Little Stukeley & Great Stukeley

Stiuecle (xi cent.); Stiuecleya Abbatis, Stiuecle parva, Stiuecle minor (xiii cent.)

Little Stukeley is a parish of 1,523 acres lying near the centre of the county, some three miles north-west of the county town; it is a narrow strip of land, bounded mainly by the parishes of Great Stukeley and Alconbury. A Purbeck marble effigy wearing a chasuble and alb with feet resting on two couchant rams, apparently representing Ralf, abbot of Ramsey (d. 1253). At the time of the Domesday Survey (1086) two knights, Richard and Hugh, held three hides of the abbot. Possibly one of these knights was father of Nicholas, archdeacon of Huntingdon (ob. c. 1110), the father of Henry of Huntingdon, the historian, who apparently succeeded his father as archdeacon and died c. 1155. We know Henry the archdeacon had houses on the demesne of the abbot and held Stukeley at fee farm. He was succeeded by his son Adam, who held the vill for £8, with two ploughs.

The Church of St. Martin mentioned in the Domesday Survey (1086) was probably of timber, and Henry of Huntingdon (the archdeacon) is recorded to have built (i.e., rebuilt) it in the 12th century. The advowson- records the existence of a church there, with a priest. It belonged, with the manor, to Ramsey Abbey (q.v.). Henry the Archdeacon was stated to have caused the church to be built and dedicated to St. Martin. From an old manuscript paper in the parish chest that part of the town land was anciently vested in feoffees in trust for the parish church and the maintenance of the poor, but as long as is known the rents have been appropriated exclusively to the use of the church.

The arch, c. 1500, is of two orders on semi-octagonal respond shafts with moulded capitals and bases; above it are some fragments of cusping built in the form of a lozenge. On the north, a large block of walling probably contained the rood staircase, and the upper doorway remains in the north-east angle of the nave, while the lower doorway is in the north chapel. The roof is modern. The north chapel and north aisle are not structurally separated. The east wall has a modern two-light window and a stone bracket supported by a ram, evidently a reference to Ramsey Abbey. In the rebuilt north wall is a plain doorway at the extreme east end, two modern windows, and some 12th-century corbel stones reset outside. The west wall has a modern window. In the south wall of the chapel is a plain 14th-century recess, perhaps originally a piscina. There are four bells, inscribed:—1, Sancte Thoma. 2, S. Martina. 3, Joseph White and Edward Cocks, Churchwardens, 1759. 4, Non sono animabvs mortvorvm sed avribvs viventivm, 1607. The first and second by Newcombe, and the fourth by Richard Holdfield. The bells were rehung in the old frame in 1891 and the treble has been recast since then, the section with the inscription being cut out and preserved in the church. The frame has the inscription 'R O, I G, C W, 1659.

There are monuments: in the chancel, to Douglas Campbell Murray Stewart and Joseph Campbell Thomas Owen, both drowned at sea 1888; in north aisle, to Flora Lucy Stewart, d. 1895; in the south aisle, to Elizabeth dau. of John Bayley, d. 1796; Sarah (Kennett) dau. of M. Kennett son of Dr. White Kennett, Bishop of Peterborough, and relict of John Bayley, d. 1801; the Rev. Daniel Bayley, d. 1805; Lucy, dau. of Mr. Justice Bayley, d. 1821; Lucy, sister of Mr. Justice Bayley, d. 1823; South African War tablet. A small brass figure of a civilian, late 16th century, found under the floor of the north chapel, is now on the floor of the south aisle. The registers are as follows:—(i) Baptisms, marriages and burials, 1566 to 1654; (ii) the same, 1655 to 1812, the marriages ending in 1754; (iii) the official marriage book, 1754 to 1812; the usual modern books.