A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOHAM

 Timeline of Soham History

 1 AD - The Roman Invasion

Soham Mere, a large inland sea, was naturally created at the end of the Bronze Age, although a sacred pool of more ancient origin probably predated this vast expanse of water.
Soham had been settled for approx. 2,000 years and had become a centre of Pagan pilgrimage. The Romans had already added to the population c.43BC and had introduced drainage technology into the area, built canals, proper roads, and established early trading centres.

 410 AD - Roman Withdrawal

The Roman occupation ended suddenly. They withdrew from the area leaving behind them many high status buildings, their roads and ditches, and the basis of a civilised society.

 411 AD - The Anglo Saxons

The Anglo Saxons settled the area slowly, probably using Roman villas for their own habitation.

 630 AD - St. Felix 'Apostle of the East Angles'

Sigebert, Saxon King of the East Angles brought Bishop Felix of Burgundy to Britain to convert his people to Christianity. St Felix established a monastery at Soham and succeeded the Pagan religious site with the first known centre of Latin Christianity in Cambridgeshire.

 870 AD - Viking Raids

The Vikings made a destructive progress across East Anglia. They destroyed Soham Abbey, stealing its treasures and killing the monks. The Abbey, unlike its later counterpart at Ely, was never rebuilt.

 C.900 AD - The Cathedral of Luttingus

A Saxon nobleman called Luttingus built a Cathedral and Palace at Soham. These were situated on the site of the present day Church of St Andrew, and adjacent land. Traces of the Saxon Cathedral still exist within the fabric of St Andrews, but the separate round bell tower was pulled down when the late Norman tower was built. The Bishops Palace existed as a picturesque ruin until the mid 19th century.

 1017 – 1035 AD - The Legend of King Canute

At sometime during the reign of King Canute, he was held up by freezing conditions at Soham on his way to Ely. A local man called Brithmer Budde volunteered to walk in front of the Kings sledge to allow his safe passage across the frozen mere. The King reached Ely safely, and Budde was rewarded with his freedom.

 1086 AD - The Domesday Book

William the Conqueror the self proclaimed Norman King, having defeated the Saxon King Harold commissioned this survey of his new lands. Soham was described in Domesday Book as 'Land of the King', and was amongst his most important holdings in Cambridgeshire.

 C.1070 AD - Hereward the Wake

It was during the very early part of the Norman occupation that the legend of Hereward the Wake was set. He foiled a military attempt to gain access to the Isle of Ely and denied the Norman invaders access until he was betrayed. The story had been set, by ancient monks, in AIdreth, however, modern research identifies the oldest causeway to Ely as existing at Barway. Thus, this very famous legend can be relocated to Soham, where it is supported by the existence of Norman earthworks and architecture, as well as the existence of early military droves.

 1102 AD - The Church of St. Andrew

In 1102 AD Hubert de Burgh, Chief Justice of England, granted 'Ranulph' certain lands in trust for the Church of St Andrew. Ranulph is recorded as the first Vicar of Soham and had a hand in designing the 'new' Norman Church.

 1120 AD - William de Malmesburys Ruins

The great recorder of social history, William de Malmesbury, writes that, at this date, the ruins of the Abbey of St Felix are still visible.

 C.1400 AD - Medieval Port

The Medieval period saw Soham flourish as a centre of trade. Existing buildings indicated medieval prosperity through the establishment of an inland port. Early documents reveal that Soham was navigable to The Wash via the West River or the Old River Ouse, and to Cambridge via The Cam.

 1451 AD - The Church of St. Andrew is granted to Pembroke College

On 3rd August 1451, Soham Parsonage and Vicarage were granted to Pembroke College. This was confirmed by the signature of King Henry VI in 1454.  The College still maintains a strong connection with the Church today. The earliest church registers date from 1558 onwards.

