SOHAM, a market-town and parish in the hundred
of STAPLOE, county of CAMBRIDGE, 5 miles (S. E.)
from Ely, and 69 (N. N. E.) from London, containing
2856 inhabitants. This was a place of some note at a
very early period. About 630, St. Felix, first Bishop of
the East Angles, is said to have founded a monastery
here, which he made the seat of his diocese, prior to
the removal of the see to Dunwich, and where his remains
were interred, they were afterwards taken up and
conveyed to Romney abbey, when the cathedral church
was erected by Luttingus, a Saxon nobleman. This
building, as well as the bishop's palace, was destroyed
by fire, and the monks, who at that time were a nourishing
society, were killed by the Danish army under
the command of Inguar and Ubba, in 870. Before the
draining of the fens, here was a large lake, or mere, over
which was anciently a dangerous passage by water to
Ely, but it was subsequently rendered more safe by the
construction of a causeway through the marshes, at the
expense" of Hervey, Bishop of Ely. The town is situated
on the east bank of the river Cam, on the verge of
the county; the streets are irregularly built, and the
houses of mean appearance. Horticulture is carried on
to a considerable extent, especially in the article of asparagus
the dairies are abundant, and cheese of a most
excellent quality, and very similar to that of Stilton, is
made here. A market, formerly held on Thursday, has
been disused for more than a century; the present
market is on Saturday; fairs are held on May 9th, for
horses, cattle, and pedlary; and on the Monday before
Midsummer, which is a pleasure fair; another, formerly
held three days before Michaelmas, has been discontinued.
The living is a vicarage, with the chapel of Barraway,
in the archdeaconry of Sudbury, and diocese
of Norwich, rated in the king's books at £32. 16. 5.,
and in the patronage of the Master and Fellows of
Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. The church, which is de
dicated to St. Andrew, is a venerable cruciform structure,
with a lofty square embattled tower, visible
at a great distance; in the interior are several monuments.
There are places of worship for Baptists,
Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, and Unitarians.
The free school is endowed with the profits of an estate
of moor land allotted for that purpose on the division
of the commons, in 1685; the master's salary
is abput £50 per annum; poor children are apprenticed
from the same fund. Three almshouses were
founded for poor widows, in 1502, by Richard Bond;
and nine others, in 1581, by Thomas Peachey, but
neither has any endowment, excepting an allowance for
fuel. Some few vestiges of the ancient palace and
cathedral church are yet visible, and several human
bones were dug up at the east end of the street, near
the church, a few years ago.