Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for MARCH

MARCH, a town, a chapelry, and a sub-district, in North Witchford district, Cambridge. The town stands on the old Nen river, at a junction of railways toward Ely, St. Ives, Peterborough, and Wisbeach, 14¼ miles E of Peterborough; comprises a spacious market-place and several well built streets; has recently undergone great improvements; is a seat of county and manorial courts; and has a head post office,‡ a railway station with telegraph, three banking offices, two chief inns, a town hall, a guild hall, a public hall, a bridge over the Nen, a church, three dissenting chapels, a mechanics' institute, a public cemetery, a grammar school, a national school, and charities about £700. The town hall stands in High-street, and is a handsome edifice. The guildhall also stands in High-street; is modern and commodious; and includes two spacious school-rooms for the national school. The public hall stands in the marketplace.; is surmounted by a clock-turret; and is used for concerts and for public meetings. The bridge is at the N end of the town; was rebuilt in 1850; and is a handsome structure. The church stands on the London-road, about a mile from the bridge; was erected in 1343; and consists of nave and aisles, with W spire. The dissenting chapels are for Independents, Baptists, and Methodists. The mechanics' institute contains a lecture-room which is used as an evening place of worship in connexion with the Established church. The public cemetery lies on the Station-road, about 300 yards from the r. station; comprises about 6½ acres; and has two chapels, connected by a tower and spire 80 feet high. The chapels were built in 1866; are in the pointed style of the 14th century; and are approached by a roadway, 170 feet long and 15 feet wide, flanked by ornamental shrubbery. An elegant school for girls was recently built in High-street; and alms houses were recently erected near the church. The endowed charities were consolidated in 1851; and yield £45 or upwards a year to the grammar school, £100 to the national school, £50 to each of two schoolmistresses, £80 for apprenticing native boys, £55 to the inmates of the alms houses, £20 to two poor decayed housekeepers, and the remainder to the miscellaneous poor. A weekly market is held on Wednesday; fairs are held on the Monday before Whitsunday and the third Tuesday of October; considerable traffic was formerly done through the navigation of the Nen; and improved trade has arisen from the opening of the railways and great ameliorating of the roads. Pop. of the town in 1861,3,600. Houses, 874.—The chapelry includes the town, and is in Doddington parish. Acres, 19,141. Real property, £54,528; of which £100 are in gas-works. Pop. in 1851,6,241; in 1861,5,455. Houses, 1,231. The land is flat, and naturally marshy; has been highly improved, and is kept in good condition, by drainage with help of steam engines; is cut into Six sections for the purpose of effecting the drainage; and yields heavy crops of good wheat. Three urns and some Roman coins were found, in 1730, at Robin Goodfellow's lane near the town; and an altar, coins, and other relics, were found at Elm. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely, and, till 1868, was annexed to DoDDINGTON: which see.—The sub-district includes Wimblington hamlet. Acres, 26,730. Pop., 6,569. Houses, 1,459.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a chapelry, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: March CP/Ch       North Witchford RegD/PLU       Cambridgeshire AncC
Place: March

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