 108 
 Friars, Austin 115 
 
 ,, Minor 124-5 
 
 „ White 125 
 
 „ Dominican 125 
 
 ,, of St. Mary Magdalene 
 122 
 
 G. 
 
 Galley 16, 21 
 Garlic Fair 98 
 
 „ Row 130 
 Gatehouse 88, 94 
 Gates of Cambridge 100 
 Gaul 15, 21, 30, 32 
 Germania, Germany 23, 25, 
 
 37, 47, 48 
 Gild of Thanes 68-72 
 
 ,, Merchants 119 
 Girvii 42, 48 
 Godesone 93 
 Godmanchester 20, 22 
 Godwin 74 
 Gogs 5,6,18,50 
 
 Golden Dragon banner 64 
 
 Goths 29 
 
 Gownsmen 133 
 
 Grainger 110 
 
 Grant, Grantebrigge 62, 68-9. 
 
 Grantchester 1 1 
 
 Grey Friars 123 
 
 Grimes Graves 6 
 
 Grithow Field 39 
 
 Groans of the Britons 32 
 
 Guy 82 
 
 H. 
 
 Hadstock Way 100 
 Hallelujah Victory 32 
 Hardwicke 61 
 Harold 74 
 
 Hastings, Battle of 74 
 Hayward 54 
 Headland 54 
 Helvetia 23 
 Henry I. 48, 92-3, 97 
 
 ,, writ of 113 
 
 „ II. 115 
 
 „ III. 97, 125 
 
 „ Frost 98 
 Hereward the Wake 75-85, 
 
 113 
 Heriot 68, 95 
 High Stone Cross 88 
 Holy Land 93 
 
 ,, Sepulchre 95 
 Hop Fair 130 
 Horse Fair 130-1 
 Hospital of St. John 98 
 Hosteller 110 
 House-penny 53
 
 INDEX 135: 
 
 Hundred 58 
 
 Lindisfarne 47 
 
 „ moot 52 
 
 Little Field 39 
 
 Huntingdon 88, 100 
 
 Little St. Mary's 102 
 
 Hypocaust 25 
 
 Londinium, London 22, 30 
 
 
 44, 95, 130-1 
 
 I. 
 
 Long Stanton 89 
 
 Ickenham 50, 89 
 
 Louver, Louvre 89 
 
 Icknield Way 18 
 
 Low Countries 134 
 
 Iceni 11,15,17-19,27 
 
 
 Impington 61 
 
 
 Iona 47 
 
 M. 
 
 Ireland 32, 47 
 Irish 8, 9, 46 
 
 Magdalene College 39 
 
 
 ,, Bridge 51, 115 
 
 Iron Age 10 
 
 
 „ Wharf 51, 100 
 
 Italy 23, 29, 52, 72 
 
 Maids' Causeway 102, 121 
 
 J. 
 
 Maldon, Battle of 59 
 
 Mandeville, Galfrid de 99 
 
 Jarl 74 
 
 Mark 37 
 
 „ Gyrth 74 
 
 Market Hill 51 
 
 Jesus College 98 
 
 Matilda 99 
 
 Jews 96, 97 
 
 Mayor 125, 132 
 
 John 94, 119-122 
 
 Maypole 130 
 
 
 Melbourne 13 
 
 K. 
 
 Merchant Gild 119 
 
 Keep 37 
 
 Mercians 37-8, 41-2, 44, 50 
 
 Kent 16, 57 
 
 53,64 
 
 Kenwulf 57 
 
 Merton Hall 22, 89 
 
 King's Ditch 100 
 
 Michaelmas 127, 129 
 
 
 Middle Field 39 
 
 L. 
 
