In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Burwell like this:
BURWELL, a village and a parish in Newmarket district, Cambridge. The village stands 4 miles ESE of the river Cam, and the same distance NW of Newmarket r. station; consists chiefly of one irregular street; has a post office‡ under Cambridge; and was once a market-town. Traces of a castle are here, built before the Conquest, and besieged in the war between Stephen and the Empress Matilda. ...
Seventy-eight persons were accidentally burnt to death in a barn here in 1727. The parish includes also part of the hamlet of Reach. Acres, 7,232. Real property, £15,227; of which £1,142 are in quarries. Pop., 1,987. Houses, 403. About one half of the land is fen. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely. Value, £335. Patron, the University of Cambridge. The church is fine decorated English; was partly restored in 1861; and has a pinnacled tower. There are a mission church of 1863, Independent, Baptist, andWesleyan chapels, an endowed school, two national schools, a British school, and charities £152.
Burwell through time
Burwell is now part of East Cambridgeshire district. Click here for graphs and data of how East Cambridgeshire has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Burwell itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Burwell in East Cambridgeshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/3810
Date accessed: 26th April 2024
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