The Old Vicarage, Thompson’s Lane

History of the Old Vicarage, Thompson's Lane

For a summary of the very complex land ownership history of this site see the entry on the Synagogue Site. T E Faber, who lived at this address for many years, wrote a comprehensive and very detailed history of the parish of St Clement’s (An Intimate History of the Parish of St Clement’s 1250-1950 pub. 2006).

1932 Mrs Maude Gray sold this house to Henry Kittridge, confectioner. The Kittridges added a first floor bow window to their house; after the war Mrs Kittridge let the top floor as a flat known as the Green Door which deserves mention as the place where some of the secrets of the structure of DNA were unravelled by Francis Crick and James Watson.

1959 Royal Commission on Historical Monuments Survey of Cambridge: has walls of plastered timber-framing and brick and tiled roofs. It was built in the 16th cent. and, despite minor changes in the 18th cent., retains much of its original form and character.

1913 St Clement’s Vicarage

Rev Edmund Gough de Salis Wood

1958 brick chimney stack reduced in height for safety reasons. Until 1958 there were still vestigial spikes on the ridge, intended to deter witches from landing on it (T E Faber).

1962 (1)

Thomas E Faber

Hubert Montague-Pollock (the Green Door)