 Midsummer Eve 94 
 
 Lageman 57 
 
 „ Fair 122, 133 
 
 Landbeach 46 
 
 Mill Lane 100 
 
 Lay - brethren 112 
 
 Mills 100, 101 
 
 Lea river 57 
 
 Milne Street 100 
 
 Legions 17, 18, 30 
 
 Minister of Barnwell 130 
 
 Lepers 122, 127, 133 
 
 Mint 68 
 
 Librarian 104 
 
 Moat 100 
 
 Lichneld 49 
 
 Moot 52, 53, 57, 72
 
 140 
 
 INDEX 
 
 N. 
 
 Nero 28 
 
 Newmarket 1 3 
 
 Newnham Elde Newenham 
 
 39 
 New Stone Age 6 
 Norfolk 2, 6, 12, 37, 58 
 Norman 48, 74-86, 89, 91, 
 
 99, 113, 122, 123 
 North Sea 47, 55 
 Northumbria 44 
 Norwich 131 
 Novices 105 
 Nunnery 98 
 
 0. 
 
 Old White Horse Inn 88 
 Ostorius Scapula 18 
 Ouse River 1, 3, 35, 77 
 Outlaws 78, 84 
 Owen 48 
 Oxen 6, 25, 94 
 
 P. 
 
 Pain Peverel 92 
 Parrot River 57 
 Papworth 61 
 Peas Hill 51 
 Pembroke Street 100 
 Penda 43, 44 
 Peterborough 45, 47, 75 
 Peterhouse 89 
 Peverel 92, 93, 95 
 Picts 30, 33 
 Pilgrims' Way 50 
 Pit-dwellings 4 
 Pottery 6, 25 
 Praetorium 26 
 Precentor (see Librarian) 
 
 Prolate 102-3 
 Prior (see Prelate) 94 
 Proctors 133 
 Provost 103 
 Processions 107, 127 
 
 Q. 
 
 Queens' College 89, 100 
 Quire 104 
 
 R. 
 
 Ralph the Bearded 95 
 Ramsey Abbey 44 
 Raven banner 55 
 Reach 14,77,113,133 
 Redcoat 130 
 Redwald 41 
 Reeve 51, 55, 120 
 Ridgeways 8, 12 
 Ringmere, Battle of 61, 62 
 Robert of Normandy 92 
 Rogation Week Fair 120, 
 
 127 
 Rome 20, 30, 44, 84 
 Roman 15, 17-19, 29-33, 
 54-5 
 
 „ Peace 22, 30 
 
 „ Villa 133 note 
 Round Church 95, 96 
 Royston 3, 6 
 
 s. 
 
 Saint Andrew's Hill 51, 93, 
 
 94, 121 
 ,, Anselm 98 
 „ Atheldritha (see Ethel - 
 
 dreda) 
 „ Audrey (see Etheldreda) 
 
 48
 
 INDEX 
 
 141 
 
 Saint Augustine 72 
 ,, Bartholomew's Day 127 
 , , Benet's Church 68 
 ,, Brice's Church 61 
 , , Edmund's Chapel 94 
 „ Etheldreda 43, 44, 47, 48 
 ,, Felix of Burgundy 42 
 ,, Francis of Assisi 123 
 „ Giles' Church 22, 91-4, 
 
 99, 121 
 „ Hilda 44 
 „ Ives 58 
 
 ,, John Baptist's Eve 92 
 ,, Lawrence 124 
 ,, Mary's Chapel 50 
 ,, Mary Magdalene, the 
 
 Friars of 122 
 „ Patrick 32 
 „ Paul 27-8 
 „ Peter's Church 22, 99 
 ,, Rhadegund 98 
 ,, Thomas' Leas 102 
 Saracenic, of the Moslem 
 
 Empire 64 
 Saxon shore, coast of East 
 Anglia 21, 29, 31, 33, 
 41, 55, 72, 74 
 Saxony, on the N.W. coast of 
 
 Germany 47 
 Scapula, Ostorius 27 
 Scotale 120 
 
 Scots, natives of Ireland 
 during the Roman 
 period 32 
 Scotland, inhabited by 
 
