Ramsey, Cambridgeshire

Ramsey
OS grid reference	TL2885
District	Huntingdonshire
Shire county	Cambridgeshire
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	HUNTINGDON
Postcode district	PE26
Dialling code	01487
Police	Cambridgeshire
Fire	Cambridgeshire
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	Huntingdon

Ramsey is a small Cambridgeshire market town, north of Huntingdon and St Ives. For local government purposes it lies in the district of Huntingdonshire within the local government county of Cambridgeshire. The town manor is built on the site of (and using materials from) the ancient Ramsey Abbey, and is the seat of the Lords de Ramsey, one of the major landowners in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. The remains of the Abbey are now home to part of the town's secondary school. Abbey College, Ramsey resulted from the amalgamation of the previous two secondary schools, Ailwyn School and Ramsey Abbey School, and caters for Years 7-13 which represents Years 7-9 (Key Stage 3), Years 10-11 (GCSE level) and Years 12-13 (A Level) (Key Stages 4 and 5). It currently has about 1800 students.

Every year, over the August Bank Holiday weekend, the town is home to Ramsey 1940s Weekend, one of Britain's biggest living history events. The event, held at nearby RAF Upwood, is dedicated to recreating the sights and sounds of the 1940s and is held in aid of several local charities, resulting in it being rewarded with a tourism award. The event features living history re-enactors, period dancing, food, exhibitions and trade stands.

Original historical documents relating to Ramsey, including the original church parish registers, local government records, maps, photographs, and records of Ramsey manor (held by the Fellowes family, Lords de Ramsey), are held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at the County Record Office Huntingdon.

History

Besides a Palaeolithic axe discovered in Victoria Road and seen as a chance glacial find, there is no record of prehistoric finds from the town. Roman remains are limited to stray finds of pottery.

Early and Middle Saxon Ramsey remains elusive. For the later Saxon period, documentary evidence for the foundation of the tenth century Benedictine abbey at Ramsey has been recently substantiated by archaeological evidence for activity associated with the pre-Conquest monastery.

Tradition has it that Ailwyn, foster brother of King Edgar, founded a hermitage at Ramsey. It received a series of substantial grants of land by King Edgar who confirmed all the privileges in 975, including the banlieu. The abbey experienced the transition to Norman rule without difficulty and in the eleventh century it witnessed a period of rebuilding. In the aftermath of the Civil War the monastery was badly damaged and impoverished. However, during the thirteenth and fourteenth century the house had a succession of wealthy abbots who embarked on a series of costly building programmes. The Black Death brought prosperity to a temporary halt, and by the end of the fourteenth century the house was financially decayed. The abbey soon recovered and continued to thrive until its dissolution in 1539. At the Dissolution the site of the monastery, its land and associated granges at Bodsey and Biggin were given to Richard Williams, alias Cromwell who dismantled the buildings and sold off the material. The properties remained with the Williams/Cromwell until 1676.

The early history of the town is obscure. Ramsey is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey, either because it was part of Bury or because it belonged to the abbey that, at that time, enjoyed royal privileges.

Throughout the medieval period Ramsey remained a small market town serving the abbey and never developed into a borough. The original settlement probably developed outside the abbey, along Hollow Lane. By 1200 the town had grown sufficiently to obtain a weekly market held at the junction of High Street with the Great Whyte and, later, an annual fair held at the green by the church. During the medieval period the Great Whyte was a navigable canal that ran through the present road. It was culverted around the middle of the nineteenth century. Properties along the Great Whyte appear to represent secondary (post-medieval) development of the settlement. Archaeological excavations have shown that this area was wet during the medieval period due to the presence of the fen. A fire occurred a Little Whyte in 1636 which destroyed some 15 tenements. A second fire in 1731 destroyed a great part of High Street. By the time of the estate map, the village had expanded along the Great Whyte and along the western end of High Street by progressive infilling of plots. Later editions of the OS Maps up to the 1970s present a similar picture. Since the 1970s progressive increase in the size of the population has prompted development around the town and along Bury Road. The limits of the town of Ramsey and the village of Bury to the south are not clearly defined, with modern housing estates spreading across the urban boundary.

The bulk of the medieval economy was dominated by garden produce, cloth trade and alehouse keeping. Fisheries also played an important part in the fen economy, together with livestock. Throughout the Middle Ages the waterways of the fenland formed commercial and transport avenues that ran through the hearth of the region. Enclosure was piecemeal and prompted by the abbey. Following the dispersal of the estates of the abbey into lay hands in the second half of the sixteenth century enclosure at Ramsey and neighbouring parishes gathered momentum. Systematic drainage of the Great Level from the seventeenth century increased the area for hay and pasture which was progressively divided and allotted. The parish was finally enclosed by official Act of Parliament in 1801.

Churches

The parish church of St Thomas a Becket was built c.1180-90 as a hospital, infirmary or guesthouse of the abbey. It was originally an aisled hall with a chapel at the east end with a vestry on the north side and the warden's lodgings on the south, but both these have been demolished. The building became the parish church c.1222.

St Thomas A Beckett - Canon Richard Darmody

Market

A weekly market was probably held by 1200. The grant was confirmed by Henry III in 1267 who also granted a fair on the vigil and feast of the Translation on St Benedict and for two days following. The bulk of the trade was dominated by garden produce. Fisheries also played an important part in the fen economy. The abbey cartulary contains references to detailed arrangements concerning the granting of fisheries and fishing rights around Ramsey Mere and Whittlesea Mere, with rents being often paid in eels. Livestock and in particular cattle was also an important element of the local economy. Portions of fen were reclaimed for both arable and pasture throughout the medieval and later periods. Meadow and pasture were regulated by common rights. There are accounts of disputes between the major abbeys of Ramsey, Thorney and Ely about profits and limits of their commons. Among the occupations there were weavers and fullers with others who were connected with the cloth trade. There were also tanners. The most prosperous trade was that of alehouse keeping which suggests that Ramsey had facilities for travelers

Sport and Recreation

Ramsey has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V.

External links

• Ramsey and District Web Site
• Ramsey Town Website
• Abbey College Web Site
• Ramsey 1940s Weekend
• Ramsey Community Archive
• Historic Ramsey in pictures
• Ramsey church of Christ