OUTWELL, a parish, partly in the hundred of WisBEACH,
Isle of ELY, county of CAMBRIDGE, and partly
in the hundred of CLACKCLOSE, county of NORFOLK, 5
miles (S. B.) from Wisbeach, containing 954 inhabitants.
The living is a discharged rectory, in the archdeaconry
of Norfolk, and diocese of Norwich, rated in the king's
books at £16, and in the patronage of the Bishop of
Ely. The church, dedicated to St. Clement, is a very
handsome structure. This parish is remarkable for its
extensive market-gardens, the produce of which is conveyed
by the Nene, which runs through the village, to
many of the towns situated on that river. A school is
supported by annual subscriptions. Molycourt priory,
or the chapel of St. Mary de Bello Loco, which was situated
in this parish, was founded before the Conquest,
for Benedictine monks; but its revenue having considerably
diminished, Henry VI. appropriated it to the
priory of Ely, and it continues parcel of the possessions
of that see.