Isleham is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

in the English county of

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

. It is part of

the Fens The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...

. It has three pubs.

Geography

Isleham is located in

of south-east Cambridgeshire. The western parish boundary is formed by the Crooked Ditch or Crooked Drain, the eastern boundary largely by the Lea Brook and the north by the

River Lark The River Lark is a river in England that crosses the border between Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. It is a tributary of the River Great Ouse, and was extended when that river was re-routed as part of drainage improvements. It is thought to have be ...

. The village lies on the B1104 from Prickwillow to

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town in northwest Wiltshire, England. It lies northeast of Bath, west of London, and is near the Cotswolds Area of Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon and some form of settlement is ...

. Isleham is twinned with Nesles in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

and

Magdala Magdala (Aramaic: מגדלא, ''Magdala'', meaning "tower"; Hebrew: , ''Migdal''; ar, المجدل, ''al-Majdal'') was an ancient Jewish city on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, north of Tiberias. In the Babylonian Talmud it is known as Magda ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

and recently with Maltov in Russia.

Amenities

The village shops: a Co-op supermarket

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

. There are also three

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

s - The Griffin, The Merry Monk and the Rising Sun - and three churches
The Ark Churchplfc (Pound Lane Free Church)
and St Andrew's

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

Archaeology

The region between Devil's Dyke and the line between

Littleport Littleport is a large village in East Cambridgeshire, in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about north-east of Ely and south-east of Welney, on the Bedford Level South section of the River Great Ouse, close to Burnt Fen and ...

and Shippea Hill shows a remarkable amount of

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...

findings of the Stone Age, the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

and the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

. Findings in Isleham include the famous Isleham Hoard of more than 6500 pieces of bronze, both manufactured articles and fragments of sheet bronze, all dating from the late

, and discovered by William 'Bill' Houghton and his brother, Arthur.

Genealogy

Following a landscaping project, plfc (Pound Lane Free Church) have made listings and photographs of the graveyard headstones available via an on-line library.

History

Its name seems to come from

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

''Gísla hám'' = "the home of the hostages". It seems that in Anglo-Saxon societies the position of a hostage from one political group held by another political group, was sometimes more or less voluntary, and the meaning of the word could slip into "representative". On 3 May 1850 preacher

Charles Spurgeon Charles Haddon Spurgeon (19 June 1834 – 31 January 1892) was an English Particular Baptist preacher. Spurgeon remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, among whom he is known as the "Prince of Preachers". He ...

was baptised in the river Lark. To this day, a stone marks the location. The Priory of St Margaret of Antioch was founded in the village in 1090. It was always an

alien priory Alien priories were religious establishments in England, such as monasteries and convents, which were under the control of another religious house outside England. Usually the mother-house was in France.Coredon ''Dictionary of Medieval Terms'' p. ...

run directly from France and, as such, was dissolved in 1414. It was later used as a barn and is now looked after by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

. St Andrew's parish church is the burial site for important ancestors of the Peyton family. Many visitors who have Peyton ancestors visit the church throughout the year, and obtain rubbings of the famous brasses decorating the Peyton

monuments A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

. The church continues to be restored with the help of donations from Peyton families in the UK and USA. Isleham Hall on West Street is a building associated with the Peyton family, and dating from the 16th century.

Culture

In 1975

Mary Chamberlain Mary Chamberlain (born 3 September 1947) is a British novelist and historian. She has been largely collected by libraries worldwide. Early life Chamberlain was born 3 September 1947 in South London, and holds degrees from the University of Edi ...

published the book ''Fenwomen'', an account of the lives of women in the village of Gislea - which was a pseudonym for Isleham. In 2015, English rapper Dirty Dike released his fourth album which included a track entitled 'Isleham Swamp'. Dirty Dike has referenced Cambridgeshire and the Fenland in several of his tracks.

References

External links

2001 CensusIsleham Village WebsiteIsleham InformerThe Griffin Isleham WebsiteThe Rising Sun Isleham WebsiteThe Old Vicarage B&B Isleham WebsiteIsleham FC Websiteplfc (Pound Lane Free Church, Isleham) genealogy library
{{authority control Villages in Cambridgeshire Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire East Cambridgeshire District