RECORDS OF THE PARISH OF ST MARY ASHLEY-CUM-SILVERLEY, NOW KNOWN AS ASHLEY WITH SILVERLEY

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.

Listed by Mary Sirault, July 1974; introduction supplied, May 2003.

• <corpname>Church of England, St Mary Ashley-cum-Silverley Parish, Cambridgeshire</corpname>
• <corpname>Church of England, St Mary Ashley with Silverley Parish, Cambridgeshire</corpname>

The ecclesiastical parishes of Ashley and Silverley, in the mediaeval period held separately, were united in the mid-sixteenth century, when the advowsons came (in 1543 and 1544) into the hands of Sir Edward North, and given the name Ashley-cum-Silverley. Ashley church, dedicated to St Mary, was abandoned soon after 1562, and Silverley, dedicated to All Saints, fell out of use at much the same time. Worship was transferred to a chapel of the Knights Hospitallers, dedicated to St John, which had come into North's hands with the manor in 1541. A new church of St Mary was built in 1844-5.

The parish lay in the Rural Deanery of Fordham, in the Archdeaconry of Sudbury in the Diocese of Norwich until 1837 (see P5/3/1). In 1837 the Archdeaconry was transferred into the Diocese of Ely, and in 1914 when, by the Bishoprics Act 1913 (3& 4 Geo 5 c 36), the West Suffolk parts were moved out of Ely Diocese, Ashley-cum-Silverley was transferred into the Archdeaconry of Ely.

The advowson of the united benefice descended with the Kirtling estate until 1986 when the patronage was surrendered to the Ely Diocesan Board of Patronage. In 1973, when the living fell vacant, the incumbent of Kirtling and Cheveley was appointed priest-in-charge. From 1984 the livings were held together with that of Woodditton with Saxon Street, and in 1987 the four were formed into a united benefice (Victoria County History, vol 10 (2002), pp37-40).

The ancient parishes of Ashley and Silverley were treated as one for taxation purposes already in the 14th century. In 1836, the parish was incorporated (for poor law and related purposes) into the Newmarket Poor Law Union. The civil (non-ecclesiastical) affairs of the parish, known for civil purposes simply as Ashley, have been separately governed since 1894.