 1496 AD - Sir William Brandon is killed by Richard III at Bosworth Field

The Battle of Bosworth Field which took place on the 22nd August 1485 near Market Bosworth in Leicestershire marked the end of the War of the Roses. The Battle was fought between the supporters of King Richard III and Henry Tudor. As the battle progressed with a stalemate to his front, Henry accompanied by a bodyguard of about 200 knights including Sir William Brandon of Soham (his standard bearer), decided to ride across to the Stanleys to see if he could persuade them to enter into the fray on his side. Richard observed Henry's dragon banner moving across the battlefield and saw an opportunity to end the battle at one fell stroke. Richard led the charge of his knights (approximately 1,000 men) downhill towards Henry's banner. With the whole power of the charge behind him, Richard transfixed Sir William Brandon of Soham with his lance. The lance broke and Sir William Brandon and the dragon banner crashed to the ground. The battle was eventually won by Henry Tudor with the death of Richard III and as a result he became King Henry VII of England and Wales.

 1496 AD - A New Church Tower

Right at the end of the Norman period, William Yaxle bequeathed to the Church, money to build a new Church tower on the foundation of the old round tower. During the building works, a new bay was added to the Church building in order to join it to the tower.

 1581 AD - Thomas Peachey established 12 almshouses

 1628 AD - Sir Robert Heath was ordered to set aside Common Land at Soham 

In 1628 Sir Robert Heath, the then Lord of the Manor, exhibited a bill against some of the tenants of the Manor, saying that they had surcharged the common with cattle, and the purpose of the bill was to see that everyone had their fair share of the 9400 acres of marsh and fen grounds which lay waste and common. 1500 acres in Metlam Fen and 500 acres in Barroway Fen were subsequently enclosed and handed down via his descendants to Sir Thomas Chicheley. 420 acres (of the 1500) were later taken by the drainage undertakers and the tenants threw down the enclosures.

 C.1650 AD - Oliver Cromwell

The people of Soham remained quite resistant to Puritanism and the town was known as a Royalist stronghold. The Royal Arms, now The Fountain was established during this period and is rumoured to house a secret passage which then served as an escape route.

 1664 AD - Sir Thomas Chichely & Sir Jonas Moore established the Commons

By Deed Poll of 20 December 1664 it was agreed that to every acre of arable land in the fields there should, upon the division, be allowed half an acre in the common; and they ordered that 100 acres of the said common - 50 acres in Horsecroft next Down field, 20 acres in the Moore, and 30 acres in the borders next Metlam field, should be allotted and set out for working horses of such persons as shall plough or work in Soham fields, and no other cattle, they owning or farming six acres, at the least, in the fields.

 1686 AD - Soham Free School was founded

 C.1720 AD - Reginald Hawkins, Vicar of Soham, builds St. Andrew's House

 C.1740 AD - Drainage of the Fens

Viscount Townshend inherited the Royal Manor of Soham c. 1740 and set about improving the land for agriculture using the method of banking and ditching introduced by the Romans. Parts of the Mere were originally drained during this period but the area was still subject to inundations until the arrival of the Steam Pump.

 18th Century - Andrew Fuller 'English Baptist Divine'

Andrew Fuller was born on the 5th February 1754 at Wicken. in his boyhood and youth he worked on his father’s farm, his parents, were poor farmers who rented a succession of dairy farms. In 1761 his parents decided to move a short distance to Soham, where he and his family began to attend the local Calvinistic Baptist Church which had been formed in 1752 at Brook Dam. Fuller was converted in November 1769 and after being baptized at the age of 17 he became a member of the Church. His gifts as an exhorter met with so much approval that, in the Spring of 1775, he was called and ordained as pastor of the Soham congregation. He later he became close friends with William Carey and helped him in his cause for foreign missions. He is still relatively unknown, being greatly overshadowed by the more famous George Whitefield and the Wesley Brothers who also ministered at the time, but is still affectionately called 'The English Baptist Divine'.

 1776 AD - Poverty

Soham had the largest workhouse in the county which housed sixty residents at this time. Workhouse expenses included; carriage of water, turf and sedge for fuel, shoes, gowns, breeches, sundry maintenance, earthenware, dishes, spoons, medicines for widows in confinement, and coffins, plus a wage for the master, and provisions which consisted of cheese, flour, malt, barley, milk, onions and a little meat, besides what vegetables were grown on site.

