30. A VIBRANT WILLINGHAM READY FOR THE 20th CENTURY

By 1887 Queen Victoria had reigned for 50 years, and the village decided to celebrate this Golden Jubilee with a clock paid for by public subscription. The obvious place to house a striking clock was the Church Tower as a peal of 5 bells had already been installed in it for over 300 years. The firm of Potts and Son was given the contract to design, manufacture and install a clock to strike the hour and each quarter hour on the existing bells. The clock was designed to be wound weekly by hand, accessed by the existing narrow spiral staircase. The maintenance costs, including the clock winder’s fee, were to be covered by the Parish. The clock continued to be wound manually each week for 100 years until it was replaced by an automatic electrical winding system in the 1980’s. A complete overhaul was carried out by Smiths of Derby in 2019 who were greatly helped by the discovery that many of the original drawings and tooling were still in existence, as they had subsequently taken over Potts. Since the overhaul the clock has proved to be remarkably accurate.

In 1888 Dr Robert Travers Lewis arrived in the village after the death of Dr. Ellis.. He and his wife were Irish and came to live in Church Street. He was a surgeon and physician, and at age 32 not  long qualified.  His skills must have been tested severely by having to cope with endless epidemics of infectious diseases in the village which frequently led to the complete closure of the School. Whooping Cough in 1890 was followed by Diptheria in 1892, Smallpox and Measles in 1984, and Mumps in 1895. There were no antibiotics or vaccines to help him either. In 1891 he was very involved in one of the worst of the many Willingham fires. A labourer, Beasley Rogers, became trapped under a burning oak beam, breaking his arm in two places, burning his back, neck, hair and head, and becoming unconscious. He was treated on the scene by Dr. Lewis and eventually recovered. This fire had started in the premises of Mr. Thoday a draper, grocer and general store that stocked oil and petroleum which exploded. Dr Lewis must have been very busy that day.

1896 saw the completion of the Public Hall in the High Street. The concept of the building was ‘for recreational activity for young men to benefit themselves’ (no mention of women!). In effect, it was to be the village’s first Youth Club and had been strongly driven by Mr. H G Few, who donated the land in the High Street. Mr. Fred Crisp, a successful stockbreeder of Shire horses and Aberdeen Angus cattle, donated the building and furnishing cost of £600.The design allowed for ground floor accommodation for a caretaker, a strong room for the security of parish documents, and a games and smoking room, while the first floor was for a reading and meeting room. It was all to be well lit and well heated. It opened in 1897 with 160 subscription members, and certainly appears to have been well used, especially in the winter months. The Cambridge Independent Press reported on 15 February 1898 that a framed oil painting of Oliver Cromwell, a valuable acquisition’, was presented to the committee, to be hung on the north wall opposite the fireplace in the reading room. Where is it now?

For a fen village, Willingham was in a strong position in 1900. The population was expanding, housing standards were improving, education was thriving, churches were full, and the local economy of agriculture and horticulture was buoyant. Shops in the village ranged from butchers to tailors and workshops from blacksmiths to wheelwrights. The village buzzed. Overseas, the British Empire was at its height and Great Britain still ruled the waves. At least that is how it must have seemed to a Willingham  school-leaver in one of those school photographs in 1900. He or she could not in their wildest dreams have guessed that the next 50 years were to bring two world wars, an influenza pandemic and the great depression, but also electricity, telephones, antibiotics, cars and aircraft.

Back to History Page

• ‘The Village of Willingham’ by Herbert Norris published 1890.
• ‘Notes Historical and Architectural on the Church of Saint Mary and All Saints, Willingham’ a paper read to the Cambridge Antiquarian Society in 1894 by Rev. John Watkins, Rector of Willingham..
• ‘The Clergy of Willingham’ a paper read to the Cambridge Antiquarian Society in 1956 by Canon J Bywaters, Rector of Willingham..
• The Victorian County History of the County of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely’ published 1986.
• ‘The Wallpaintings of Willingham’ by Alan Fawcitt published 1990.
• Pamphlets and notes by the late Dennis Jeeps.
• ‘The Case for an Anchorhold’ a paper by Jeremy Lander, Architect.
• ‘Conservation of the Wallpaintings in the Nave’. A Report by Tobit Curteis 2006.
• ‘Contrasting Communities ‘ by Margaret Spufford, published 1979.
• ‘Charity School to Village College’ by Cottenham Village College History Group, published 1968.
• ‘The Time Traveller’s Guide in Medieval England’ by Ian Mortimer, published 2009.
• ‘Victorian Diaries’ edited by Heather Creaton published 2001.
• ‘OldWillingham.com’ photographs with Jon Edney.
• Census research by Anne Kirkman.