Kelly's Directory, 1929

Meldreth is a parish and straggling village on a branch of the river Rhea, with a station on the Hitchin and Cambridge line of the London and North Eastern railway, 4 miles north-by-east from Royston, 9 1/2 south-west from Cambridge and 42 from London, in the hundred of Armingford, petty sessional division of Arrington and Melbourn, union and county court district of Royston, rural deanery of Shingay and archdeaconry and diocese of Ely.  The church of Holy Trinity is a building of stone and clunch in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, south aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 5 bells;  in the church is a monument to George Pike, esq., who died 1658, and the family vault of the Mortlock family;  there is a memorial window, erected by the Rev. E.W. Cory,a former vicar, to the memory of his wife;  another by friends of the Rev. E.W. Cory, previously mentioned, and a third was presented by J.G. Mortlock, esq., in 1885:  the church was restored in 1898 at a cost of £1,200 and has 300 sittings.  The register of baptisms and burials dates from 1681;  marriages, 1692.  The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £350, with residence, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Ely, and held since 1894 by the Rev. Percy Harvey, M.A. of Cavendish College, Cambridge.  There is a Congregational chapel, erected in 1852, having sittings for 100 persons, and a Wesleyan chapel.  Opposite the entrance to the railway station is a cross, erected in 1920, in memory of the men of the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18.  Charities producing £13 yearly are distributed in fuel.  St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, are lords of the manor of Topcliffes.  Christ’s College, Cambridge, Alfred Russell Fordham, esq., J.P., Capt. Hubert Osler Shepherd Ellis, B.A., LL.B., and George Palmer, esq., (who is lord of the manor of Sheen) are the principal landowners.  A cement company here provides work for a large number of the inhabitants.  The soil is loam;  subsoil, chalk. The chief crops are fruit, wheat, barley, beans and winter oats.  The area is 2,513 acres;  the population in 1921 was 572 in the civil and 527 in the ecclesiastical parish.

Under the provisions of the Divided Parishes Act a part of Meldreth was in 1882 added to Melbourn.

Parish Clerk,  Herbert Hale

Clerk to the Parish Council and Rating Officer,  Frank Farnham.

Post, T. & T.E.D. Office.  Letters through Royston (Herts.)  Shepreth is the nearest M.O. office.

Railway Station (L &.N.E.)

Carrier – Stanley Pepper, to Royston, on Wed.

Private Residents

Dainty, Mrs.,  Belmington Close
Dyne-Elin, Henry,  The Gables
Ellis, Capt. Hubert Osler Shepherd, B.A., LL.B.
Ellis, Misses,  The Grove
Farnham, Charles,  Blenheim House
Harvey, Rev. Percy M.A., (vicar), Vicarage
Jebb, George,  The Manor House
Mortlock, Misses,  Meldreth Court
Palmer, Misses,  Elmcroft
Robbs,  Mrs.,  Meldreth House
Russell, Frederick G.,  The Laurels
Searle, Misses, Nantling [probably Manting] House
Woods, Henry,  The Homestead

Commercial

Marked thus * farm 150 acres or over

Adcock, J & Sons, millers (water) [Topcliffe Mill]
Adcock, Harriet (Mrs), baker
Cam Blue Lias Lime & Cement Co., Ltd., (Fred G. Russell, sec & managing director)
Coningsby A.R. & Son, coal merchants, Station Yard
Conservative Club (Capt. H.O.S. Ellis, president)
Cooper Annie (Mrs), farmer
Course, Humphrey, farmer
Course, Rose Amanda (Mrs), farmer
East, William, farmer
Elbourn, Percy E., machinist & haulage contractor
Hale Bros., wheelwrights
Handscombe, Fredk. R. E., grocer & post office
Harrup, Charles, fruit grower
Hinkins, Frederick, Queen Adelaide P.H. (letters addressed Whaddon)
Howard, Alwyn, farmer & fruit grower
Jacklin Louisa M., (Mrs), fruit grower
Kirby, Benj. Railway Tavern P.H.
Law, Albert, farmer
Law, Samuel, farmer
Liddiard, Charles, grocer
*Medlock, George, farmer
Nodder, George, fruit grower
Nodder, Sidney, carpenter
*Palmer, George, farmer
Paterson, John, builder & carpenter
Pepper, Samuel, farmer
Stockbridge, Joseph, farmer, St. John’s College
Thurley, Charlotte (Mrs) beer retailer [British Queen P.H.]
Waldock, Frederick, beer retailer [The Dumb Flea P.H]
Warren, Charles, baker
*Wedd, Percy, farmer, College Farm.

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