CHURCH
The location of the parish church
at the north end of the village overlooking the
fens has given rise to a tradition that the
inhabitants tried to move it to a more central
site, Church Hill near Crowlands manor house,
and were thwarted by the mysterious return of
the stones to the old site by night. (fn. 49) Although
the legend and the place name have been thought
to imply the removal of the church, perhaps in
the 11th century, (fn. 50) it is more likely that Church
Hill was named from an otherwise unrecorded
second church, belonging to Crowlands manor,
which disappeared early.
The church contains 12th-century masonry. (fn. 51)
The patronage belonged to the bishop of Ely. (fn. 52)
The king made four successive presentations
between 1357 and 1361 during the exile of
Bishop Thomas de Lisle, (fn. 53) and presented during
a vacancy in 1388. (fn. 54) The prior and convent of
Canterbury presented in 1500 when both Ely and
Canterbury were vacant. (fn. 55) John Pepys presented
for a turn in 1581, the archbishop of Canterbury
by option in 1620, 1671, 1715, and 1839, and
the Crown in 1621 and 1628, both times on the
elevation of the incumbent to a bishopric, and
in 1886 during a vacancy. (fn. 56)
The living was already a rich prize in the 13th
century, being valued at 30 marks in 1217 and
60 marks in 1291, when it was the sixth highest
in Cambridgeshire outside the Isle. (fn. 57) It remained
as wealthy in relative terms in the 16th century (fn. 58)
and later, and was worth £280 a year in 1650,
£450 in 1728, and over £1,000 in the 1870s. (fn. 59)
Barnwell priory, succeeding to Picot the sheriff's grant of tithes to the church of St. Giles
in Cambridge c. 1092, (fn. 60) took a pension of 15s.
in 1254, (fn. 61) 20s. in 1291, (fn. 62) and 40s. in the early
16th century. (fn. 63) In 1315 the rector lost a dispute
over the tithes of Westwick with the rector of
Oakington. (fn. 64) Smithey fen, the Lots, the Undertakers, and Chittering Hill were tithe free in
1642, and in 1596 the rector was allotted c. 70 a.
in lieu of tithes on recently inclosed land. (fn. 65) By
the 1690s most tithes were paid in cash. (fn. 66) A
lengthy tithe dispute ended in 1826. (fn. 67) In 1832
the tithes provided over three quarters of the
income; (fn. 68) they were commuted in 1840. (fn. 69) The
rectory manor comprised 2 hides of land held of
the bishop of Ely in 1279, when its arable
amounted to 155 a., (fn. 70) but only 98 a. in 1318. (fn. 71) After inclosure in 1847 the glebe comprised c.
135 a., (fn. 72) of which 86 a. were sold in 1911 and
the remainder evidently by 1921. (fn. 73)
The medieval rectory house was alleged in
1538 to have fallen into extreme ruin during the
previous four years. (fn. 74) Its successor, after 1964
called the Old Rectory, is built of brick to a
regular H plan. In 1638 it had a hall, two
parlours, and several service rooms beneath a set
of chambers. (fn. 75) The central range was probably
built in the late 16th century. Its roof is of two
and a half bays with arch-braced collars above a
steeply cambered tie beam, the short southern
bay perhaps indicating the former position of
a screens passage. (fn. 76) The north cross wing is
probably that rebuilt in or soon after 1696, which
was required to be of six rooms, two on each
floor, with a cellar. (fn. 77) A 19th-century staircase in
that range retains a balustrade rail of c. 1700 at
attic level. The roofs were also replaced c. 1700
and have a prominent dentilled cornice. During
substantial repairs undertaken in the early
1780s, (fn. 78) or shortly after 1800, a canted bay was
added to the south front (fn. 79) and the walls of the
south wing and much of the central range were
refaced. At the same time the interior was
remodeled. A new staircase was put into the
north end of the hall, and a Tuscan screen was
built across one end of the south-east room. It
was possibly only during those alterations that
the main front of the house was made symmetrical and the service accommodation moved from
the south to the north wing. About 1900 most
of the fireplaces and the main stair were altered.
The house was sold in 1964, (fn. 80) and a new rectory
was built in the grounds to the south.
A chaplain serving a chantry at the altar of St.
