SUTTON
Sutton is one of the larger villages in the county, and
is situated at the western end of the Isle of Ely. It lies
on the main road from Ely. to St. Ives (Hunts.) (B
1381), about 6 miles from Ely. The approach to the
Isle along this road from Earith Bridge carries the
traveller through typical fenland scenery, the road
running along the south-east bank of the New Bedford
River, below its water level but above the fields on the
landward side of the road. The two western promontories of the Isle enclose the valley leading to
Grunty Fen, at the top of which the towers of Ely may
be seen in clear weather. The village was formerly also
on the main road from Ely to Chatteris (A 142), but
during the Second World War a satellite airfield in
connexion with Witchford R.A.F. Station was laid out
at the point where this road crosses the ridge of the hill,
and the road has not since been reopened. A by-road
leaves the road to Earith Bridge at the west end of the
village street, and crossing the Bedford Rivers at Sutton
Gault, (fn. 1) serves the fens west of the rivers. It is not,
however, a through road.
Sutton has perhaps the most attractive situation of
any village in the Isle. It stands on a southern slope
which, as at Haddenham, is much given over to fruit
growing. In 1675 Ogilby noted the cherry gardens of
Sutton as a feature of interest to travellers. (fn. 2) The slope
is very steep for this part of the country, the ground
falling about 60 ft. in half a mile. The village looks
picturesque from a distance. The church is a fine one
of distinctly East Anglian type. The other buildings
in the village of architectural distinction are the Burystead (the former manor house-see below), Eastwood
House, with shaped brick gables, on the south side of
the mile-long street near the church, and the 18thcentury house occupied by E. G. Backler and Lloyds
Bank. The reputed Guildhall in the main street and
one or two cottages in the Row, the lower village street,
are timber-framed and plastered and may be medieval.
For a thousand years a corporate body were lords of the
manor, and the inevitable consequence of absenteeism
goes far to explain a certain air of meanness about the
village. This meanness is not entirely dispelled by the
presence of some large houses in their own grounds,
such as Sutton House at the east end of the village. In
this respect Sutton may be contrasted with Thorney,
a village of about the same size but with a very different
history. It is significant that Cole, though he noted that
the church was 'very grand and spatious', found hardly
any monuments there; what there were had no coats of
arms and only one legible inscription. (fn. 3) That labour
relations in this very 'open' village were bad during the
period of high farming is shown by the crop of destructive farm fires mentioned in the 1851 edition of Gardner's Directory of Cambridgeshire. (fn. 4)
In 1312 the Prior of Ely received the right to hold
a weekly market at Sutton on Thursdays. (fn. 5) The village
was the only conventual estate outside Ely itself (fn. 6) with
such a privilege, but the market had disappeared before
the middle of the 18th century, and probably much
earlier. (fn. 7)
In 1623 a lawsuit occurred between the dean and
chapter of the one part, and the tenants of their manors
of Mepal (q.v.) and Sutton of the other, regarding
rights of common in the fen. The defendants were
Sir Miles Sandys of Mepal, Henry Jetherell of Sutton
manor, Richard Wigmore, Vicar of Sutton, and
twenty-seven others. (fn. 8) The dispute was settled by
inclosure, (fn. 9) and in 1675 a parliamentary bill to confirm
the decision obtained a second reading (fn. 10) but apparently
was not enacted. It is uncertain how much land was
affected by this 17th-century inclosure. Probably it
amounted to the whole of the fen land reclaimed by
that date; when the final inclosure of the open fields
took place in the 19th century, the proportion of Sutton
and Mepal that was affected amounted in each case to
about one-quarter of the parish, an area roughly equivalent to the 'high lands'. A Sutton Inclosure Act was
passed in 1838, (fn. 11) and an award (fn. 12) made two years later.
The award mentions six fields: (fn. 13) Branghill Field west
and Church Field east of the Chatteris road, Towns
End Field north and south of the Ely road, Farm Hill
and Claydon Fields in the north-east corner of the
parish between Mepal and Witcham, and Every Year
Field (fn. 14) north-west of the village; also the Meadlands
and Upper and Lower Washes in the fenland in the
west of the parish. (fn. 15) The total area affected was 1,786
acres, including 71 acres of ancient inclosures reallotted.
