Mepal is a village in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, England. Mepal is part of the

East Cambridgeshire East Cambridgeshire (locally known as East Cambs) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in the cathedral city of Ely. The district also contains the towns of Littleport and Soham and surrounding rural a ...

district, and is located just north of the A142 road between Ely and

Chatteris Chatteris () is a market town and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England, situated in the Fens between Huntingdon, March and Ely. The town is in the North East Cambridgeshire parliamentary constituency. The parish o ...

. First listed as ''Mepahala'' in the 12th century, the village name meant 'Nook of land of a man named Mēapa' in

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

History

Mepal's history has always been tied up with that of

The Fens The Fens or Fenlands in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a system o ...

and the village is less than ten metres above sea level. One of the smaller villages of the

Isle of Ely The Isle of Ely () is a historic region around the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. Between 1889 and 1965, it formed an Administrative counties of England, administrative county. Etymology Its name has been said to ...

, Mepal lies at the western end of the Isle on what was once the shore between the fenland and the higher ground of the Isle. The

Old Bedford River The Old Bedford River is an artificial, partial diversion of the waters of the River Great Ouse in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, England. It was named after the Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford, fourth Earl of Bedford who contracted with the ...

and the

New Bedford River The New Bedford River, also known as the Hundred Foot Drain because of the distance between the tops of the two embankments on either side of the river, is a navigable man-made cut-off or by-pass channel of the River Great Ouse in the Fens of C ...

(also known as the Hundred Foot Drain) run very close on the northwestern side of the village, and the only important bridges of the rivers are found in Mepal. The old and new rivers, originally modified by the Victorians, offer the main drainage route for

the Fens The Fens or Fenlands in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a system o ...

and retain a major flood plain between the two river beds. The flood plain typically floods between November and March of each year. A major fire devastated the village in the 19th century, leading to a drop in population from 510 to 397 between 1861 and 1871. There are thus very few remaining buildings dating from before the 19th century.

RAF Mepal

Mepal retains the historical pride of being the home of No. 75 Squadron RAF, which was operational between 1943 and 1945. It held the enviable post of being the prior home to No. 75 'New Zealand' Squadron which was equipped with Lancaster bombers. 75 Squadron flew the highest total operations for the whole of

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the Strategic bombing during World War II#Europe, strategic bombing of Germany in W ...

, 8017 in total. Mepal is visited on an annual basis by previous members of the Squadron and their families, as part of remembrance. A museum jointly dedicated to

RAF Mepal Royal Air Force Mepal or more simply RAF Mepal is a former Royal Air Force station located south of Mepal, Cambridgeshire, England and west of Ely, Cambridgeshire. Construction commenced in July 1942 and opened in June 1943. History Mepal fi ...

and RAF Witchford is located in the nearby village of

Witchford Witchford is a village and civil parish about west of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,385. History Anglo-Saxon cemetery When the site of RAF Witchford was being cleared a bulldozer drive ...

. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

was selected in 1957 as a site for deploying

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

medium-range nuclear missiles, although these were removed by 1963. The airfield was subsequently decommissioned and the land sold off.

Church

The parish church, dedicated to Saint Mary, mother of Jesus, and a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, dates from the 13th century and has been largely unaltered since. It is notable as the only church in the Isle of Ely without either tower or spire, having a double bellcote instead. The building is listed in

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

's ''

Buildings of England The ''Pevsner Architectural Guides'' are four series of guide books to the architecture of the British Isles. ''The Buildings of England'' series was begun in 1945 by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, with its forty-six original volumes pub ...

, Cambridgeshire Vol. IV.''

Kelly's Directory Kelly's Directory (or more formally, the Kelly's, Post Office and Harrod & Co Directory) was a trade directory in Britain that listed all businesses and tradespeople in a particular city or town, as well as a general directory of postal addresses ...

, a trade directory set up in 1835, wrote that the church features "inscriptions on the tomb of Alan de Walsingham,

sub-prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be lowe ...

and

sacristan A sacristan is an officer charged with care of the sacristy, the church, and their contents. In ancient times, many duties of the sacrist were performed by the doorkeepers ( ostiarii), and later by the treasurers and mansionarii. The Decretal ...

Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The cathedral can trace its origin to the abbey founded in Ely in 67 ...

, to the church of Ely, is a building of flint and stone in the Early English style, consisting of

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, south porch and a western turret containing one bell. The

was restored by the

Rev Rev, REV or Rév may refer to: Abbreviations Rev. * Rev., an abbreviation for revolution, as in Revolutions per minute * Rev., an abbreviation for the religious style The Reverend * Rev., the abbreviation for Runtime Revolution, a development en ...

. Charles S. Harris

LL.M A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

. rector (1876-84), and the church in 1905 at a cost of £600. In 1908, the interior was reseated and a vestry added at a cost of £200: there are 100 sittings. The register dates from the year 1559."

Village life

The village of Mepal retains a hotel, restaurant and bar (The Three Pickerels), a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

village shop A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

, and a Church of England primary school rated 'Good' by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

in 2023. Mepal Village Hall was built in 1873-74 as Mepal National School and saw its first pupils on 4th May 1874. The Hall also functions as a

polling Poll, polled, or polling may refer to: Forms of voting and counting * Poll, a formal election ** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts ** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions ** Polling pla ...

station. There is a local

football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

shared between Mepal and

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

, a

youth club A youth center or youth centre, often called youth club, is a place where young people can meet and participate in a variety of activities, for example table football, association football (US soccer, UK football), basketball, table tennis, v ...

, and Friendship club. Allotments, rented out by the Mepal parish council, are located by the village children's play park. Former public houses include the Cross Keys, in which

Clement Freud Sir Clement Raphael Freud (24 April 1924 – 15 April 2009) was a British media personality, broadcaster, writer, politician and chef. The son of Ernst L. Freud and grandson of Sigmund Freud, Clement moved to the United Kingdom from Nazi Germany ...

lived when he was Member of Parliament for the

in the 1970s and early 1980s.About Mepal
From Monday to Saturday Mepal has a two-hourly bus service (no Sunday service) to

, Ely and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Botanical

Adjacent to St Mary's church is a small woodland notable for the old elm trees, believed to be Plot elm hybrid.

References

External links

Mepal Parish

The Three Pickerels website

St Mary's Church listing

Mepal & Witcham Church of England Primary School
{{authority control Villages in Cambridgeshire Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire East Cambridgeshire District