Chivers Marmalade

Victoria House, Water Lane, Histon

History of Victoria House

From Histon and Impington PCC:

In 1806, a thatched farmhouse belonging to the Impington Hall estate stood on the Little and Great Dole site. By 1841, it was occupied by Morley Muncey, his wife Elizabeth and nine children. In the late 1870s, the Muncey family agreed with Stephen Chivers to exchange their farmhouse and surrounding land for property elsewhere in the village. Stephen demolished the farmhouse and went on to build Victoria House, together with two pairs of brick cottages on The Dole and later, around1900, three pairs of brick cottages on Water Lane. Over the next thirty years, he transformed Little Dole field into a fine Victorian garden with lawns, beech hedges, stands of sweet chestnuts, conifers from North America and oriental planes, reputed to be the second oldest plantings in the county. Even before the Chivers’ time, the garden contained mature trees. Large roots would trip the unwary, as they made their way home after dark.

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1891 Water Lane, Victoria House [see maps above]

Stephen Chivers, 67, farmer and gardener, b Histon

Rebecca, 64, b Waterbeach

John, 35, jam manufacturer,  b Histon

Esther, 31, b Histon

Rebecca, 26, b Histon

Louisa, 19, b Histon

Agnes Rogers, servant, 20, b Fen Drayton

In 1881 the Chivers were living in Broad Lane.

In 1926 Rebecca was living at 21 Luard Road

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Homefield Park was developed in the late 20th century following the purchase by the parish councils for land that had once belonged to the Chivers families where ‘Victoria House’ and ‘Homefield’ had stood.

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See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chivers_and_Sons