Those of the 121 proprietors who received the largest
amounts were John Vipan (93 acres), Thomas Vipan
(91 acres), four other members of the Vipan family
(207 acres between them), William Cole (100 acres),
the trustees under the will of Anne Waddington (97
acres), and the Dean and Chapter of Ely (92 acres).
The last allotment included 31½ acres which the dean
and chapter received as impropriators of the rectory and
1 acre as lords of the manor.
A branch of the Great Eastern Railway was opened
from Ely to Sutton in 1866 and extended to St. Ives in
1878; (fn. 16) the station was closed, except for goods traffic,
in 1931. (fn. 17)
In 1618 the inhabitants of Ely and certain other
places in the Isle petitioned the Council to direct the
Commissioners of Sewers not to impose penalties for
failure to open the drain called Sutton Lode by the
appointed time. They claimed that 100,000 acres
would be overflowed if the lode was opened before the
main drain (the West Water) and its outfalls at Wisbech were completed. By way of answer the people
of Sutton and Mepal petitioned that the stopping of
Sutton Lode was highly prejudicial to them, because,
though the Lode was a branch of the West Water, it
had a separate outfall, which was the only good one for
the Ouse as far as Lynn. (fn. 18) The floods of 1937 and
1947 were especially serious in the tract of fen between
Sutton and Earith Bridge; in the latter year the damage
had not been fully repaired five months after the floods. (fn. 19)
MANOR
Three hides in SUTTON were given to
the church of Ely by Ulsius, his wife, and
his son Alfius when the monastery was restored by Ethelwold and Brithnoth after the Danish
invasions. (fn. 20) In 1086 Sutton was assessed at 5 hides.
There was land for 10 ploughs. Two of the 5 hides
were in demesne with land for 3 or possibly 4 ploughs.
There were 9 sokemen, who neither then nor formerly
could depart without leave from the abbot, 8 villeins
each with 7½ acres, 15 cottars and 7 serfs. There was
a small wood, providing for 5 pigs, and 44s. from
fisheries. The vill was worth £12 when received and
£16 in 1066. In 1086 its value was again stated to
be £12. (fn. 21)
The manor remained with the convent in 1109, and
was transferred to the reconstituted dean and chapter
in 1541. (fn. 22) It is now held by the Church Commissioners,
so that ownership has been continuous for nearly a
thousand years, broken only during the Interregnum. (fn. 23)
A grant of free warren was made in 1252 (fn. 24) and confirmed with other manorial privileges in 1418. (fn. 25)
Philip de Insula appears as tenant of the manor of
Sutton c. 1250, when the demesne consisted of 40
acres of arable land and 30 of meadow, (fn. 26) but for the
rest of the Middle Ages it seems to have been kept in
hand by the prior and convent. It was usually reckoned
as the most valuable part of their property, other than
the various estates in and around Ely itself. In 1291
the manor was valued at £64 15s. 5d. (fn. 27) In 1324-5 the
value had increased to £67 0s. 5½d. (fn. 28) Prominent
sources of revenue then were £6 6s. from fisheries,
£8 12s. 8d. from mills and £3 1s. 6d. from the sale of
stock. Wool and fells were also sold, though on a
smaller scale than at Witchford and Wentworth: 71
skins yielded £1 6s. 7½d. In 1380 (fn. 29) receipts had risen
to £83 2s. 10d. Nine fisheries produced £4 18s. and
the sale of stock and dairy produce £8 2s. 3d. Some of
the demesne was arrented at £3 18s. This rent included
3s. 4d. from an osier bed in the 'Holt' let to Sir John
Wake. Works were commuted for £4 4s. 6d. In
this year corn and stock were purchased at Royston
(Herts.) for £4 1s. 11d. and the prior paid a personal
visit of inspection. During the 15th century the
receipts diminished considerably, fluctuating between
£27 17s. 8d. in 1429 and £54 13s. 4d. six years later;
Sutton now ranked in value somewhat below the
priory's manor in Whittlesey. (fn. 30) In 1522-3, however,
the receipts had risen to £81 16s. 11½d., including
rents in kind valued at £1 7s. 9¾d. (fn. 31) In 1527-8 the
receipts had again fallen to £41 4s. (fn. 32) In 1541 they had
risen to £67 13s. 3¾d. (fn. 33) The general high degree of
prosperity in Sutton is shown by the nickname 'Golden'
Sutton, found in Chancery proceedings of 1599. (fn. 34)
Lying as it did on the border of the Isle, Sutton was
the occasional scene of boundary disputes. Thus in
