Stow-cum-Quy lies on the southern edge of the fens which stretch northwards to Lincolnshire. The fen edge was more hospitable to early man than the heavily wooded uplands to the south, or the undrained swamps to the north and artefacts from the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages have been unearthed within the parish.
Roman
In Roman times there was a string of Roman Villas along the 20ft contour line just above the fen edge, including a villa just to the west of the present Quy Hall. The amount of Roman pottery and tiles found in nearby fields suggests it controlled a number of smaller farmsteads built quite close to it.
Anglo-Saxon
During Anglo-Saxon times villages grew up and parish boundaries were established. Parishes in this part of the county were long and narrow stretching from the fens to the Icknield Way (now the A11) as this gave access to wood from the uplands, thatching from the fens and fertile local soil. What is now Stow-cum-Quy was originally the northern part of the Wilbrahams, but this changed during Saxon times and two settlements grew up, aligned from north to south, one at Stow and one at Quy, each with its own manor. There was a third manor in what is now Quy Park. The combined population would have been less than 100.
Conquest
William the Conqueror gave both Quy and Stow manors to the Norman Sheriff, Picot, a harsh man whe resided at Cambridge Castle. He cut the links between Stow Manor and Ramsey Abbey and between Quy Manor and Ely so that he could claim the tithes. The open field system of farming, already in existence in Saxon times, was improved to give three large open fields: Stow field, Town Field and Bradons field which survived until the Enclosure Award of 1840.
Middle Ages
The period from 1300 to 1500 here, as elsewhere, was a time of economical decline caused by plagues, worsening climatic conditions and failing prices. During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 John Saffrey and other Quy men attacked the homes and possessions of Poll Tax collectors in neighbouring villages and restored a widow to her farm from which she had been wrongly evicted. John Saffrey was the custodian of the Gild of Stow - a forerunner of the Benefit Societies - and though he was outlawed in 1382 he was again custodian in 1386.
Stow Manor
Stow Manor was the home of the Engayne family from 1184 to 1367. Successive John Engaynes appear as Members of Parliament 11 times between 1290 and 1415. The Engaynes rebuilt the Stow Church in 1340 but the estate was split up when Sir William Engayne died childless in 1367.
Quy Manor
Quy Manor continued in the hands of the Picot family and their descendants until 1433 when it passed to the Anstey family. It was bought from them in 1516 by the Cholmeley Family and sold on again at the end of the 16th century by the Lawrence family. The estate later passed to a grandson John Childe who carried out his grandfather's wishes to leave land to bring in money to be distributed to the Poor. The Childe's Charity still exists and money is given to widows and elderly people at Christmas through Trustees elected by the Parish Council.
Georgian Period
After the death of John Childe the estate was bought by Sir Paul Whichcote who was succeeded by his son Francis who became an MP (unopposed) in 1718 but lost his seat at the next election and sold the estate to a member of the Martin banking family. The Martins were largely absentee landlords and the estate was let to rich gentlemen who were interested in the shooting. However, James Martin came to live at Quy Hall when he retired in 1741 when he too became an unopposed MP but died shortly afterwards. The house was again let until the 1810s when Thomas Martin, the black sheep of the family who had been living it up in Paris, was virtually banished to Quy Hall.
Victorian
Thomas Martin's second wife was younger than his two daughters and her son James inherited the Quy estate in 1821 at the age of 15. It was some years before he took much interest in the estate and then mainly as a sporting gentleman. His wife opened the first school in Quy in 1847, engaging one of her ex-maids, a Welsh woman with four children, as the headmistress. James who was childless, sold on to Clement Francis, a Cambridge solicitor in 1854. He continued to spend the winter months at his house in Cambridge, partly because the 18th cnetury MP had made impressive reception rooms at the hall by raising the ceiling so that the bedrooms above them were only 1.4m high and unsuitable for Clement Francis' growing family. He commissioned the London architect William White who reluctantly agreed that little could be done without radical rebuilding and this was done in 1870. The Francis family continued to live at Quy Hall for successive generations until the death of Mrs Patricia Francis in 2000 and the Hall is now undergoing renovation.
Modern Times
The railway from Cambridge was opened in 1884 but finally closed in 1964 and the station is now used as offices by a firm of architects. A Wesleyan chapel built in 1840 was closed just after WW2 and later pulled down when the Wheatsheaf was enlarged. During the war the Tank Corps was based at Quy and the airfiled at Bottisham was an important base. The School closed in 1978 but is now used as the Village Hall, replacing the asbestos hut put up in 1920.
Local Publications
History of Quy Church