The Shelfords
There are two Shelfords, Great Shelford and Little Shelford, sitting on opposite sides of the river Granta or Cam. These days Great Shelford is by far the larger parish. Both villages retain their individuality and have their own community.
When I am speaking of both parishes, I will call them the Shelfords. If I speak of Shelford, I am being lazy. Constant repetition of Great Shelford becomes tedious, so Shelford is my shorthand for Great Shelford.
The Parish
Great Shelford is not just a village but a parish. The parish was originally an ecclesiastical concept - the area served by Great Shelford parish church. From the time of Queen Elizabeth I, the parish gradually became the means of local government, with unpaid parish officials such as the Overseers of the Poor (responsible for the care of the parish poor), the Surveyors of the Highways (responsible for maintaining the roads within the parish) and the parish constable (a position which everyone was keen to avoid!). This remained the case until the 19th century.
In 1894 parish councils were set up, and remain the lowest tier of local government today, with elected parish councillors.
So don't think of Shelford as merely the central village. It extends out to Shelford Bottom and the Beechwoods, to Granta Terrace, to the water bridges at the end of Church Street, across the arable land almost to Hauxton, to where Cambridge Road becomes Shelford Road, and to the far end of Granhams Road.
A Bit about Dates
Before 1752 the calendar began, not on the 1 January, but on 25 March, or Lady Day. This means that, up until 1752, when the calendar changed, 24 March was in the previous year to 25 March, even though one followed directly after the other. This old calendar was called the Julian calendar. Today we use the Gregorian calendar, and our year begins on 1 January.
In 1751 the Julian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Gregorian calendar. One effect of this was that Christmas Day fell on 6 January, as reckoned by the Gregorian calendar. When we moved to this new calendar, people effectively "lost" eleven days. Even in the Victorian era, people would occasionally speak of Old Christmas, which fell on 6 January.
Important Days in the Calendar
Just as the parish was a church concept carried over into civil administration, so the calendar by which the agricultural world operated was based around dates that were meaningful in the church calendar. There were a number of significant days. The two which were used for the half-yearly payment of rent and for reckoning up accounts were:
Lady Day, or the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on 25 March,
Michaelmas, or the Feast of St Michael, on 29 September.
Michaelmas was the most important, because it was after the harvest, and so represented the turn of the agricultural year. Farm leases would end then, with all the crops gathered in. Lady Day was often the day for paying bills or the rent. Either, or both, were the days for the hiring of labour, in the days when a labourer was hired for a year.
There were also two other days for accounts and bills:
Candlemas, on 2 February,
Lammas, on 1 August. Lammas was often a day for fairs (unless, of course, you had a particular feast day, as we did in Shelford).
Rogationtide was a variable feast, usually in May or June. Traditionally there would be a perambulation of the parish, otherwise known as the Beating of the Bounds. This served several purposes. It transmitted and confirmed knowledge of the parish boundaries, which was very important before the days of Ordnance Survey maps. It also had a religious aspect - seeking blessing on the newly-planted crops which were so vital to the wellbeing of the village.
Units of Measurement - Acres, Roods and Perches
Up until quite late in the 20th century, land was measured in acres, roods and perches.
40 perches or poles equal 1 rood.
4 roods equal 1 acre.
1 hectare is equal to 2.47 acres.