 1792 AD - Olaudah Equiano marries Susannah Cullen at St Andrew's Church

Perhaps the most famous marriage at St. Andrew's Church, Soham in Cambridgeshire was between Olaudah Equiano (The African) and Susannah Cullen (Spinster of the Parish of Soham) on the 7th April 1792. Slavery was still in force at the time of their marriage . Olaudah Equiano otherwise known as Gustavus Vassa was the African slave who gained his freedom and became an activist for the abolition of slavery in the 18th Century. He wrote his celebrated Autobiography - 'The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African 1789' which is still available to buy to this day. Evidence to suggest that the couple took up residence in Soham comes from the fact that both of their children were born here. He had two daughters Anna Maria Vassa born on 16th October 1793 and was baptised in St. Andrew's Church on 30th January 1794. His second daughter, Joanna Vassa was born on 11th April 1795 and baptised in St. Andrew's Church on 29th April 1795. Susannah was always thought to have died during Joanna's birth, however, records show that she died a year later, and was buried in Soham as Susanna Vassa, wife of Gustavus the African on 21st February 1796, aged 34. Gustavus died on 31st March 1797, aged 52, his death occurred in London, but the whereabouts of his burial is unknown. Sadly Anna Maria died a few months later on 21st July 1797, aged just 4 Years and is buried in St. Andrew's Church, Chesterton, Cambridge where there is a commemorative plaque in her memory. Joanna Vassa inherited a sizable estate from her father equivalent to £100,000 in todays money. She went on to marry the Reverend Henry Bromley and they ran a Congregational Chapel at Clavering near Saffron Walden in Essex, before moving to London in the middle of the nineteenth century. Joanna died in March 1857 at the age of 61 and is buried along with her husband in Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington. It's not yet known whether Joanna had any children. The Slave Trade was finally abolished on British ships 10 years after the death of Olaudah Equiano, in 1807. It took a further forty years to see the abolition in the British colonies.

 C.1830 AD - Steam Pumps

The introduction of the Steam Pump c.1830 marked a turning point in fen drainage. One Steam Pump could do the work of many windmills and exceed the quantity and speed of water carriage to a level never before imagined. The successful drainage of the fens was now assured.

 1834 AD - Vicarage Enlarged

The Reverend Henry Tasker enlarged and improved St Andrews house at a cost of £3,000, a move which the patrons, Pembroke College, viewed as a liability to future incumbents.

 1857 AD - A Girls School

The Reverend Henry Tasker raised adequate funds to build the National Girls School in Bull Lane, now Clay Street.

 1878 AD - Soham Grammar School is Founded

The all boys Grammar School had its origins in the Soham Free School and became Soham Grammar school in 1878 and occupied premises on Churchgate Street. The existing Churchgate Street building dates from around 1880 and is built on an area called the Hempland and on the site of the original school.

 1879 AD - The Railway arrives in Soham

 19th Century AD - William Case Morris 'Dr Bernardo of Argentina'

The most famous son of Soham was William Case Morris who made his mark many miles away in South America. Born in the town on the 16th February 1864, he and his father left Soham after the death of his mother in search of a new life, eventually settling in Argentina. William was horrified by the terrible poverty of the street children, which led to him founding a network of children's homes across Argentina saving thousands of youngsters from abject poverty and a life on the streets. He returned to Soham a poor elderly man where he died on the 15th September 1932 and is buried in the Fordham Road cemetery.

 1923 AD - Water

The opening of the waterworks in 1923 was quickly followed with piped water. Prior to this residents had to draw water from the town pumps or the rivers and ditches, which were a constant source of disease.

 1925 AD - The Grammar School at Beechurst

The Grammar School which was established in 1878 AD moved from its' site in Churchgate Street to a large former residence called Beechurst which had been purchased by Cambridge County Council in 1925.

 1944 AD - The Soham Railway Disaster

Soham was saved from certain destruction when a train carrying bombs for the D-day advance caught fire at Soham Station in the early hours of 2nd June 1944. The town was saved by the uncoupling of the burning wagon which took up valuable escape time. The ensuing explosion, which occurred as the train pulled out of the station killed fireman James Nighthall and signalman Frank Bridges instantly while the driver Benjamin Gimbert and guard Herbert Clarke miraculously survived, being blown clear. A cargo of four hundred tons of bombs and the town of Soham remained intact due to the heroic actions of those four men, Gimbert and Nighthall were both awarded the George Medal, Nighthall posthumously.