Mary in the parish church was endowed in 1392
with 23 a. of land, (fn. 81) and between 1403 and 1410
other benefactors gave an additional 22 a. (fn. 82) After
1410 the chantry priest was to be chosen by
seven good and honest men of the parish. Their
successors retained control until the 16th century
as the 'seven men of Cottenham'. (fn. 83) At its dissolution in 1547 the chantry's endowment comprised a priest's house, eight other houses or
cottages, and 49 a. of arable and meadow. (fn. 84)
The chapel of ease which was believed in the
1640s to have stood at Green End (fn. 85) was
presumably a recollection of the private chapel
of Harlestones manor house. (fn. 86)
A royal clerk was rector of Cottenham in
1265, (fn. 87) though it was probably more common
in the 14th century for the benefice to be given
to servants of the bishop, like the graduate
Nicholas of Cambridge, rector for 20 years or
more from the 1330s. (fn. 88) He and Bartholemew de
la Haye, rector in 1286, (fn. 89) gave vestments and
plate to the church. (fn. 90)
From 1375 to 1388 the benefice passed rapidly
from rector to rector, including a master of
Peterhouse, Cambridge, and two who gave up
the archdeaconry of Ely in exchange for it. (fn. 91) Only one of eight incumbents in that period died
in office, bequeathing £20 to clothe his poor
parishioners. (fn. 92) The parish had four chaplains in
1379 (fn. 93) and three in 1406. (fn. 94) From the mid 15th
century the living attracted distinguished
churchmen. Lawrence Booth, rector 1445-56,
became archbishop of York. (fn. 95) John Warkworth,
master of Peterhouse, (fn. 96) had a parish chaplain to
serve the church during his long incumbency,
1458-1500. (fn. 97) William Warham, later archbishop
of Canterbury, held the living for two years from
1500. (fn. 98) Pluralist rectors later in the 16th century
were mostly prebendaries or university men, (fn. 99) and the parish was probably served by curates. (fn. 1)
Non-resident rectors in the early 17th century (fn. 2)
included two who were heads of Cambridge
colleges when collated. (fn. 3)
The longest serving of
the early 17th-century curates was John Tenison,
1624-40, (fn. 4)
whose son Thomas, archbishop of
Canterbury, was born at Cottenham in 1636. (fn. 5)
Absence from church and hostility to the
minister were frequently reported in the late
16th and early 17th century, (fn. 6)
and one parishioner
was suspected of wizardry in 1609. (fn. 7)
Further
opposition was reported in 1638 to John Manby, (fn. 8)
rector from 1635 and son-in-law of Francis
White, bishop of Ely. (fn. 9)
Manby's adherence to
episcopal and royal government and a petition
against him by the parishioners led the House
of Commons in 1642 to appoint lecturers to
preach in his church. (fn. 10) The benefice was sequestered in 1644 for Peter French, a puritan minister
whose wife was Cromwell's sister Robina, and
Manby's family was eventually expelled from
Cottenham. (fn. 11) French was still incumbent in
1650 (fn. 12) and perhaps until his death in 1655;
from 1656 to 1658 his successor attended the
Presbyterian classis in Cambridge. (fn. 13)
Manby was restored in 1660. (fn. 14) Most of his
successors until the mid 19th century were
Church dignitaries who served through curates.
One resigned on becoming bishop of Oxford in
1674. (fn. 15) His successor John Fitzwilliam resigned
his preferments in 1690 (fn. 16) but by will proved
1699 endowed the purchase of Bibles, prayer
books, and the Whole Duty of Man for the poor
of Cottenham; (fn. 17) the income was still spent on
books for the church in 1987. (fn. 18)
The next two rectors, though pluralists, served
personally and were buried at Cottenham; John
Dowsing, 1715-22, was from a Cottenham gentry family. (fn. 19) Two bishops of Ely collated their
sons Charles Fleetwood, 1722-37, and Thomas
Greene, 1737-80, when they were in their 20s. (fn. 20) Fleetwood was resident in 1728, assisted by a
curate, (fn. 21) but from the 1730s the parish was
mainly entrusted to curates, being served for
many years by the vicar of Histon, John Scaife. (fn. 22) In 1742 Greene was said to be highly regarded
by his parishioners, (fn. 23) but by the 1770s he had
long ceased to reside for more than four or five
weeks a year. (fn. 24) J. H. Sparke, 1819-27, was
another young man appointed by his father the
bishop. (fn. 25) The last of the non-resident pluralist
rectors died in 1839. (fn. 26)
Throughout the 18th century and the early
19th, when curates did most of the work, there
were two full Sunday services with sermons, and
in the 18th century three communions a year, a
fourth being added by 1807. There were only
about a dozen communicants in the early 19th
century, but the number was said in 1836 to be
rising, (fn. 27) through the influence of the curate from
1832, Adam Fitch; in 1839 the parishioners,
with the support of the nonconformist ministers,
