The Church & Village of Elsworth

PREFACE

Very little has been set down about the history of Elsworth, and the information in this revised and expanded account has been culled from many sources. I am grateful to the assistants in the Ecclesiastical Archives in the Cambridge University Library, and to the staff In the County Archives Office in Shire Hall and in the Cambridgeshire Collection in the County Library. They have all given me their enthusiastic help and guidance. I thank, too, many friends in the village, some of whose families have lived here for generations, especially the late Miss M A Throssell and her brother, the late Mr J W Throssell MBE, whose recollections of times past provided me with rich material. The drawings are reproduced from A Short Historical Account of the Church and Parish of Elsworth, a pamphlet written and illustrated by the Reverend Laurence Iggalden (rector 1927) and sold in the church for 6d. The plan of the church is reproduced by permission of the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England.

My gratitude extends to those who have helped to prepare the script. To Mrs Jean Howard for word processing and arranging for it to be printed by Mott MacDonald Ltd; and to Mr Lewis Backhouse for preparing the map, and the drawing of the original village sign. Above all, I thank my husband, Dr R C Evans, for the care he has taken in scrutinizing the manuscript and reading the proofs. Without him this account of our village would never have been written.

Elizabeth Evans

September 1977
Revised August 1981
Revised and extended January 1995