RECORDS OF THE PARISH OF ST MARY SHUDY CAMPS

Listed by Angela Black in 1972. Additional records listed and introductory note added, September 2003.

The records were deposited by the Vicar in 1968 and 1990.

Ecclesiastical parish records deposited at County Record Office Cambridge were listed according to a scheme of numbered classes, not all of which are present for every parish. Additional records have been added to each class as they have been deposited, with the result that some series are broken and it may be necessary to look through the entire class to identify a full series.

Shudy Camps is an ancient parish, in the Archdeaconry and Diocese of Ely.

The living is a vicarage, having been appropriated to Waltham Abbey in 1225. After the Dissolution it came to the crown, and formed part of the endowment of Trinity College, Cambridge in 1546. The advowson was sold in 1912 to Canon FFMS Thornton, who left it in 1938 to the Bishop of Ely. The living was occupied by Trinity men for much of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Its poverty made it very difficult to fill in the early 20th century, and Canon Thornton himself took it on in 1919. After his death it was held (1939 - 1945) by the rector of Bartlow, who retained it from 1945 when he moved to Castle Camps. The church had been closely associated with Castle Camps since the sixteenth century (see P34/3/2-4), and the two livings have been held in plurality since 1945. They are now held together with the livings of Bartlow, Horseheath and Linton (Victoria County History, vol 6, pp 57-8, Diocesan Directory 1999).

In 1836, the parish was incorporated (for poor law and related purposes) into the Linton Poor Law Union. The civil (non-ecclesiastical) affairs of the parish have been separately governed since 1894.