Wimblington History

Our Fenland village is situated by the A141 between March and Chatteris.

Evidence has been found of settlement here since the Bronze Age.  People in the Iron Age also settled on the clays of what was then Wimblington island and occupancy continued through Roman times with people raising cattle, sheep or producing salt.  The village was not mentioned in the Doomsday Book though Brithnoth, the first Abbot of Ely, exchanged 60 acres, and a fishery rendering 1000 eels per annum, in Wimblington and Doddington, with Wine, son of Osmund.  Similarly Ramsey Abbey had sold 10 acres and two fisheries at Wimblington to the Monastery of Ely in the late 10th century.

By 1669 the commons of Wimblington, which included Stonea and Horsemoor Fens, had become overstocked. Sir Algernon Peyton, as lord of Doddington manor, therefore made an agreement with his 42 (fn. 72) Wimblington tenants which defined the system of common pasturing at great length. (fn. 73) Each tenant was to be stinted to 6 bullocks or cows, or 3 horses or mares (with foals), or 30 sheep or ewes. 'Poor persons' were allowed to keep one or two cows or heifers each. The 800 acres of Stonea Fen were to be left 'fresh', without stock of any kind, from 14 February to 23 April each year, on penalty of 6d. for a horse, 2 cows, or 8 sheep, in the case of a first offence, and 1s. for subsequent offences. Half the fines were to go to the parish, half to the impounder of the stock or hayward. Ten trustees were appointed to administer the scheme. Closes varying in size from 13 to 7 acres were to be inclosed for the use of each homestead, to a total of 432 acres. The sites and bounds of the closes are set out in great detail.

March, Benwick and Wimblington remained parochial chapelries of Doddington until 1874.   St Peters church which cost £4000, was opened on May 15th of that year.  The rectory, now Eastwood House on March Road was sold by the church authorities in 1974.

An Enclosure Act was passed for Wimblington in 1791.  The award was not made until 1805 when 676 acres of land were shared amongst fifteen proprietors, including Sir John Peyton, lord of the manor (133 acres) and Sir John Waddington (145 acres).

In 1714 Thomas Eaton bequeathed two houses and 8½ acres of land for providing a school in the village.  At the time of the 1805 Enclosure Award 42 acres were allotted in respect of the Estate but a school was not completed until 1817 at a cost of £800.  In 1867, 78 boys and 65 girls  -children of agriculturalists - were registered.  A new school was built in 1924 (the old buildings were in a bad state of repair) at a cost of £3,000 providing for 202 pupils.

Notable houses in Wimblington include Addison House in Addison Road (early 19th century) and the Manor House, Doddington Road.  As perhaps befits one of the oldest houses in Wimblington, an air of mystery surrounds the date of construction of the Manor House.  
Most authorities, including the Listed Building Commission, date the house as early 18th century, but it has been described by at least one chronicler as "a delightful Cromwellian manor" which would place it in mid 17th century.  Alas, deeds and other documents which would presumably resolve the matter were lost in a burglary many years ago. 
Various additions and alterations have been made over the years, notably in the 19th century, and the interior, whilst retaining many of its older features, has been remodelled into a comfortable 21st century family home.  Cased beams are features of most of the main rooms, and 19th century fireplaces survive in several rooms.  
An imposing cruciform chimney stack surmounts the building above the dormer attic window.  The house is now set in mature ornamental and working gardens of about one-third of an acre, much changed from the original farm-based surroundings.

At one time there were 10 pubs in the village including the Railway Inn, The Bell, The Wagon and Horses, The Anchor, The Carpenters Arms, The Unicorn, The Cock, The Chequers, The Royal Oak, The Rising Sun and at Stonea the Golden Lion, The Plough and the Chequers (Boot Bridge).  Today only the Anchor and the Golden Lion in Stonea survive as hostelries.

The population of Wimblington was 965 in 1831, 1269 in 1931 1315 in 1971, currently in 2002 it is 1700.

Wimblington Railway Station was sited three-quarters of a mile south of the village on the Wisbech and St Ives branch of the Great Eastern railway.  The line, which was opened 1848, closed in the 1960`s as a result of the Beeching cuts ran along the course of the present A141 Chatteris - March bypass, veering off at the bend past Bridge Lane on a route which takes it along Woodman`s Way.

Wimblington has proudly won the Cambs Times and Wisbech Standard Best Kept Village award nine times and in 1997 came second in the national village of the year.  This year we were "The village of the Year" in Fenland.  The village of the Year, sponsored by Calor, has been going for a couple of years, it is much the same as The Best Kept Village but whereas that was the prettiest village this is more about the community and what they have achieved during the past year.

The Parish Hall  is almost 100 years old and the Parkfield social club area is to be envied. 

A mixed community, we have many other redeeming features I hope you will investigate by navigating the links shown.  There are diverse employment within the village, agriculture being the main one with Knowles Transport being the largest employer in the village.

Historic Rights of Way

Wimblington is fortunate in enjoying a network of footpaths, bridleways and byways giving a unique view of Fenland.

Part of the old railway line is a bridleway and there are other Rights of Way with names that give a glimpse of history - the byway "workmans Drove", the bridleway "Firelots" (surely where peat came from?) and the linked route "Woodmans Way" for instance.  Woodmans Way has a leaflet of its own that is available from the F.D.C. or tourist information offices.  Inside the village itself are some ancient footpaths which give short cuts through the very heart of the village.  These are maintained under the Parish Paths Scheme by the Parish Council.

Stonea Camp, famous Bronze Age site, has a footpath network that takes in the site of the Roman Administration Camp and who knows if Boudicca once rode this route on her small fierce ponies.

Rights of Way are clearly marked on Ordinance Survey Maps and Wimblington is justifiable proud of its access to the countryside-routs that have been made in use since time immemorial to be enjoyed far into the future.

Fort in the Fens

Lying to the east of Wimblington is Stones Camp, Britains lowest lying "hill-fort".  Built over 2000 years ago in the Iron Age (700 BC - 43 AD) it survives today as an earthwork monument.

Its banks and ditches have been restored following archaeological excavations in 1991 and today it is open to the public all year round with a series of interpretation boards explaining 10,000 years of occupation at the site.

It is thought that the Stonea Camp was built by the Iceni people as an outpost of their land and that the site may have been the scene of a battle between the Iceni and Romans recorded by the Roman historian Tacitus.

Whatever the truth of this, excavations have recovered human skeletons killed by sword blows and following the Roman conquest the fort was abandoned to be replaced by a Roman town which lies adjacent to the site, although no traces can be seen today.

The site is owned by the Cambridgeshire County Farms Estate and managed by the Archaeological Field Unit of Cambridgeshire County Council.

Childs Skull Hacked

During the Iron Age (500 BC - 43AD) the southern peninsula of Stonea "island" was fortified with banks and ditches to make a "hill-fort".  Excavations elsewhere in Britain show the hill-forts were used as permanent settlements for privileged families, living in wattle and daub round-houses up to 10m diameter, thatched with straw or sedge, and drawing on supplies of labour from a wide area.  Like Medieval castles, at times of trouble they gave protection to a wider population who were in danger of enslavement or massacre of the fort fell.  A vivid example of their fate was shown by the skull of a four year old child, hacked by sword cuts, which was found in one of the Stonea ditches.