RAMPTON
Figure 13:
Rampton 1754
THE small fen-edge parish of Rampton, c.
9.5 km. (6 miles) north of Cambridge, covered
1,336 a. until 1884, when a detached part of
Willingham covering 351/2 a. was added, giving
an area in 1981 of 555 ha. (1,3711/2 a.). (fn. 81) In 1985
the boundary with Long Stanton was altered to
follow the railway, Rampton losing c. 1 ha. (21/2 a.)
net. (fn. 82) The parish has a roughly rectangular
southern part comprising the former open fields
and meadows, which lie just above the highest
flood line and rise to only 9 m. (30 ft.) in the
west, and a narrow northward extension tapering
to a point in the fens. Its greatest length from
south-west to north-east is 5 km. (3 miles) and
it is nowhere wider than 2 km. The Cottenham
boundary was fixed before 1315 along a rivulet,
called Westwick brook in 1605, which drains
north-east into the river Ouse. (fn. 83) At the north
end Hempsals fen, c. 80 a. of which lay in
Rampton, was common pasture for Rampton
and Willingham in 1279 (fn. 84) and remained so until
after 1635. (fn. 85) Irams fen to its south covered 280 a.
in 1622; 351/2; a. were placed in Willingham c.
1663 and restored to Rampton in 1884. (fn. 86) Most
of the southern and western boundaries run
along tracks called mere ways dividing Rampton
from Willingham and Long Stanton but a small
part follows the boundaries of arable furlongs
between Rampton and Willingham. (fn. 87) The sharing of fen pastures with Willingham and the preConquest ownership of both vills by Ely abbey
suggest that Rampton may have once been dependent on Willingham, perhaps as a specialized
sheep-rearing settlement, (fn. 88) but it was fully separate in 1066. Until the mid 19th century the
arable was farmed in four open fields, with
common meadow and pasture in the north of the
parish. The soil is heavy and mostly underlain by
Ampthill clay with Kimmeridge clay along the
brook and in the north, (fn. 89) but the fens provided
excellent grazing. (fn. 90) There was no ancient woodland by the 11th century. In the early 17th
century Edward Alcocke burned coal in the
manor house to spare what little wood he had, (fn. 91)
though in the 19th century and earlier there
were small holts and spinneys. (fn. 92) Big Spinney
survives on the eastern boundary. An Inclosure
Act was passed in 1839 and the open fields were
divided in 1842 but the award was not executed
until 1852. (fn. 93) Under an Act of 1842 the northern
part of the parish and a strip of land alongside
the brook south of the village, covering 400 a.
in all, were placed in the Cottenham, Rampton,
and Willingham drainage district. (fn. 94) As in neighbouring parishes, the fens were not ploughed
until the First World War, but arable predominated throughout the parish in 1985.
In the Middle Ages the main road from
Cambridge to Ely via Histon and Aldreth causeway, called the Portway, passed through the
parish, (fn. 95) crossing the Cottenham-Willingham
road west of the village and meeting a road from
Long Stanton further south. The Long Stanton
road follows Reynold's ditch, and that to Cottenham crosses Westwick brook by Rampton
bridge. The Cambridge-Rampton-Ely road declined in importance from the 17th century with
the opening of a shorter route elsewhere, though
the causeway was still used by local traffic into
the Isle in the early 19th century. (fn. 96) By c. 1840
the Cottenham-Willingham road, passing
through the village as High Street, was the only
through route in the parish. The Histon and
Long Stanton roads were not adopted as public
at inclosure, when Portway north of High Street
was stopped up entirely. (fn. 97) An old drove road
from the village into the fens remained open
after inclosure as Cow Lane and in 1985 joined
another concreted drove road from Willingham
near its northern end.
Rampton has long been one of the smallest of
the fen-edge villages north-west of Cambridge.
