Parson Drove is a village in the Fens, in Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Located approximately 7 miles (11 km) west of Wisbech

Wisbech

Wisbech is a market town, inland port and civil parish with a population of 20,200 in the Fens of Cambridgeshire. The tidal River Nene runs through the centre of the town and is spanned by two bridges...

, the nearest town, the village is named after the central road around which the village developed, formerly a green drove wider than it is now.

Other nearby towns include Peterborough

Peterborough

Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...

, 19 miles to the west, and King's Lynn

King's Lynn

King's Lynn is a sea port and market town in the ceremonial county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated north of London and west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800....

, 21 miles to the east.

History

The area was originally farmed by the Romans, who left evidence of their presence in several places throughout Parson Drove and the surrounding parish.

Parson Drove was mentioned in the Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

.

Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...

 wrote about Parson Drove in his diaries in 1663, describing it as a "heathen place" where he stayed on 17 and 18 September, and apparently had his horse stolen.

Historical buildings

The Drove has many buildings dating from the 16th century, 10 of which are Grade II Listed Buildings. The village has three pubs, including The Swan Inn, in which Pepys stayed in the 17th century. The village has three churches, two of which are historically interesting:

• The Emmanuel Church (also called the "New Church") dates from 1873 and contains chandeliers originally from St Paul's Cathedral
  St Paul's Cathedral
  St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
  
  
• St John the Baptist
  St John the Baptist's Church, Parson Drove
  St John the Baptist's Church, Parson Drove, is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Parson Drove, Cambridgeshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust...
  
   (also called the "Old Church") dates from the 12th century, and includes additions and renovations from the 14th, 15th, and 17th centuries

The last working woad

Woad

Isatis tinctoria, with Woad as the common name, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is commonly called dyer's woad, and sometimes incorrectly listed as Isatis indigotica . It is occasionally known as Asp of Jerusalem...

 mill in Britain was in Parson Drove, and didn't close until 1910. It stood opposite St John the Baptist church.

Sport

The local football club, Parson Drove F.C.

Parson Drove F.C.

Parson Drove F.C. is an English football club based in Parson Drove, near Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. The club are currently members of the Premier Division of the Peterborough & District League and play at Main Road.-History:...

, play in the Peterborough & District League

Peterborough and District Football League

The Peterborough and District Football League is a football competition in England. It has a total of six divisions, the highest of which the Premier Division sits at step 7 of the National League System...

.

External links

• The Parson Drove village website: http://www.parsondrove-pc.org.uk/
• The Wisbech St Mary parish website: http://www.wisbechstmary.org.uk/
• http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=21917
• http://geodaisy.com/place/parsondrove.html