SOHAM PARISH

Local Information including History and Genealogy.

Soham Roots co.uk

A Brief Description of Soham.

Soham is a moderate sized market town with an active community, and an ever increasing population of around 11,000+ inhabitants, located in the heart of the fen lands in Cambridgeshire, on the A142 between the City of Ely and Newmarket, it is the second largest parish in East Cambs covering 5,245 hectares, and is situated in the Staploe Hundred. Soham is in a prime location in the fens and only 6 miles from the Isle of Ely to the North and 6 miles from the famous horse racing town of

Cross Green house was once the residence of the Slack family of Soham, now used as the vicarage

Newmarket, Suffolk to the South, so has excellent links to the A14 and to the City of Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds both only about 16 miles away. Soham parish also includes Barway a small hamlet to the North. and has always had close links to the village of Wicken to the West and Fordham to the South. Soham was once a sleepy little Town of approx 5000 inhabitants with the main employment being in agriculture, it has seen many changes over the years but seems to retain its community spirit, we hope through our website you will get an avid view of Soham as it was in yesteryear and as it is today, and hopefully this website will assist you in your genealogy and local history studies of our town and parish including the surrounding area. We would welcome any comments or any items you would like to share with us, and would be delighted if you would like to share information or photo’s that we could add to the website, at this point we would like to thank all the various people who have contributed to Soham Roots in the past and hope that we continue to give you pleasure and a helping hand in the future. This website will now be dedicated to all our ancestors who have made Soham's long and varied history so vibrant and interesting, without these people none of us today would be here and continuing to enjoy living in and indeed researching this towns rich past.

Monastic Soham.

The history of Soham historically known as Seaham and Saham in ancient fenland times, goes back to at least the 7th century for a Monastery was established here in 630 AD by Saint Felix of Normandy and is thought to have been the first known centre of Latin Christianity in Cambridgeshire, so was therefore an earlier monastic settlement than that of its neighbour Ely, the Monastery was sacked by the Danish invaders in the year 870 along with Ely, but unlike Ely, Soham's was never rebuilt. A Cathedral Church and Bishops Palace was built here by a Saxon nobleman called Luttlingus in c.900 AD, traces of which can still be found in the fabric of the Church. Soham also had one of the largest Mere's in England, once famous for its eels, but sadly know drained. 60 - 70 public houses and beer houses have also been recorded in its history, of which only 5 survive today. 31 windmills including wind drainage mills and a water mill are recorded at the same time in 1845, only two windmills survive today, various non conformist chapels have also been prominent over the years, we still have a Baptist Church and Methodist Chapel, the restored old Wesleyan Chapel is now used for the Viva Arts Group. The town also has two large primary schools and a reputable village college, it is also fighting to get its railway station re-opened, which at the moment looks promising.

The parish church dedicated to St Andrew is a handsome medieval building, originally cruciform in plan, and displaying work of all the architectural periods from the Norman times onwards. The west tower has been a landmark across the fens for over 500 years, and was built to replace the original central tower which is thought to have fallen down, having richly sculptured battlements and pinnacles, and is ornamented with quatrefoils and St Andrews crosses in black flint, and contains a fine peal of ten inscribed bells. The nave has a fine example of a 15th century oak roof of alternating hammer beams and tie beams with carved angels amongst other fine carvings, also to be noticed are the bench-ends with well carved animal and foliage designs, the richly carved sedilia or priests seats, and the medieval wall painting in the chancel of what is thought to be Bishop Felix, in the churchyard near the North porch can be seen the iron railed tomb of Mary D’Aye the great grand-daughter of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England from 1654-8, her house still survives in Soham.

South side of St Andrews church showing the west door in the tower.

The Hawthorn or White Thorn tree .

Medieval Dead Path.

FACT or FOLKLORE, WHAT DO YOU THINK?.
Read below or if you want post a message on our folklore message board.

The hawthorn or white thorn tree pictured on the left at the recently demolished Church hall site holds a sacred place in the mythology of many cultures, a beautiful twisted tree with white blossoms; it grows in the wildest places and can live for centuries. In folklore the thorn tree is a portal between the human world and the otherworld, fairies are said to congregate there, giving the hawthorn the nickname of the "fairy tree". Misfortune befalls anyone who cuts one down.

This belief still has potency, in 1999 Irish authorities planned a bypass in Co. Clare, a thorn tree stood in its way. A local folklorist warned against cutting it down. Rather than risk the vengeance of the spirits, the engineers decided to fence of the tree and build their 100 million pound road around it.
If only developers in this area showed such respect for nature.

We were told that the above tree was dead, although it looks green and healthy.

Here is a selection of examples of recent cases which lend some credence to the strong beliefs held by many around the world.

Four men linked to a quarry in Ballyconnel died in accidents just a year after excavation work tore down a White Thorn Tree. To this day, many local people consider the tragic accident to have been caused by a curse.

The Icelandic Government has a special Faerie Mythology Department to ensure that no one builds anything: roads, houses or otherwise over ancient Faerie sites.

Dutch University researchers have discovered that the occupiers of thousands of properties which were built on Medieval Dead Paths (Faerie Paths) were the focus of discord, trouble and depression.

There are more than 2,000 Fairy Forts in Ireland. Most are circular, single walled structures and consist of an earthen embankment. In times past they were believed to be the habitations of the mythical Tuatha de Danaan race.

Two years ago a multimillion euro by-pass had to be moved in order to preserve a White Thorn Tree which superstitious workmen refused to level.

Glad I am not going to live on the hall site when it gets housing built on it, not worth the risk.