Pondering... Council Tax - Easy To Pay, Not So Easy To Claim Help...

Pondering on Arbury... things that make us go hmm... on Arbury we do sit and ponder...

On the Arbury Estate, we archivists often think that the older we get, the more nonsensical life becomes. We decided we'd share a few of the things we find distinctly odd - and, sometimes, downright annoying...

It's odd that the Council takes our council tax from us, decade after decade, without once uttering 'PROVE YOU ARE WHO YOU SAY YOU ARE!', but as soon as somebody is ill and needs help paying, various forms of ID are needed... a passport? Chance would be a fine thing! A recent bank statement? But I was pressed to go paperless to save the planet - and you've been receiving payments from my bank account for over thirty years anyway - without question! My birth certificate? Yes, I have it - somewhere! But WHERE?! Shall I fork out for a new one?

These sort of nitpicking things can contribute greatly to stress at times of illness, as one of our Arbury Archivists is discovering.

Hmmm... oh well... here are some nice Arbury bits and bobs...

One of our favourite South Arbury views - the corner of Verulam Way, with the hump (sadly departed) and the hills and the Kingsway Flats.

The front of a Cambus ('It's Much Less Fuss!') timetable from 1987, listing the North Arbury to Cherry Hinton and Addenbrooke's Hospital routes.

A 1969 aerial view from South to North Arbury. The large supermarket building at Arbury Court and the Arbury Community Centre in Campkin Road were yet to be built. The community centre opened in 1974.

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What Did The Romans Ever Do for Arbury? Jim Smith

Our trusty old Arbury map showing location details before the Manor Farm was established. The red line, inserted by Jim Smith, indicates the course of the Roman road - Akeman Street or the Mere Way. The land north of Arbury Road was the Arbury or Harborough Meadows, Arbury/Harborough furlongs and Arbury Camp, King's Hedges was in its original position, north of the railway (now guided busway) and Arbury Road ran from the Ely/Milton Road to the Histon/Cambridge Road - as it did until the late 1970s. Introduction - by the Arbury Archivists Jim Smith is a local history researcher and a good friend of the Arbury Cambridge Blog. He has been researching Roman finds in the historic Arbury area and has written this article for us. We are most grateful! He follows the adventures of those who scraped away centuries of soil to reveal ancient findings beneath. Of course, as always, we deal with historic Arbury here, not council planners' estates or electoral wards, which are both prone to

Main Streets of Arbury: Campkin Road - Part 1

Left: work begins on Campkin Road in 1961. Numbers 1 and 2 Manor Farm Cottages have been demolished, but the intention is to preserve the old trees lining the old Manor Farm Drive. Right: a similar view in more modern times, with the Arbury Town Park and Campkin Road. In 1982, Campkin Road was described as the 'Hauptstrasse of North Arbury' by local journalist Sara Payne. Ms Payne's Down Your Street local history articles in the Cambridge Weekly News were hugely popular and, for each one, Ms Payne visited a street in Cambridge and talked to the residents, collecting their memories for publication and producing a fascinating series of 'Then and Now' style articles. Down Your Street followed in the footsteps of a similar series in the local press in the early 1960s - by Erica Dimmock - and both now make fascinating reading. We're starting our look at Campkin Road with material from the 'Arbury 1980' project and accounts from locals contributed to t

Exploring The REAL King's Hedges...

The Cambridge and St Ives Branch railway line is now the Guided Busway. Where was King's Hedges historically? How did the name come about? Why is the majority of King's Hedges Road no more historic than late 1970s - and nothing to do with the course of the original road? What have council planners of the 1960s and 1970s and the needs of motorists got to do with the King's Hedges presence in the historic Arbury district? All will be revealed... We're going to leave Arbury briefly and go to King's Hedges. No, not King's Hedges Ward - that area is, in reality, one of the most Arbury of Arbury areas in Cambridge historically, but the REAL King's Hedges. North of the Guided Busway. You see, the land north of Arbury Road is the site of the Arbury Camp, the Arbury/Harborough (a variation on the Arbury name) Meadows and the Arbury fields of Manor Farm. It has absolutely nothing to do with King's Hedges at all. And King's Hedges was never a district. Land no

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