 Beakermen 10 
 Seaxe, pi. seaxas, a Saxon 
 dagger blade 34 
 
 Sedrida, daughter of King 
 
 Anna 44 
 Saxburga, daughter of King 
 
 Anna 44 
 Sheriff 68, 100, 113, 115-6, 
 
 118, 120 
 „ Guy 83 
 „ Picot 88, 91 
 Sidney Sussex 96, 123 
 Sigebert, second son of Red- 
 
 wald 41 
 Silchester, a great Roman 
 
 Town 30 
 Silver Street 95 
 Siward Barn, a Saxon Noble 76 
 Siwulf , Alderman of Kent 57 
 Slaves, Roman 22 
 Soham 42,46,65-6,113 
 Soler, a private room 89 
 Stamford 33 
 Stephen 98 
 Stone users 8 
 Stonehenge 8 
 Stourbridge Fair 121-2, 127- 
 
 133 
 Suffolk 2, 6, 12, 34, 37-8 
 Sub-prior 103 
 Sumersham, Somersham 82 
 Swallow, Hereward's mare 79 
 Sweyn, Sweyne 61, 62, 75 
 Synagogue 123 
 
 T. 
 
 Templars 95, 123 
 Terra Sigillata 25 
 Teuton 47 
 Teversham 61 
 Thames river 3, 11, 13, 17, 
 35, 44, 56, 64
 
 142 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Thanes 68-72, 96 
 Thatch, use of 4, 37, 88 
 Thetford 56 
 Thomas of Eccleston 124 
 
 „ of Spain 124 
 Thor, a Norse god 38, 43 
 Thorney Abbey 45 
 Thorold 75 
 Three Tuns Inn 88 
 Tithe 53 
 Tithings 58 
 Toft, a private enclosed piece 
 
 of ground 37 
 Toga, a Roman robe 26 
 Tonbert 44 
 Trumpington 51 
 
 „ Gate 100, 102 
 
 u. 
 
 Uffing, name of a royal family 
 
 of Angles 4 1 
 Ulfcytel the Ready 62, 65 
 University 133 
 
 V. 
 
 Vandlebury, a British and 
 Roman Camp 18, 22 
 
 Venta Belgarum, Roman name 
 of Winchester, capital (a) 
 of the Belgae, (6) of the 
 West Saxons 30 
 
 Via Appia, a Roman road in 
 S. Italy 27 
 
 Viking 57, 59, 60, 74 
 
 Villa 21-4, 30, 33 
 
 Vineyards 23, 33 
 
 w. 
 
 Wall, the North Wall 29, 30, 32 
 Walloon, a tribe in Flanders 23 
 Walsingham 50 
 
 Wash 1,5,11,45 
 
 Wards, High 96, 100 
 
 Warden (see Prelate) 
 
 Waterbeach 1, 46 
 
 Watermerchants 7 1 
 
 Watling Street, a Roman road 
 from Kent to Chester, 
 etc. 29, 57 
 
 Wattle, hurdle work of twigs 
 36, 88 
 
 Way 3, 13, 49 
 
 Wales 19, 32 
 
 Welsh 69 
 ,, Marches, the frontier be- 
 tween Wales and Eng- 
 land 29 
 
 Wessex 58, 64 
 
 Whitby 44 
 
 Wide Sea 30,46,71 
 
 William I. 75, 78, 84-5 
 „ ofEsseby 124 
 ,, of Malmesbury 96 
 
 Willingham 78 
 
 Winchester 30 
 
 Winford 49 
 
 Winwaed, Battle of, 655 a.d. 
 43 
 
 Witan 59 
 
 Woden or Odin, Father of the 
 Norse gods 38, 43 
 
 Wolf Street Way 13 note 
 
 WoodDitton 14 
 
 Worsted Street 13 
 
 Wolves 53 
 
 Wool Fair 130, 131 note 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yare river 35 
 
 York, -shire 29, 56, 75, 124 
 
 Printed by W. Heffer & Sons Ltd., Cambridge, England.
 
 Dat F% 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 A A 001 387 002 7