Ashdon 1848 Whites Directory
ASHDON, a pleasant village near the source of a rivulet, 4 miles N.E. of Saffron Walden, has in its parish 948 souls, and 4045 acres of land, exclusive of LITTLE BARTLOW, or Bartlow End hamlet, which is a separate township, and has 216 souls and 841 acres, adjoining Great Bartlow, in Cambridgeshire, to which parish it pays church rates. Ashdon is in three manors, called Ashdon Hall, Newnham, and Mortisfaux, of which Viscount Maynard is lord. He also owns most of the soil, and the rest belongs to several smaller owners. The soil is mostly freehold, and the copyholds are subject to arbitrary fines. subject Walton Hall, alargebrick house in asmall park, now unoccupie built by Sir Wm. Maynard, and was for some time occupied by a branch of his family. Little Bartlow is in the same manors, and is some times called Steventon- End, or Stanton- End. An estate called Thickhoe was anciently held of the Earls of Oxford by a family of its own name. On the north side of the parish are several Roman Barrows, called Bartlow Hills. They consist of a line of four great bar- rows, with three smaller ones in front. They are on a gentle acclivity, and the country rises gently around them like an extended amphitheatre. They are supposed to cover the remains of Romans who died at an adjacent station in Cambridgeshire. The three smaller barrows were opened in 1832, and the remains found were purely Roman. In one of the sepulchres were found a number of glass and other vessels. A large cylindrical glass urn, open at the mouth, was nearly two-thirds full of a clear pale yellow liquor, covering a deposit of burnt human bones, on the top of which lay a signet ring, and a brass coin of the emperor Adrian. In the same year an urn, full of Roman coins, was found in a field near Linton.
Ashdon Church (All Saints,) is a large ancient structure, with a leaded nave and aisles, a tiled chancel , and a square tower, containing six bells, and crowned by a spire. The rectory, valued in K.B. at £28. 3s. 4d. , and in 1831 at £727, is in the patronage of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and incumbency of the Rev. B. Chapman, D.D., who has a good residence, a manorial jurisdiction, and about 100 acres of glebe . The tithes were commuted in 1847 for £800 per annum . Here is a Baptist Chapel, built in 1835 by acongregation formed in 1809. There are two National School Rooms in the village, one built in 1833, and the other in 1846. An estate called the Guildhall Charity has been held by the parish ever since the Reformation, if not previously, and has been from time to time conveyed to feoffees, ” for the use and relief of the poor inhabitants.” It comprises an ancient house called the Guildhall,five cottages and about 24. of land, let for about £19 per annum, which is distributed in small sums to the poor, except £3.3s. to the schoolmaster. The poor have the following yearly doles, viz. , a rent charge of 10s. , left by the Rev. Edmund Sherbrooke in 1589, out of Newnham Hall ; 10s. 6d. from half an acre, left
in 1696 by Thos. Saward; and a rent charge of 10s. out of Herds Meadow, left by John Freeman in 1639. The dividends of £100 five per cent Bank Stock, left by Robert Freeman, in 1817, have been applied since the death of his wife in 1834, in schooling poor children, except 10s. for books, 10s. to the rector for his trouble, and a small occasional sum for repairing the
testator’s gravestone.
ASHDON.
Marked § are in Little Bartlow.
Adams James, schoolmaster
Archer Levi , saddler
Atherton George, swine dealer
Barber Mr William
Hockley Mr John
Barrett William wheelwright
Chapman Rev. Benedict, D.D. rector and master of Caius College
Clark Chas. Thos. vict. White Horse
Cock Charles, vict. Fox
Cro Thomas, wheelwright & carpenter
Dodd Joseph, plumber, painter, &c.
Green William, parish clerk
Hammond Mrs Eliz. Ashdon Hall
Hanson Rev. Edward, M.A. curate
Hardy John, corn miller
Haylock Chas. vict. Rose & Crown
Ketteridge Joshua, baker
Parker Mr Philip
Spicer Prior Thos. & Har. National School
Slowgrove John, sexton
Tubbs Rev. Robert (Baptist)
Wright Samuel Maynard, tailor, &c.
FARMERS. ( + are Owners. )
+Atherton Samuel
Baines James
+Cro John, Midsummer Hill
+Cro William Pidgeons Airy
Downham George
Downing Jas.
+Ford Thomas
Giblin Hanh.
Frankham Henry Choat
+Franklin Robert, Spriggs
+§Giblin Thomas, New House
$Hales John, Overhall
Hales William, Sandons
$Haylock Eliz. Ashdon Place
+Haylock George (brick & tile maker,) Rickets
Hustler Devereux, Newnham
+Miller Richard, Ashdon street
Mizen Elizabeth, Mortimers
Nutting Jas.
Ryland Thomas Ruse Jno. ( & miller) Hill Farm
Saward Abraham, Bowsers
Sargent William
Tredget Fuller
§Tredget, Robert, Bourn
BEERHOUSES.
§Cowling Wright
Lagden William – Lamb
BLACKSMITHS.
Green Charles
Green Josiah
Willett Elizabeth
BOOT& SHOE MRS.
Hull Henry
Mascall Josiah
BUTCHERS.
Mascall Edm.
Mascall Samuel
GROCERS, &c.
Green Martha
Housden Chas.
Sargent John
Wright Samuel Maynard
LETTERS from Saffron Walden