Guyhirn

According to A Dictionary of British Place Names, Guyhirn, which was 'La Gyerne' in 1275, derives from the Old French 'guie', which means "a guide" (referencing the control of tidal flow or a "salt-water ditch"), with the Old English 'hyrne', which means an "angle or corner of land".[1]

According to folklore, recorded in the early nineteenth century, Guyhirn was the site of "a severe engagement between a Saxon King and the abbot of Ely... the legend informs us that 5000 men were brought into the field... it arose from disputes respecting the boundaries of property."[2]

The village is on the opposite bank of the River Nene to Ring's End where John Morton, Bishop of Ely, erected a tower house to oversee his new drain, Morton's Leam, one of the oldest fenland drains, in the late fifteenth century.[3][4]

Guyhirne railway station on the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway was opened in 1867. The railway required the building of the first bridge across Morton's Leam and the River Nene at Guyhirn. The railway bridge incorporated a foot bridge, which allowed free passage between Guyhirn and Ring's End.

The first road bridge across the River Nene at Guyhirn was opened in 1926.[5]

Chapel of Ease, Guyhirn

The first chapel in Guyhirn originated in a chantry founded in 1337 by John de Reddik.[6]

Between the seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries, Guyhirn was home to a sect of religious dissenters known as the Culymites. They were named after their founder, David Culy, the son of a Huguenot family[7] who had moved to Guyhirn, and who became known as the 'Bishop of Guyhirn'. Their beliefs were said to differ little from those of Anabaptists.[8] It was recorded that "most of the inhabitants of [Guyhirn] became his followers, and many also from Whittlesea, Wisbech St. Mary's, Outwell and Upwell"[9] has been estimated that his followers came to number more than 700.[10]

A Methodist Chapel was built in 1849 and rebuilt in 1868 by the Primitive Methodists with pews for 147 worshipers. This building has been demolished.[11]

The parish church of St Mary Magdalene was built in 1878, by architect George Gilbert Scott.[12][13] Since 31 October 1983 it has been designated a Grade II listed building.[14] Now a redundant church, it was put for sale in 2018 for £75,000.[15]

Guyhirn Puritan Chapel, also known as Guyhirn Old Church, or the Chapel of Ease, is a small rectangular building constructed of brick and Barnack stone, with five windows of clear leaded glass set in stone mullions. Designed at the end of the Cromwellian Commonwealth, it was not completed until 1660 when the Restoration had returned Anglicanism as the official religious observance and because of this the Chapel was probably never consecrated. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, and the 'Friends of the Guyhirn Chapel of Ease' formed in 1973 under the presidency of Sir John Betjeman, and later, Edward Storey.[16][17][18]

Guyhirne railway station

Media related to Guyhirn at Wikimedia Commons