Isleham
| Isleham | |
| Cambridgeshire | |
|---|---|
 St Andrew Church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TL644738 |
| Location: | 52°19’48"N, -0°24’0"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 2,378 (2001) |
| Post town: | Ely |
| Postcode: | CB7 |
| Dialling code: | 01638 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | East Cambridgeshire |
Isleham is a small village in Cambridgeshire, in the east of the county and within the Fens.
The village is to be found on the B1104 from Prickwillow to Chippenham. The western parish boundary is formed by the Crooked Ditch or Crooked Drain, the eastern boundary largely by the Lea Brook and the north by the River Lark.
The village has a selection of local shops. There are also three public houses - The Griffin, The Merry Monk and the Rising Sun - and three churches.
Churches
- Church of England: St Andrew's
- High Street Church
- Pound Lane Free Church ('plfc')
Following a landscaping project, plfc have made listings and photographs of the graveyard headstones available via an on-line library.[1]
Archaeology
The region between Devil's Dyke and the line between Littleport and Shippea Hill shows a remarkable amount of archaeological findings of the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.[2] Findings in Isleham include the famous Isleham Hoard of more than 6500 pieces of bronze, both manufactured articles and fragments of sheet bronze, all dating from the late Bronze Age, and discovered by William 'Bill' Houghton and his brother, Arthur.[3]
History
The name of the village is of unknown derivation but is Old English in any case, and unlikely to be from "Isle" meaning "island", which is Norman French. One suggestion is that Isleham is the Old English Gislan ham meaning "Home of the hostages", which seems an odd name to give a village.
The Priory of St Margaret of Antioch was founded in the village in 1090. It was always an alien priory run directly from France and, as such, was dissolved in 1414. It was later used as a barn and is now looked after by English Heritage.
On 3 May 1850, preacher Charles Spurgeon was baptised in the River Lark. To this day, a stone marks the location.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Isleham) |
References
- ↑ plfc genealogy library
- ↑ Hall, David (1994). Fenland survey : an essay in landscape and persistence / David Hall and John Coles. London; English Heritage. ISBN 1-85074-477-7., p. 81-88
- ↑ Where Troy Once Stood, I. Wilkens, 2005, p. 90