LINTON, a market-town and parish, in the hundred
of CHILFORD, county of CAMBRIDGE, 10 miles
(S. E. by E.) from Cambridge, and 48 (N. by E.) from
London, containing 1519 inhabitants. This town,
which is situated on the high road from Cambridge to
Colchester, is very indifferently built; the streets are
neither lighted nor paved, but the inhabitants are well
supplied with water from springs. The market, granted
in 1245, to William de Lay, is on Thursday; and there
is a fair on July 30th, for sheep. A court leet is held
occasionally by the lord of the manor. The living is a
discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of
Ely, rated in the king's books at £10. 13. 4., and in
the patronage of the Master and Fellows of Pembroke
Hall, Cambridge. The church, dedicated to St. Mary,
has a fine embattled tower; in the interior are several
monuments, especially one of marble, erected by Peter
Standley, Esq., to the memory of his sister. There are
places of worship for the Society of Friends and Independents.
An Alien priory, subordinate to the abbey
of St. Jacutus de Tusula in Britanny, was founded in
the time of Henry III.  at the suppression, its revenue
was valued at £23. 8. 10., and it was granted by
Henry VI. to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. At Barbara,
in this parish, a priory of Crouched friars, a cell to the
monastery of Welnetham in Suffolk, was established in
the reign of Edward I.: the hall, chapel, and cloisters
of the convent are still remaining, and form part of
the mansion called Barbara hall. Several Roman coins
have been dug up in this parish.