In 1086 there were 19 tenants (fn. 98) and 23 people
paid tax in 1327. (fn. 99) There were 31 families in
1563 and 39 households in 1664. (fn. 1) 35 families
were counted in 1728 (fn. 2) and again in 1801, when
they comprised 162 individuals. The population
rose to nearly 220 by 1821 and, after a drop in
the 1820s, to over 250 by 1871, thereafter falling
to fewer than 180 in 1901. Growth was slow
until 1951, when there were 221 residents, but
afterwards was as rapid as in larger neighbouring
villages and there were 355 inhabitants in 1981. (fn. 3)
The fen edge was densely settled in Roman
times, (fn. 4) but no evidence for post-Roman occupation has been found and the settlement was
probably located on its present site early in the
Anglo-Saxon period. The earliest focus was
presumably the church, which stands a short
distance north of High Street at the east end of
the village. To the east are earthworks that may
represent the sites of houses removed when an
earthen castle was built in the 1140s. (fn. 5) Afterwards
the village formed a Y, extending west from the
church and rectory to a small triangular green
and along two streets leading on from the green,
the northern arm of the Y being the CottenhamWillingham road. In 1754 houses and cottages
at the front of long tofts stood on the north side
of the northern arm, High Street, and the south
side of the southern, later King Street. The
south side of High Street was also built up,
perhaps as a secondary element in the plan after
a reduction in size of a formerly larger green.
The green and the regular tofts associated with
it may have been deliberately planned c. 1270 as
the site for Robert de Lisle's market and fair; (fn. 6)
in 1985 the base of a cross stood on the green.
A few houses in High Street and on the green
are of late 17th-century date. Until the 1840s
there were fewer than 25 houses, centred on the
green, with others in High Street, King Street,
and Church End. The 25 or so new dwellings
built in the 1840s did not extend the settlement
and the village hardly grew at all until after the
First World War and not significantly until the
Second. (fn. 7) From 1951 to 1981 each decade saw
20-25 new houses, pushing west along King
Street and north up Cow Lane and comprising
mainly council houses and private bungalows.
The only farmhouse built outside the village
immediately after inclosure was that in Farther
Irams. At first it housed a labourer's family,
though in 1871 and 1881 it was occupied by the
owner's bailiff. (fn. 8) In the 20th century Topsfield,
New, and Ashley Farms were built in Cow
Lane. (fn. 9)
The Chequers public house was open by 1765
and closed in 1917; the Black Horse, in business
by 1851, remained open in 1985. (fn. 10) The Fox and
Hounds beerhouse stood by the Willingham
road close to the parish boundary in 1879 but
was evidently closed by c. 1890. (fn. 11) Rampton Feast
was traditionally and still in the early 19th
century held on the Sunday before 15 July, (fn. 12)
but a century later had been moved to the first
Sunday after Trinity and succeeding days. (fn. 13)
After dwindling during the 20th century to a
church service and a visit by the Cottenham
Salvation Army band, the Feast was revived in
1977. (fn. 14) Social events in the late 19th century
took the form of evening entertainments of music
and readings in the schoolroom. (fn. 15) A village hall
was opened in 1955 in a prefabricated hut in
Church End, which was replaced by a permanent
building in 1959. (fn. 16) A sports field south of King
Street was opened in 1973. (fn. 17)
The earthwork called Giant's Hill, standing
between the village and Rampton bridge, comprises a low rectangular flat-topped mound surrounded by a deep ditch. Its location near the
fen edge and some constructional features are
similar to those of Burwell castle, which was
begun by King Stephen in 1143 when besieging
the Isle of Ely and abandoned unfinished the
following year. (fn. 18) Giant's Hill was later very
probably the site of Lisles manor house. (fn. 19) A 45a. park adjoins it on the north.
C. H. Evelyn-White, rector 1894-1928 (d.
1938), was a prominent local historian of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. He established the
monthly antiquarian magazine the East Anglian
in 1885 and edited it until its termination in 1910.
He also helped to found the Cambridgeshire
and Huntingdonshire Archaeological Society in
1900, resigning in 1906. (fn. 20)