1292 Prior Salomon complained that Abbot Sawtry of
Ramsey and some members of the de Insula family had
broken into his Sutton property, mowed his meadows
and reed bed and felled his trees. (fn. 35) In 1441 the successors of these disputants agreed that the boundary
between their respective manors in Sutton and Chatteris should lie along the dike in the marshes of 'Hollode' (fn. 36) and 'Popilholt'. (fn. 37)
Many grants to the priory are recorded amongst the
capitular archives, mostly small in amount. They are
of little interest except to the student of place names;
such names as 'Athelyngsbrygge', 'Waldhithewaye',
the 'Haspehoue', and 'Fenhoue' occur. (fn. 38) The prior's
vineyard is mentioned in 1312. (fn. 39) Most of these grants
date from the early years of the 14th century, at which
time, as in other of the conventual manors, the Fresyngfeld family made many gifts. (fn. 40) In 1371 it was reported
that since the Statute of Mortmain (1279) the convent
had acquired in Sutton, mainly without licence, no
fewer than 68 properties, to the yearly value of £6 6s. 5d.
These included a 100-acre estate called 'Pillerynestenements', worth £2, and marsh, worth 6s. 8d., held of the
bishop. The latter was acquired in order to enlarge the
manor place. (fn. 41)
At the end of the 16th century the lessees of the
manor under the dean and chapter were the Jetherell
family. (fn. 42) A member of that family, Henry, was a party
to the disputes that occurred between the dean and
chapter and the villagers of Sutton in the 1620's (see
above). (fn. 43) Concurrently with the inclosure of the fens
the fines were changed from arbitrary to certain. The
sum of £40 was to be collected from the tenants to
compensate the dean and chapter for this concession.
In 1654 some portions of the sum still remained unpaid. (fn. 44) The parliamentary survey of 1649 gave the
'improved' value of copyhold lands in the manor as
£98 13s. 8d. a year, (fn. 45) amended to £101 3s. 8½d. when
in the same year George Perrier, scrivener of London,
bought the manor for £2,243 9s. 2½d. (fn. 46) The fines
certain were now fixed at 4d. per acre a year. Perrier
did not hold the manor long; in 1651 it was regranted,
for £2,048 8s. 2d., to Hamond Ward, a London merchant. (fn. 47) The demesne was in two parts, the larger, of
13 closes (140 acres), 33 acres of lammas ground in the
North and South Meadlands and 105 acres of fen and
marsh, was worth £132 17s. 4d. yearly and carried £50
of timber; the smaller, of 5 closes of 46 acres, and 24
acres of fen and marsh, was worth £42 19s.
At the Restoration the manor returned to the dean
and chapter; in the early 18th century it was leased to
the Ward family at a yearly rent of £8, 4 wethers, a
brawn, and a calf; fines for renewal were £45 in 1710
and 1717 and £60 in 1724. (fn. 48) Courts baron were held
until 1844. (fn. 49)
The manor house normally followed the descent of
the manor. In 1541, however, it was let to Thomas
Colin for £8 yearly. (fn. 50) In 1630 the tenancy was transferred by Richard Upcher and his wife Anne to David
Dunbar and his wife Elizabeth. (fn. 51) The Dunbars made
a settlement of their interest in 1637. (fn. 52) David Dunbar
was engaged in a lawsuit with the dean and chapter
about this time. (fn. 53) In 1851 John Vipan was the occupier of the Burystead. (fn. 54)
The Burystead Farm at the west end of the village
incorporates a complete early-14th-century chapel
which, though long desecrated and converted into a
house, retains most of its original features in a remarkable state of preservation. In 1651 it comprised the
main portion of the manor house, and was stated to consist of a block 39 by 24 ft., containing a hall and parlour
on the ground floor and two rooms over. The south
wing (rebuilt in 1742, see below) was 27 by 18 ft. and
included another parlour, the kitchen, buttery, larder,
and other offices downstairs and four small rooms
above. (fn. 55) Judging from the position of the fine double
piscina the actual chapel was raised on a low undercroft and was probably approached by an internal
newel stair at the south-west angle. There was a large
window in both the east and the west walls; that in the
west, with plain intersecting tracery, survives complete though blocked. There were at least two lateral
windows of two lights on the north and south which
survive, though either wholly or partially blocked.
