THE HISTORY OF FORDHAM
History of the Village
Fordham a village in rural Cambridgeshire, is presently part of the East Cambridgeshire District. Surrounding villages are Soham, Burwell, Isleham, Freckenham, Chippenham, Snailwell and Newmarket.
Although spelled Fordeham in the Domesday Book of 1086, the village’s spelling has remained unchanged since the 10th Century. The name ’Fordham’ means ‘homestead’ or ‘enclosure by a ford’.
The Parish of Fordham covers 4,331 acres in an irregular shape. The Southern Border is the County border with Suffolk, most of its South-eastern border with Snailwell follows the path of the River Snail. It also borders Chippenham and Isleham to the east, Soham to the north and Burwell to the west, as well as having a short border with Wicken at its western tip.
The Parish has been occupied for several thousand years, weapons and tools in both flint and metal have been found from the Early Bronze Age and Iron Age, as well as pottery and burials. Wall plaster and tiles have been found from the Roman era, indicating that villa may have been sited near to Biggin and Block Farms in the 2nd to 4th centuries AD. In the Middle Ages the village was home to Fordham Priory, a Gilbertine priory and cell to Sempringham Priory, that was founded in the reign of Henry III in the 13th Century by Robert de Fordham. Fordham Abbey, a Grade II listed Georgian Manor house was built on the site of the Priory in the eighteenth century.
Church of St. Peters & St. Mary Magdelene
The Parish Church has been dedicated to St. Peter since around 1850, prior to which it has been dedicated to St Mary since at least the 14th Century. It is a Grade I listed building. The earliest parts of the building date from the 12th Century, the stonework suggest that by 1200 it was already at it’s present size. The majority of the current structure dates from an extensive rebuild in the 13th Century. The Church is noted for it fine 14th Century north chapel, unusual in having an upper floor and undercroft.
Fordham War Memorial
A war memorial committee was formed in Fordham in June 1919 and originally proposed to erect a portico with mural tablets at the entrance to the cemetery, however local land owner Mrs. Dunn-Gardner from Fordham Abbey donated the land in the middle of the village as the setting for the War Memorial and it is sited in the Memorial Garden at the entrance to the Recreation Ground and commemorates the village’s dead from two world wars and subsequent conflicts. It was erected in 1921, a Portland Stone Tuscan Column designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens which originally featured a bronze statue of St. George by Sir George Frampton. The memorial was destroyed and the statue was stolen in 1991, but was rebuilt and replaced in 1992 using community raised funds, the statue is a close replica made of fibreglass.
James Reynolds Withers
Although born in Weston Colville in 1812, he moved to Fordham in his 20s and remained there until his death in 1892, the cottage is still a home to this day. Despite growing up in poverty and spending time in the workhouse, he published his first volume of poetry in 1854, and from there he achieved great success as a poet. The publication of his first volume, Poems Upon Various Subjects, was made possible through the patronage and help of Mrs. Robert Dillamore Fyson whose husband managed Trinity Hall Farm in Fordham where James worked as a labourer. Other publications followed ‘A Granny’s Tale’, ‘Rustic Songs’ and ‘Wayside Musings’. In 1860 he received a grant of £50 from Queen Victoria and undertook a ‘Grand Tour’, Charles Dickens was also a patron. Two of his great grandsons still live in the village.