 1958 AD - Soham Village College Established

Henry Morris CBE, Cambridgeshire's Chief Education Officer had a vision of an institution he named, the 'Community College’ providing quality education for all. Soham Village College, built during the 1960's was one of the first to be established.

 1965 AD - Soham Railway Station closes

In the early 1960's, Dr Beeching reviews the National Railway Network and orders the closure of several stations across the United Kingdom. Soham Railway Station is closed down in 1965 and shortly thereafter the Warren Hill/Snailwell Junction Chord is removed severing the direct connection between Soham and Cambridge via Newmarket.

 1972 AD - Soham Grammar School Closes

Changes in the education system finally put an end to the unique and highly prized educational institution of Soham Grammar School, when it was amalgamated with the neighbouring Village College and the sixth form transferred to Ely.

 1993-1998 AD - Soham Village College becomes Grant Maintained

In September 1993 the College became a Grant Maintained School and in 1994 was awarded Technology College status. In March 1996 local benefactor Mr Simon Gibson opened a splendid new Gibson Wing extension to Beechurst and in November 1998 HRH Princess Margaret opened the new S Block for Science and Technology.

 2002 AD - The Soham Murders

On the 4th August 2002, Soham became the centre of international media attention after the disappearance of two local ten-year-old schoolgirls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Almost two weeks after they first disappeared, the girls badly decomposed bodies were eventually found 15 miles away in a remote patch of woodland close to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.
Ian Huntley, a caretaker from Soham Village College, along with his girlfriend Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant at Holly and Jessica's school, St Andrew's Primary were arrested soon after. On 3 November 2003 at the Old Bailey in London, Huntley was put on trial for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman and Carr for assisting an offender. At the trial, Huntley pleaded guilty to manslaughter of both girls but was convicted of their murders by two, eleven-to-one majority jury verdicts on 17 December 2003.
Huntley immediately began serving two concurrent life sentences with a minimum of 40 years before parole would be considered. Carr who had provided a false alibi for Huntley to Police during the investigation was cleared by the jury on two counts of assisting an offender but convicted of perverting the course of justice. She was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and released on probation on 14 May 2004. On her release she was given a new identity under the witness protection program and granted an indefinite order by the High Court to protect her new identity and whereabouts from being publicly known.
After the convictions, the Government called for an national inquiry to be conducted. The Bichard Inquiry was formally opened on 13 January 2004 and the findings were later published in June 2004. Humberside and Cambridgeshire police forces were heavily criticised for their failings in maintaining and sharing intelligence records on Huntley. The inquiry also recommended a registration scheme for people working with children and vulnerable adults, like the elderly. It also suggested a national system should be set up for police forces to share intelligence information. The report also said there should also be a clear code of practice on record-keeping by all police forces.

The forgotten wartime heroes who gave their lives to save an entire town was recently celebrated with a commemorative artwork. On 2nd June 1944, in Soham, fire broke out on the lead wagon of a train carrying 400 tons of bombs to the East Coast in preparation for D-Day. Only the bravery of four railway workers, two of whom uncoupled the burning wagon and drove it to safety, spared the town from total devastation. Driver Ben Gimbert miraculously survived as did the Guard Herbert Clarke, but Engine Fireman Jim Nightall and Signalman Frank Bridges were killed in a huge explosion flattening Soham station and shattering windows as far away as Wicken.

Now the four heroes have been finally be commemorated, after decades of calls for a permanent tribute, in an interpretive artwork which stands next to The War Memorial in Red Lion Square. The artwork is the culmination of nine years of work by the Soham Community History Museum, which won a £15,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant along with £10,000 in donations to fund the project. It was officially unveiled by HRH The Duke of Gloucester on Saturday 2nd June 2007 at The War Memorial along with relatives of Ben Gimbert, Jim Nightall and Frank Bridges attending. This was followed by a Street Parade to St. Andrew's Church and Service of Dedication by the Vicar of Soham, The Reverend Tim Alban Jones MBE.