The Reverend Francis Fulford was appointed Rector of Croydon-cum-Clopton in Cambridgeshire in July 1841, remaining in that parish for four years. In January 1943 he began to compile a list of inhabitants adding their ages, occupations, literacy and church attendance as well as some 'off the cuff' comments. The notebook - a ‘Speculum Gregis’ - or ‘Mirror to the Flock’ - was updated by his successor, the Reverend R S B Sandilands until 1848, when it was put away with other parish documents, and eventually after the departure of the last resident Rector, was deposited in the Cambridgeshire Record Office (P 53/1/11).

A transcription of the ‘Speculum Gregis’ was published as ‘The Rector and his Flock’ in 1980 by David Ellison and Bassingbourn Booklets.

This new updated and corrected online version of the Speculum Gregis’ has the original Fulford preface, the Ellison introduction, a new transcription (both basic and annotated), additional genealogical information, a detailed alphabetical index of names, and background material on the Reverend Francis Fulford, the village Rector who went on to become the first Bishop of Montreal in Canada.

All Saints is a small gem amongst parish churches. Tucked away on the hill above the village of Croydon, parts of the structure date back some seven hundred years to the early 14th century. The interior walls and ceiling are simple plain lime-wash with little decoration and few monuments.

The Revd Francis Fulford and his 'Speculum Gregis' congregation would probably feel completely at home in the church as it exists today. Perhaps the only obvious change to them would be the stained glass in the Chancel windows, installed as a memorial to the Revd Sandilands and his family in the 1860s.

The vault beneath All Saints contains the remains of members of the Downing Family who founded Downing College in Cambridge and who gave their name to Downing Street.