Haddenham Cambridgeshire

On a grey day when rain was a probability opposed to a possibility I set out for Haddenham In The Isle of Ely Cambridgeshire. You can give your imagination a treat by dreaming of undulating landscapes and mountainous regions as Haddenham sits on a ridge in The Isle at a staggering 121 feet (“In old money”).

Holy Trinity Church

Before the fens were drained Haddenham was the main entrance into The Isle of Ely from Aldreth Causeway so it was of significant importance, its population was the largest with the exception of Littleport and Thorny, today it has to contend with articulated vehicles escaping the A14 on their way between Huntingdon and Newmarket.

Porch House, Hillrow

In 1612 the Lord of the manor was none other than Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge whose daughter Frances was implicated in the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury. It gave him the entitlement to hold a market and fair in Aldreth and Haddenham.

If you are of a campanological bent you may be interested to know there was bell foundry in Haddenham between 1665 and 1680, producing bells for Witchford and other villages in Cambridgeshire.

In March 1947 the whole of the western end of the parish was severely effect by the great floods.