sought unsuccessfully to have him made rector
by the archbishop of Canterbury. (fn. 28) The rectors
after 1839 all lived in Cottenham and in the
late 19th century had considerable success in
attracting the villagers back to church, sometimes assisted by curates, as in 1845, the mid
1880s, and c. 1900. (fn. 29) Attendance on Census
Sunday 1851 was 74 adults at the morning
service and 182 in the afternoon, with c. 50
children at each. (fn. 30) Samuel Banks, rector from
1851, (fn. 31) instituted evensong in addition to the
existing services, and claimed in 1873 that there
were 700-800 churchgoers, about half of whom
were baptized. A monthly communion was
begun by 1873, when the average number of
communicants was 27, and Banks was holding
weekly communions by 1885 for c. 100 communicant church members. (fn. 32) He opened a mission room next to the almshouses in Green End
in 1855, which was still in use in 1897. (fn. 33)
The church of ALL SAINTS, so called by
1403, (fn. 34) consists of chancel, clerestoried nave
with aisles and north and south porches, and
west tower. It is built, except for the tower,
mainly of rubble with ashlar dressings. Re-used
masonry is all that remains from the 12thcentury church, many fragments being set in
the outer walls, especially of the chancel. The
chancel arch was widened in the early 13th
century, re-using the 12th-century piers and
bases and rebuilding the arch in clunch. The
lower part of the tower, including the west
doorway, dates from the early 14th century.
Inside, weathering from the roof of that time
shows that the church then had no clerestory
and probably low aisles.
The rest of the church was rebuilt in the 15th
century, the chancel probably preceding the nave
and aisles. Work may date from the time of John
Warkworth, rector 1458-1500. The new chancel
incorporated much moulded ashlar from the
earlier chancel. The piscina and triple sedilia
were added later, possibly in the early 16th
century, overlapping one of the tall chancel
windows. The five-bayed nave and aisles were
rebuilt to a unified design, with the addition of
porches and a clerestory. The earliest window is
probably that from the nave to the upper storey
of the north porch.
The tower was felled by a storm in 1617, only
its lower parts surviving. In the rebuilding which
followed, commemorated in numerous initialled
stones set in the bottom stage, the upper stages
were made of two shades of pink brick with a
new west window and bell openings in stone.
The tower is capped by corner turrets ending in
distinctive ogee domes, balls, and pinnacles.
The medieval chancel screen, on or above
which a doom was painted c. 1516, (fn. 35) survived
until 1742 or later. At that date there was little
painted glass and the walls were decorated with
scriptural texts, recorded in 1663; the west wall
had painted figures of Time and Death. (fn. 36) The
chancel was reroofed c. 1783. Much of the
window tracery had by then been blocked up
and the church as a whole was said to be kept
in a slovenly manner. (fn. 37)
All the window tracery was replaced and the
church was several times restored during the
19th century, mainly out of the income of the
Church and Causeway charity estate. A west
gallery was built in 1833, and new seats, a pulpit,
and a reading desk were made in 1836. (fn. 38) The
chancel was repaired in 1842-3, (fn. 39) and a new
open chancel screen, later removed, was made
in 1848. (fn. 40) A new east window inserted in 1853
copied that in Prior Crauden's chapel at Ely. (fn. 41) The nave was restored in 1867, when all the box
pews were removed. (fn. 42) The west gallery was
taken out in 1880. Following further restoration
in 1893-4, the tower arch was unblocked in 1905
and a western porch formed under the ringing
chamber. (fn. 43) That was the normal entrance to the
church in 1987.
At the restoration of the tower in 1928 (fn. 44) one
contributor was Calvin Coolidge, president of
the U.S.A., whose ancestor John Coolidge emigrated from Cottenham to Massachusetts c.
1630. (fn. 45)
A 13th-century marble grave slab of a priest
was in the south porch in 1987. In 1552 the
church had an organ, two steeple bells, and a
sanctus. (fn. 46) By 1634 the rebuilt tower evidently
had five bells, (fn. 47) recast as six in 1800. (fn. 48)
The registers of baptisms and marriages are
complete from 1572 to 1725, and of burials from
1582 to 1725, but those covering the years 1725-
1812 are missing. (fn. 49)
Charitable provision was made for church
repairs in 1543, and after 1736 a regular income
was received from the Church and Causeway
estate. (fn. 50) Endowments totalling £1,335 were
given for the upkeep of the church and churchyard between the 1930s and 1960s. The combined income from them amounted to £187 in
1986, when the Church and Causeway estate
provided £500. (fn. 51)