Ravensden Vicarages

This page was written by Trevor Stewart

Ravensden Vicarage c.1905 [Z1130/93]

On the corner of Vicarage Close is the large house known as the Old Vicarage. It is a large timber framed property with a colour washed rough cast exterior and an old clay tiled roof, and has now been divided into two units. The house was built around 1650 to replace the former vicarage on the site of Oak Cottage, and was enlarged in the 19th century. In June 1894 a grant of £30 was made from the Ely Diocesan Fund to the Vicar for this work [reference P89/2/4/1].

In 1929 the Old Vicarage was sold together with attached land by the then Vicar of Ravensden, Rev. Reginald Paddick, to William Farrer of Church Farm, Bolnhurst for £830. William Farrar immediately sold the property on to Edward Melfort Sharman of Brook Farm, Ravensden with an additional piece of land for a total of £1,100. In 1957 Sharman sold part of the land which had previously been part of the Vicarage property to Douglas James Lowden for development [reference Z442/53].

The new benefice of Ravensden, Wilden and Colmworth had been formed by amalgamation just a couple of years before 1929. After the sale of the Ravensden Vicarage the incumbent moved into the much more opulent ‘’Rectory’’ at Wilden.