There is a blocked two-centred doorway towards the
east of the north wall. The present entrance on the
south has a pointed arch, which however does not
appear to be medieval. The materials are rubble with
ashlar dressings, much of the surface being plastered,
and there are angle buttresses with one set-off. On the
west gable is the base of a cross. The roof, though
retaining its original pitch, is a post-medieval reconstruction reusing some medieval material. The approximate internal length is 36 ft. and the walls are
nearly 3 ft. thick. The fact that human remains have
been discovered in the surrounding ground suggests
that the building was something more than a private
manorial chapel.
At right angles to the chapel and attached to it on the
south is a brick two-story wing with sash windows and
round-headed doorway with fanlight; on the front is
the date 1742. Later additions have been made on
the west.
In 1548 Sir William Fyldyng or Fielding held a
capital messuage in Sutton, which he had settled in
1525 on his son Basil on his marriage to Goditha
Wyllington. (fn. 56) Basil was in possession at his death (1586),
having in turn settled it on his son William and his
descendants. (fn. 57)
In the early 18th century 160 acres of fen in Sutton
Holwoods were on lease to Mrs. Blatt at £30; fines for
renewal ranged from £26 to £30. An area of 248 acres
in Middlemore, which provided £20 a year for the
schoolmaster, was let to feoffees at £3 11s. 6d.; fines
for renewal were £65 in 1709 and 1716 and £68 in
1723. Other 'new rents' from inclosed and drained fen
yielded £40 a year. (fn. 58)
CHURCH
The church was early appropriated to
the hosteller of Ely monastery-an arrangement which Bishops Northwold
(1254) (fn. 59) and Balsham (1276) (fn. 60) confirmed. It was
valued at £13 6s. 8d. in 1217 and £12 in 1254. (fn. 61) A
vicarage was ordained in 1254. (fn. 62) In 1291 the rectory
was valued at £16 13s. 4d. of which £4 was set aside
for the vicar. (fn. 63) The vicar's stipend had been increased
to £10 by 1535. (fn. 64) Six years later the rectory was let to
John Bucke for £13 6s. 8d. (fn. 65) A pension of £1 was
granted to the Bishop of Ely from Sutton vicarage in
1562. (fn. 66) There is less documentary evidence for the
subsequent history of the rectory than for other
churches impropriate to the dean and chapter, but in
1610 it passed from Benjamin Hodson and Cassandra
his wife to Robert Storye. (fn. 67) From about 1684 the
rectory was held by Jesus College, Cambridge, as
trustees for Bishop Gunning's charity for the improvement of poor livings. In the early 18th century the
college paid a yearly rent of £13 6s. 8d. and 2 quarters
of wheat or the price thereof at Ely market on the
Saturday before St. John Baptist's Day; fines for renewal
amounted to £80 in 1710, £76 in 1717, and £100 in
1724. The rectory then consisted of a barn, dovecote,
39 acres of arable, 12 of old pasture, 40 of meadow and
fen, and the great tithes. (fn. 68) The vicarial tithes were
commuted in 1840 for £1,175 and the rectorial for
£500. (fn. 69) There were then 44 acres of glebe, which by
1900 had been reduced to 20 acres. (fn. 70)
The advowson of Sutton has been continuously with
the prior and convent and their successors the Dean and
Chapter of Ely. From 1735 to 1844 the rectory of
Mepal was consolidated with Sutton vicarage. Bentham told Cole, who visited Sutton in 1745, that this
had been done by Dr. John Warren, formerly Vicar of
Wisbech and Rector of Elm. (fn. 71) Warren alleged that the
two livings had not been a 'maintenance' separately,
but Cole believed that Warren 'took them solely to
build up a new rectorial house and barns and then to
resign them'. (fn. 72) A later incumbent, Dr. Samuel Peach,
was appointed to the livings (then worth £200 per
annum) in consideration of giving up the papers of
Dr. James Bradley the astronomer, his father-in-law,
which had been bequeathed to the public. (fn. 73) In 1781
a faculty was granted to Peach to pull down the rectory
at Mepal and to use the materials to repair the vicarage
at Sutton. (fn. 74)
An area of 12½ acres in the common fields of Sutton,
held by Robert Auker, William Bucke, and Henry
Gunton, which had been given to anniversaries and
lights in the church, was in 1553 granted to Sir John
Butler and Thomas Chaworthe. (fn. 75) Various small pieces
of land in the fields of Sutton which had been given for
anniversaries and lights in the church, came in 1568
into possession of Hugh Counsaille and Robert Baker. (fn. 76)
Three years later Thomas Jennings and Edward Forthe,
other Elizabethan land speculators, undertook the disposal of other obit land in 'Southmede'. (fn. 77)
The church of ST. ANDREW consists of chancel,
north vestry, clerestoried nave, aisles, south porch, and
west tower. The material is rubble and Barnack stone.
The roofs of the chancel and vestry are tiled, and
the others covered with lead. The fabric dates from
the second half of the 14th century, and exhibits the
transition from Decorated to Perpendicular. The arms
of Bishops Barnet (1366-73) and Arundel (1374-88)
occur on the vaulting of the porch, and also those of the
see of York, to which Arundel was translated in 1388.
The design is uniform throughout, but the chancel
seems rather earlier than the nave, and the tower somewhat later. The lavish use of battlemented parapets
and the unusual window tracery give the church a
marked individuality.
The chancel, of 3 bays, has a large east window of
5 cinquefoil-headed lights with a transom and elaborate tracery. There are 8 angle buttresses each with
1 set-off, 2 pairs at the eastern corners, 2 on the north
wall, and 2 on the south. There are 3 windows on the
south and 2 on the north, all uniform in design, consisting of 3 cinquefoil-headed lights with tracery above.
All the windows in the chancel and aisles are set under
lofty arches with moulded shafts-a feature common in
contemporary East Anglian work and found in the Isle
also at March and Wilburton. A low stone bench
extends along the walls. In the middle bay on the south
side is a doorway with continuous mouldings and a
hood-mould. The walls are surmounted by a plain
coped parapet. In the east bay on the north a doorway
with continuous mouldings opens to the vestry. The
absence of a window in this bay is proof that a vestry
formed part of the original design. There are graduated
sedilia and a double piscina in the usual position. On
either side of the east window inside is a large niche
with cusped and crocketed canopy and a bracket
above; they are occupied by modern figures of St.
Andrew and St. Etheldreda. The lofty chancel arch
is two-centred and of two orders, the outer with continuous mouldings and the inner springing from semicircular shafts with moulded caps and bases; on the
west face there is a hood-mould terminating in heads.
The vestry has been entirely rebuilt; it has a twolight east window, an external doorway on the west and
a lean-to roof.
The nave has arcades of six bays with two-centred
arches of two orders, the outer with continuous mouldings and the inner springing from semi-circular shafts
with moulded caps and bases: there are hood-moulds
terminating in heads and on the east respond there is
a bracket. The clerestory consists of five windows on
each side set over the columns and of two trefoilheaded lights with a quatrefoil above. The parapets are
embattled. The rood loft newel staircase is situated in
the north-east angle and has plain upper and lower
doorways. The tower arch is two-centred and of two
orders, the outer with continuous mouldings and the
inner springing from semi-octagonal shafts with concave sides and embattled caps and moulded bases.
The aisles have uniform fenestration and buttresses
with one set-off. The windows are of three cinquefoilheaded lights with tracery of late 14th-century character. The north doorway has continuous mouldings and
a hood terminating in heads. The south aisle is embattled and the north has a plain coped parapet; both
parapets have gargoyles. In the south-east angle of the
south aisle is an elaborate piscina recess, above which is
a large niche containing a seated stone figure almost life
size and now headless; it is probably the Blessed Virgin
and retains considerable traces of original colour, as
does the niche. On either side of the east window of the
north aisle is a stone bracket.
