Until the mid 19th century the appointment of a rector for Littlebury was in the gift of the Bishop of Ely, a relic of the time when the bishopric had owned the manor of Littlebury. The office of rector was a sinecure; that is, the holder drew an income from lands in the parish (Rectory Farm, now known as The Old Rectory, to the north of Littlebury village on the east side of the road to Little Chesterford) but was not tasked with any actual parish duties at all. These were instead performed by a vicar appointed by the rector and paid a fixed salary by him and a curate often assisted the vicar. The former vicarage now forms two dwellings: North House and South House, a 16th century timber-framed building next to the church with a mid-19th century rear extension built to house Rev. Wix’s large family.
The list of vicars and dates below is drawn from a number of sources, notably Richard Newcourt’s ‘Repertorium’ of 1710. These articles are based on material from ‘Littlebury: A Parish History’ where some of the vicars are covered in more detail.
Gillian Williamson
1285 Roger Garton
Thomas de Soham
1331 Roger de Sovekyn
1339 John Kyng
1361 John Sad
1400 Thomas Bryan
John George
1434 Thomas Caly
1438 William Breenge
1462 John Everard
1486 Reginald Haselbeche
1504 William Robinson
1516 John Ashwell
1541 Richard Wilkes
1544 Thomas Cottesford
1553 Richard Clapham
1557 Christopher Bland
William Broughton
1570 John Hellie
1596 John Hutton
1615 Richard Parker
1629 Henry Tucker
1648 – 1656 Vicars of the Commonwealth period
1648 Henry Prime
1650 Return states ‘no settled minister’
1656 Isaac Wells (Presented by the Protector)
1660 Henry Tucker
1667 John Hammond
1669 John Baldock
1671 Richard Bainbrigg
1673 John Bennet
1692 Will Kilbourne
1743 John Taylor
1760 James Hicks
1761 William Gretton
1813 Henry Bull
1840 Joseph Wix
1889 Ernest Edgerley
1936 A. Goodhart
1945 Philip Wright
1955 C. P. Newton
1960 Canon Griffin
1965 John West
1974 John Pratt
1979 Ian Coomber
1983 Richard Carlill
1990 Shamus Williams
2000 Laurie Bond
2004 Michael Lovegrove
2008 Christopher Warren
2014 Jeremy Parsons
2017 Interregnum
2018 Alex Jeewan