Bury cum Hepmangrove
The parish of Bury cum Hepmangrove lies to the south of Ramsey. It is of an irregular shape and projects quite a distance into the fen on the east side of of the road from Ramsey to St Ives. From east to west at it’s widest part, it was 2.5 miles and from north to south about 1.75 miles. It’s total area was 1446 acres, 896 of this was highland and 489 was fen. The land rises on both sides of the Bury brook which runs through the parish from north-east to south-west.
Hepmangrove was originally connected to Ramsey parish, and the brook was the boundary between it and Bury. Before the Dissolution Hepmangrove and Bury lay within the Abbey Banlieu.
Bury Manor
The earliest evidence relating to Bury, shows it as berewick or outlying district attached to Wistow and Kingston, which all formed a part of the grant by Oswald Archbishop of York to Ramsey Abbey, in about 974. Some time before 1178, when Pope Alexander granted a confirmation to Ramsey Abbey, Bury had become the head of this holding, and Wistow and Raveley were berewicks to it. It’s also about this time that Bury had become the parish Church with Wistow and Little Raveley as it’s chapleries. At or around 1252 Bury, Wistow, and Raveley had become separate Manors in themselves.
Hepmangrove Manor
The earliest reference to Hepmangrove is in the statutes of Abbot Aldwin (1091-1102) under which the profits from the manor were assigned to the cellarer of Ramsey Abbey for finding and mending the utensils of the refectory, bakehouse and brewhouse. From a survey of the time of Henry 1, three tenants rendered one or two bolls of Honey.
During the 13th and 14th centuries, much of the land in Hepmangrove was granted for religious purposes. In 1307 John de Lincoln, parson of the Church of Cranfield, and others, granted lands here and in Ramsey and Bury for finding tapers to burn before the tomb of St Ive in the Abbey Church. In 1352 Philip de Claravaux gave lands, the profits of which were to be expended in prayers for his own soul, and those of Emma his wife and his ancestors. Other lands were given by Henry Malpas in 1396 for the maintenance of the Lady Chapel in the Abbey Church, which was then newly built.
The Manor ( Hepmangrove ) remained with Ramsey Abbey until the Dissolution, when it was granted with Ramsey and Bury on 4th March 1539-40 to Richard Williams alias Cromwell, and since then has followed the descent of the Manor of Bury.
