At Over every feature of the church is noteworthy. It is entirely built of Barnack stone, richly ornamented externally with running ball-flower patterns. The southern porch is beautifully proportioned, and the gargoyles extraordinary specimens of birds and beasts, apparently under the same inspiration as the Swavesey finials. Over the west door is a sculpture (almost weathered out of knowledge) of Our Lady in Glory, a very rare subject; also the arms of Ramsey Abbey, to which the benefice was presented by Ednoth, Bishop of Dorchester, who lies buried in Bishop West's chapel at Ely.[198] The tracery in general is Decorated, but the spire rises from an Early English tower, and the chancel is also Early English, with inserted Perpendicular windows. The Sanctus Bell[199] still hangs over the eastern gable of the nave. The interior woodwork is of the best, the roof is Decorated, and there is an exceptionally good sixteenth century pulpit. The arcading above the windows of the south aisle, with its banded Early English shafts, is another beautiful feature here. On some of the churchyard tombstones wall-rue may be found growing, a rare sight in this neighbourhood. From Over a lane leads on, crossing the Hundred Foot Bank to Overcote, that fascinating Ferry Inn upon the Ouse whose charms have already been dwelt upon.
Formerly, as we have said, the regular road from Cambridge to Ely was by way of the Causeway at Aldreth. But this roundabout route of over twenty miles compared unfavourably with the shorter line taken by the Cam, which was accordingly the favourite for such as could afford boat-hire. In the eighteenth century regular packet-boats ran daily between the two places, drawn by horses. To-day the only passengers on the river are pleasure-seekers, and the ordinary way to Ely from Cambridge is by the road supposed to represent the hypothetical Akeman Street of Roman days.[200] This road turns northwards round Magdalene College, and runs through the suburb of New Chesterton. Old Chesterton stands on the river, east of the road, and has a finely-proportioned steeple, with particularly melodious bells, and a slender spire. At this point is the winning-post of the College boat races.[201] On the opposite bank, a mile lower down the stream, is Fen Ditton, the "Ditch End" where the Fleam Dyke strikes the river.[202] Ditton Corner, just beneath the parish church, is the favourite spot for seeing these races, as it commands a view of two long reaches, and is also (as a bend in the stream must needs be) a highly probable spot for bumps.
Leaving these to the right, we reach Milton, whence the poet's family name is said to be derived, and where the church has seventeenth century altar rails, a very rare possession. Just opposite, with a ferry between, is Horningsea, where there is another good church. Between this and Fen Ditton is an ancient building, now used for farm purposes, which the Ordnance Map marks as "Biggin Abbey." An abbey, however, it never was, being only one (and the smallest) of the many scattered mansions of the Abbot and Bishop of Ely. On the stream beside it is Baitsbite Lock, the starting-point of the boat races. Here along the towing path may be seen the posts, set at regular intervals on the brink of the stream, to which each boat is moored by the "starting cord" held in the coxswain's[203] hand. He must not let it go till the gun is fired. Thrilling moments pass while he counts aloud the last seconds—"five ... four ... three ... two ... one," and the muscles of the crew grow ever tenser, till, at the signal, he flings the cord into the water, and every oar strains its utmost in the first stroke.
Swavesey.
The next lock is Clayhithe, two miles further down the river, with an inn beside it in special favour for Cambridge boating pic-nics. Here, too, is the lowest bridge over the Cam, indeed the only one below Cambridge. It belongs to a private company, and is rigorously tolled. A pretty shady lane leads to it from Horningsea. Hard by, on the left bank, are the villages of Waterbeach and Landbeach. They are respectively four and twelve furlongs from the stream, and mark successive boundaries of the fenland waters. Between them runs an ancient earthwork, the Car Dyke (probably of Roman date), which of old kept those waters in flood time from drowning the meadows to the south. Starting from the Cam at Clayhithe it runs along the whole western limit of the fenland. It reaches the Ouse near the large village of Cottenham (where the east window of the fourteenth century church is copied from one in Prior Crauden's Chapel at Ely) with over 2,000 inhabitants, and goes on past the tiny and picturesque Rampton, with under 200, to Willingham and Earith, Ramsey and Peterborough, Deeping and Sleaford; finally ending its long course on the banks of the far off Witham, hard by Lincoln.
