COVENEY
This page maintained by Tim Illingworth.
The Village In History
It is not mentioned in the Domesday book. The village sign says that
the first record is that in 1060, Leofflaed, whose husband and son
died in the disastrous battle of Ringmere against the Vikings in
1010, sent her daughter Aethelswyth to retire in Coveney with her
maids to work on weaving and embroidery.
A Bronze Age shield has been found at Coveney. Presumably this is now in a local museum.
The existing National School building, now a private house, bears the date 1874.
H A Ivatt, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Northern Railway between 1895 and 1911 and father of H G Ivatt, last CME of the LMS Railway, was brought up in the Rectory here, as his father was Rector from about 1852.
Some extracts from old documents follow - I found them on http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/CAM/Coveney/
COVENEY
Coveney parish, including the chapelry of Manea and the hamlet of
Wardy-hill, contains 8,420 acres ; its population is now about 1,600
souls. The amount of assessed property is £9,670. Among the
principal proprietors of the soil are the Earl of Hardwicke and Lord
Rokeby. The manor formed part of the ancient possessions of the
monks of Ely, and having been for some time wrongfully, withheld
from them, was recovered by Bishop Nigell, before the year 1169. It
does not appear when it came into lay hands, but Warren-de-Lisle
seized it in 1297 and it continued with his descendants for nearly a
century. It was afterwards successively in the families of Steward
and Drake, from the latter of which it passed in marriage to the
Robinsons, and it is now the property of Lord Rokeby, the lineal
descendant of the same family. Coveney stands on an eminence, about
five miles north-west from Ely, and four miles east from Sutton. The
church, dedicated to St. Peter, is a small ancient edifice, in which
are the old open benches of oak, some of which are richly carved. In
the chancel is a double piscina under a single arch. The living is a
rectory, with the curacy of Manea, rated in the king's books at
£5., but now returned at £809 nett per annum. The
patronage is invested in Lord Rokeby. The tithes were commuted in
1844, for a rent-charge of £231 12s. 3d., and there are 31
acres of glebe land. The celebrated Dr. Conyers Middleton was rector
of Coveney. Here is a chapel, capable of accommodating about 200,
appropriated to the use of a sect, calling themselves "Christian
Baptists." The National School, for both sexes, is a neat building
near the church.
[A BRIEF HISTORY OF ELY and neighbouring villages in the Isle by
J.H. Clements 1868]
Church History
"The church of St. Peter ad Vincula is a building of stone,
dating from the 13th century, and consisting of chancel, nave, south
porch and an embattled western tower containing one bell : in the
chancel is a trefoil-headed double piscina, and the north wall of
the nave contains an ancient stoup; the splendid reredos of carved
wood, presented by Athelstan Riley esq. is probably 15th century
North-German workmanship, and the central panel contains a
remarkably fine representation of the "Crucifixion, " the figure on
the rood was carved by peasants at Ober Ammergau : there are some
interesting, though rude, carved bench ends, dating from about 1400
: the pulpit, dated 1705, has paintings of Our Lord and the Four
Evangelists, and is of Danish origin. The church was restored in
1897, at a cost of £1,000 : a new rood screen, the design of
the Rev. C. F. G. Turner, rector 1892-1914, was erected, and the
roof, which had previously been thatched with reeds, was recovered
with grey Westmoreland slates. There are 160 sittings, free. The
register dates from the year 1676."
[Kelly's Directory - 1929]