The porch is of two bays with parvise above, and an
embattled parapet with gargoyles; there are angle
buttresses with one set-off. The outer doorway has
a two-centred arch of two orders, the outer with continuous mouldings and the inner springing from semicircular shafts with embattled caps and moulded bases;
there is a band of conventional flowers beneath the caps
and a hood-mould terminating in grotesque heads. The
inner doorway has continuous mouldings. There is a
lierne vault in two bays with moulded shafts rising
from the lateral stone benches; the bosses at the intersection of the ribs are carved with the arms of Barnet,
Arundel, and York, and various heads including a
bishop. The parvise is approached by a stone newel
stair contrived in the north-west angle and entered
from the aisle.
Plan of St. Andrew's Church
The tower consists of four stages surmounted by an
octagonal stage which is crowned by a smaller octagon.
It is probable that a spire was originally intended, the
second octagon being substituted owing to lack of funds.
The resulting effect is unique in English medieval
church towers and produces a somewhat bizarre outline. The tower, which is lofty in itself and on high
ground, can be seen for great distances, e.g. from near
Welney Bridge across the Bedford Rivers, and the
railway between Ely and Stretham. There are diagonal
buttresses reaching to the top of the fourth stage and
crowned with mutilated crocketed pinnacles, and
smaller additional angle buttresses at the base. Round
the base and above the west window are bands of
quatrefoils. The large west doorway has a four-centred
arch set in a square frame springing from jamb shafts
having embattled caps and moulded bases; in the
spandrels are quatrefoils enclosing shields with the arms
of Ely and St. Andrew. The west window has four
uncusped main lights and a transom with rectilinear
tracery, all renewed. In the third stage there is a twolight uncusped window on the north, south, and west.
The belfry windows in the fourth stage consist of
three plain lights contained within a square hood with
quatrefoils in the spandrels. The first octagon has an
embattled parapet decorated with quatrefoils and remains of crocketed pinnacles on alternate sides; the
upper octagon has an embattled parapet with crocketed
pinnacles at each angle. There is a good lierne vault of
wood with carved bosses and stone springers. The
newel staircase is contrived in the south-west angle.
The roofs are modern; that of the chancel is of
collar-braced construction with modern stone carved
corbels, while the nave roof is of tie beam construction
with the old stone corbels, embattled and carved with
grotesque figures; the aisle roofs are of lean-to type with
moulded stone corbels.
The plain octagonal font is probably of late 14th
century date; beneath the bowl there are conventional
flowers carved in relief. There are some old poupee
heads in the nave seating.
The plate includes a communion cup, paten, and
flagon of silver, 1784, inscribed 'The gift of Joseph
Manwaring the younger of Islington in the County of
Middlesex Esquire', and a plate of pewter.
The tower contains six bells: 1st by William Dobson of Downham, 1819, 2nd by Miles Graye of Colchester, 1654, 3rd by Charles Newman, 1691, 4th by
the same, 1700, 5th and 6th by Henry Penn, 1722,
inscribed respectively Plebem voce congrego clerum and
Defunctos plango vivos moneo. The registers begin in
1558 but the entries between 1645 and 1655 and
between 1686 and 1694 are missing.
