Shingay is a hamlet and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

, now in the parish of Shingay cum Wendy, in the

South Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, England, with a population of 162,119 at the 2021 census. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Chesterton Rural District and South Cambridgeshire Rural District. ...

district, in the county of

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

, England around 5 miles north west of Royston. In 1951 the parish had a population of 38.

History

Shingay was a separate parish until 1 April 1957 when it was merged with neighbouring

Wendy Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...

to form the present civil parish of Shingay cum Wendy. The historical parish covered an area of . Its northern border with

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

(formerly Croydon-cum-Clapton) followed the River Cam, and its eastern border with Wendy was marked by the North Ditch. Its southern border with

Abington Pigotts Abington Pigotts is a small village in Cambridgeshire, England about 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Royston, Hertfordshire. History The parish of Abington Pigotts covers an area of . Roughly circular in shape it is surrounded by the parishes of ...

also largely followed drainage channels, and its western border with Steeple Morden followed field boundaries marked by Shingay Gate Farm. The parish was largely wooded until the mid-19th century, but little woodland now remains. The medieval parish was dominated by the preceptory of the

Knights Hospitallers The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

which was situated on the south bank of the river and owned all the land in the parish between the early 12th century and 1540. When the order was suppressed in 1540 it held land in 42 parishes in Cambridgeshire as well as five other counties. Its proximity to the

Old North Road Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London ('' Londinium'') to Lincoln (''Lindum Colonia'') and York (''Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earningas' ...

resulted in its hosting royalty at various points. It is believed that the medieval village lay just to the east of the preceptory on the road towards Wendy. The village was depopulated in the 15th century. Population increased to a peak of 142 in 1851 but had dropped to 38 by the time it was merged with Wendy. The former parish church was dedicated to St Mary and possibly built at the same time as the preceptory. The medieval church was demolished in the late 17th century and in 1697 a new chapel, consisting of just a single room of two bays and west bell turret, was built by the

Earl of Orford Earl of Orford is a title that has been created three times. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1697 when the naval commander Admiral of the Fleet Edward Russell was made Earl of Orford, in the County of Suffolk. He was c ...

who had just obtained the manor. The chapel fell into disuse in the 18th century and the final trace of the building was removed by 1836. The village's name means "island of Scene's people".

References

External links

'Parishes: Shingay', ''A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely'': Volume 8 (1982), pp. 124-127
Retrieved 28 April 2013 {{Commons category-inline, Shingay Hamlets in Cambridgeshire Former civil parishes in Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire District