Staine Hundred
Mrs Donna Martin gave an enthusiastic talk about her research in to the history
of "Soham and its Abbey" at the April meeting of the Staine Hundred
Local History Society. Beginning with prehistoric times, she said that by Roman
times it was an important trading station along the Colchester/Lincoln route,
at a crossroads with a causeway from Barway giving a safe route from Cambridge
to Ely across the treacherous fens.
St Felix, a French monk from Canterbury set up an Abbey in 634 with a large centre of education so that in those days it was more important than Ely or Cambridge. In fact she claimed that it was the second largest centre of Christianity in England at that time. St Felix was buried at Soham which therefore became a centre of pilgrimage. The Danes were able to sail from the North Sea up to Soham where they knocked down and burnt the Abbey but it was built up again later. It is known that there were Bishops of Soham and some of their gravestones have been found face down near the existing church, which is believed to be on or close to the Abbey Church site.
The relics of St Felix were removed by boat but disappeared whilst on their way to Ramsey Abbey. Mrs Martin felt there has been a conspiracy to deny the Soham Abbey its rightful place in history, especially after the building of the monastic buildings at Ely. There is no existing entry for Soham in the Domesday Book. The church was remodelled in 1405 and the new tower was built from material from other remains of monastic buildings. She spoke of underground tunnels from the church. She is still working on her theories but recent archaeological evidence do support them.
She was thanked by the Chairman, Maureen Rogers.