In 1553 the church was more lavishly equipped with
plate, ornaments, and vestments than' any in the Isle
except Ely St. Mary. (fn. 78) In 1686, however, it was reported that the church had lacked a surplice for more
than twenty years. (fn. 79)
A guild of St. John is mentioned in the will of
William Daynes of Ely (1457), who bequeathed
3s. 4d. (fn. 80) In 1568 the guildhall of Corpus Christi (sic),
which had been given to pious uses by Richard Yongeman, sometime vicar, was sold to Hugh Counsaille and
Robert Baker. (fn. 81) A timber-framed and plastered cottage
opposite the church is still known as the guildhall. (fn. 82)
NONCONFORMITY
Dissent was fairly strongly
established in Sutton in 1676,
where 52 out of 490 inhabitants
were not members of the established church. (fn. 83) This
may have been due to the influence of William Hunt,
an ejected minister, who continued in Sutton as a
schoolmaster, and from whom the Baptists (see below)
traced a tenuous descent. The earliest dissenting congregation to be established seems to have been that of
the Friends, whose existence is recorded in 1659 and
1664. In the former year there were four Quaker
households, (fn. 84) and although there were few Quakers in
the Isle generally 'who have any visible estate', it was
stated that Henry Foster of Sutton, a member of one
of those households, was 'fit for a justice'. Minute
books of the Sutton Monthly Meeting survive for
1758-61, (fn. 85) and nearly a hundred years later there was
an average congregation of 6 at the Friends' meeting
house here. The meeting died out c. 1855. (fn. 86) In 1672
the house of William Hunt was licensed for Presbyterian worship. (fn. 87) A Particular Baptist chapel was built
in 1791. (fn. 88) In 1820 it had a regular membership of
nearly 60 and a congregation of 200 to 250. (fn. 89) In 1851
there was a Sunday-school attached to it. (fn. 90) A Wesleyan
Methodist congregation was established in 1790. In
1851 a Sunday-school was attached to it. (fn. 91) The chapel
was rebuilt in 1914. (fn. 92) A Primitive Methodist chapel
was erected c. 1880 and closed c. 1935. (fn. 93) In 1900 the
Salvation Army were holding meetings in the Jubilee
Hall but their operations ceased after about ten years. (fn. 94)
SCHOOL
William Heye was licensed as a schoolmaster at Sutton in 1579, (fn. 95) and a schoolmaster is recorded in the Visitation Return
of 1596. (fn. 96) At the beginning of the 18th century £20
rents from Sutton Holwoods were appropriated to the
salary of a schoolmaster, (fn. 97) and in 1798 an unspecified
number of children were being taught reading, writing,
arithmetic, and the Catechism. (fn. 98) The condition of this
school was supposed to be good as there were no public
complaints. The master may have been a certain Mr.
Custnall, who kept a private school at Sutton and
according to a report to the bishop of c. 1800-10 was
a Methodist. This report also mentioned four dameschools, two of them kept by Dissenters. (fn. 99) In 1837 there
were about 20 boys at school in Sutton during the
winter; an 'efficient' schoolmaster received £15 a year
from the dean and chapter; (fn. 1) some time before 1851 his
salary was increased to £20. (fn. 2) According to the
National Society, however, 'the educational wants in
this parish are very great. The respectable inhabitants
are strongly impressed with the necessity of a National
School, and the attention of the National Society will
shortly be called more fully to the condition of this
parish'. In 1859 the existing school was united with the
National Society, and two years later the Society
granted £20 towards rebuilding the premises. (fn. 3) About
1867, when owing to the operation of the agricultural
gang system the state of education in Sutton was 'very
deficient', the numbers on the books were: (winter) 70,
(summer) 51, with average attendances of 58 and 37
respectively. (fn. 4) The school building was a large one,
providing 230 places in 1900. (fn. 5) In 1912 a new classroom, for which the National Society granted £8 and
the Ecclesiastical Commissioners £30, brought the
total accommodation to 285. The school was reorganized as one department (Mixed and Infants) in
1930. It has always been a voluntary school, and in
1937 a proposal was made by the church authorities to
rebuild the premises and include a senior department
for the older children from Sutton and the neighbouring villages. This proposal was favourably considered
by the County Education Committee but was abandoned in the end as it was found impossible voluntarily
to combine sufficient villages to make a Senior School
at Sutton practicable. The older children were transferred to Chatteris in 1939, brought back to Sutton
during the Second World War, and removed to
Chatteris again in 1948. (fn. 6)
In 1873, when abortive proposals were made for
a separate infants' school at Sutton Gault, it was stated
that as many as 60 children in Sutton were attending
private schools. (fn. 7)
CHARITIES
The Charity Commissioners in 1837
reported that 81½ acres in Sutton supposed to have been the remainder of
certain fen land after various allotments had been made
in pursuance of a Chancery decree of 1624 were let for
a sum varying between £122 and £160, according as
the land was to be in pasture or arable. About £14 of
this rent was given indiscriminately to the poor of
Sutton and Mepal in money, and in providing coal at
the rate of 25 bushels per family. (fn. 8)