The CAMUS project

Archives from Castor, Ailsworth, Marholm, Upton and Sutton – and the Milton Estates

Welcome to the CAMUS project – where residents of the villages are creating this historical archive. The villages are on the western edge of Greater Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. Records relating to the area go back to the time of the Romans when Castor pottery was exported to the Roman Empire. If you have any relevant information, or would like to be an active participant in the project – please get in touch – your contribution and active support would be most welcome. Email: admin.castor@btconnect.co.uk

An outline explanation of the structure the archive database and some common abreviations used will help you to find particular documents. Most of the documents are .html, but some are .pdf (and listed as such in the Subject column) you can download the free Adobe Acrobat reader here to access the .pdf records.

In addition to this open access internet archive the CAMUS project has written a book, “Five Villages, their People and Places” that went on sale at the Castor Village Fete on July 11, 2004 and sold out of its thousand copies. The book will not be reprinted, but the complete book is now available on CD Rom (as a high resolution .pdf) for the sum of £5.00 (plus 50p Post and Packing) and also available for viewing and reading free on this site (as a low resolution .pdf).

Our thanks go to the LHI (the Local Heritage Initiative is a partnership between the Heritage Lottery Fund, Nationwide Building Society and the Countryside Agency) and William Wall for funds that made this ambitious project possible.

We have written a book that can be viewed on this web site as a low resolution .pdf. “Five Villages, Their People and Places A History of the Villages of Castor, Ailsworth, Marholm with Milton, Upton and Sutton”, to record and celebrate the history of the area.

The book was initially organised into subject headings and the task of writing the sections divided amongst members of the local communities. Additional help, support and input came from scores of others. The driving force and guiding mind was provided by our local vicar, the Reverend William Burke. It would be difficult to overstate the importance of William to this project – or to the general life and spirit of our community.

The CAMUS group controlled all the other tasks of publishing, from proof reading to cover design with the wonderfully helpful support of our local printer, Andy of Stylaprint. Thank you Andy, you and your company are a real asset to our community.

A Agriculture

Drainage

A/E Enclosures

A/F Farms

Flood Protection

B Buildings

C Churches

C/C Castor

C/H Chapels

C/K Kyneburgha

C/L Liturgy & Services

C/M Marholm

C/O Other Churches

C/P Prayers

C/R Records

C/S Sutton

C/U Upton

D Archaeology

D/M Medieval

D/R Roman

D/S Saxon

E Estates

E/C Church Estates

E/K Castor House

E/M Milton

E/S Sutton

E/U Upton

F Flora and Fauna

G Geography and Maps

H History

Disasters

I Individuals

I/C Churchwardens Docs

I/B Baptisms

I/F Funerals

I/G Graveyard Records

I/M Marriages

I/T Family Trees

J Jubilees

J/C Coronation

J/M Millennium

J/S Silver Jubilee

J/G Golden Jubilee

L Local Admin & Politics

Parish Council

L/N Castor New Town

M Military

M/A Army

M/E Ex-Service Personnel

M/M War Memorials

M/N Royal Navy
M/R Royal air Force

M/T Territorial Army & Reserve

P Parish Officers Records

R School

R/C Castor School

R/M Marholm School

S Sports & Leisure

T Transport

T/D Roman Roads

T/R Railways

Navigation

Turnpike Roads

Bypass

W Local Businesses

Inns/Public Houses

Nene Barge & Lighter Co

Y Photographs

Z Miscellaneous

Z/R Personal Reminiscences

Scrapbooks

Common Abbreviations Used:

Cath: Cathedral

D&C: Dean and Chapter

Eccles Commis: Ecclestical Commissioners

LHG: Local History Group

NCRO: Northants County Record Office

NRS: Northants Record Society

OS: Ordinance Survey

RCHM: Royal Commission Historic Monuments.

VCH: Victoria County History

NN&Q: Northants Notes and Queries

SEARCHING THE DATA BASE

General Comments:

If you are looking for something decide which Main Subject it is likely to be under on the Contents List ; eg A/F contains references to Agriculture/Farming, but a person associated with Farming may also be listed under I – Individuals, or even under E – Estates. Please bear with us; we are learning as we go along. It is our intention to cross-reference everything but it takes time. There are already over 1500 documents in the Parish Archive listed on the Data Base, and many of them are pretty large, eg books or long documents. If you have any comments, or ideas, or if you think something should also be referenced or listed under an additional name please let us know. We plan eventually to get all our Archives, Parish Records and documents onto the Web Site. Meanwhile hard copies can be seen in the Castor Parish Church Office ( in the Cedar Centre next to St Kyneburgha’s Church). If you have a problem ring or write to the Rector 01733 380244. Most documents can be copied for a small charge.

System of Filing in the Archive:

First see Contents list to find Category.

Then look under Subject to find item of interest within that Category. On the left is a column of numbers, that is the file Reference Number (Ref No). In the next column is Detail, which will give a bit more detail on the subject. The final column on the right will give information about the origins and name of the Document referred to, for eg if it is a book, newspaper cutting, notes made by some-one, and often the date and page number if known.

Examples

Quite a few documents are filed under several Categories;

for example copies of the Muster Roll of 1536 are filed under both H – History and P – Parish Officers Records.

In other cases a document may cover a number of subjects; for example the RCHM Book on local antiquities of Peterborough covers all four villages and items concerned with both Archaelogy and Buildings. The Book is filed under B – Buildings, but relevant items concerning local archaeology are listed in the Data Base under D – Archaeology, but the reference will be to the Book under B – Buildings. Many but not all things are cross-referenced for example:

a Farm is in most cases listed by its Village and Farm Name, but also under the Name of the Family currently farming it, but not in all cases yet.

Standard References:

Most standard references are listed both under the various subjects, but also under the author’s name or its common-user name for example:

Pevsner’s Guide are under Pevsner as well as the relevant Church.

Other standard references are similar such as the VCH,

Sweeting (local churches),

Arthur Mee (under Mee),

Bridges (History of Northants),

Gibson, (The Antonine Itinerary),

RCHM.

Durobrivae. As well as being the name of the nearby Roman Market town, this was also the name of 9 volumes produced by the Nene Valley Archaeological Trust.

Extracts from Old Documents:

Relevant extracts have been made from many old documents such as:

Gunton (History of the Church in Peterborough); The White Book of Peterborough; ed S Raban

Hugh Candidus ( The Peterborough Chronicles); The Founding of Peterborough Cathedral (docs edited by WT Mellows);

Northants Miscellany ( E White), and so on.

Most of these are filed under H – History, although some are under P – Parish Officers Records.

Individuals:

Again we are gradually cross-referencing all these. An individual document about a Baptism, wedding or a Funeral will be found as follows:

I/B – Bapstims , then name under subject

I/F – Funerals, then name under subject

I/M – Marriages, then name under subject.

In the case of other individuals it depends whether it was a record made by some-one else, in which case the name will be listed under Subject, then name. If it is a Reminiscence written by some-one, it may possibly be under Z/R – Miscellaneous/ Reminiscences. If the Subject is mainly a report of Military Service, it will most likely be listed under