Ask Arbury and Arbury Postbag - 3: Arbury Court Enquiry, Arbury Camp - Fort or Village? The Manor School, Arbury Meadows, Arbury Is Where We Live! 'Yarrers', & Arbury Community Centre At 50.

Adventures at the Arbury Adventure Playground on the Nuns Way playing field in the mid-1970s.

We're going to share a few more of our recent comments and queries. All questions receive answers via email or blog comments, so if you're wondering about anything regarding the historic Arbury area (Gilbert Road to King's Hedges Road, and Orchard Park) please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Beginning with an enquiry which readers might be able to help with:

Trying to find information on a shop that I believe my Grandmother owned in Arbury court in the early days (Late 50s/60s) her name was Jane Norman - haven’t been able to find anything on line so far - thought you might be able to help😊

We have much Arbury material here, but so far have found nothing. Does anybody out there have any information?

And now, some ancient history. Paul W has written:

Very interesting site and I wonder was Arbury a village or a fort?

We're delving into modern archaeological findings (thanks to Jim Smith for some fascinating material on the subject), and it seems that it may well have been a fort. Certainly the earthwork road in Orchard Park (originally Arbury Park, and, before that, Arbury Camp Farm) is called Ring Fort Road. We'll publish more on this soon. Part of the Arbury earthwork outline is included in Ring Fort Road. This is very obvious from the air, which we think is wonderful. The outline marks the oldest known habitation in the district and the origin of the Arbury name.

A landscape feature from the iron age onwards, the remaining section of the earthwork has been incorporated into the layout of the Orchard Park (originally Arbury Park) development.

Ms S has written:

Cheers 4 featuring more about the Manor. It's amazing that we were into the environmental issues even back in the 1980s. I agree with you that the last photo looks very modern. I love the fact that the Manor name went back to the old farm and your stuff about the Arbury Meadows. I live in Northfield Avenue so I'm in those meadows! My favourite teachers were Mrs New, Mr Daw, Mr Radcliffe and Mrs Bowyer.

Thanks, Ms S. Those teachers' names bring back memories to more than one of us! Yes, the Arbury Meadows covered most of the land north of Arbury Road, together with the North Arbury Furlong (up by the original King's Hedges Road farm track), Arbury Furlong and West Arbury Corner by Milton Road. Andy's great-great and great-grandparents lived at the Manor Farm from the 1880s to the 1920s, and his great-grandfather continued to farm a smallholding there until his death in 1941.

"Preferred Pronouns: Large Person/The One" has written:

When you wrote about Yarrows, which had branches in South and North Arbury, being pronounced 'Yarrers' you took me right back there in my mind. It was a good feeling. I'm cheesed off with people being snobby about Arbury or calling it 'North Cambridge' or 'King's Hedges'. It's strange because Chesterton doesn't seem to be included in 'North Cambridge', yet Arbury history predates it. It's great to see somebody takes the history of the Arbury seriously. Not every district boasts an iron age settlement and a name derived from it.

Very true, Preferred Pronouns. Thanks for writing. Andy spent about four hundred years searching through the newspaper archives at the wonderful Cambridgeshire Collection for Arbury references in the decades before online newspaper archives (which are wonderful too). Here is a 1972 ad for 'Yarrers', Carlton Way, South Arbury, branch from 1972.

Sarah writes:

I was a pupil at King's Hedges School when Arbury Is Where We Live happened. I wrote about the Arbury Carnival. It didn't get in the book, but was in the exhibition at the Manor School. I remember Arbury Adventure Playground at Nuns Way. The bloke that ran it had loads of patience and I always remembered him when I was bringing my kids up!

Thanks for writing, Sarah. The Arbury 1980 project and the 1981 book were wonderful community projects, bringing young and... er, not so young together! Sallie Purkis was brilliant.

Jaz says:

Fab to read about Councillor Alex Collis on here. One of the best North Arbury/"King's Hedges" councillors ever!

Lovely - very interested in the Arbury district as a real place with a history, and also down to earth and 'of the people'.

Arbury Boy has written:

Remember that the Arbury Community Centre is 50 this year. It would never of happened without the residents' effort.

We do! Terrific effort then - and continued terrific effort over all these years - has kept the Centre going as a real centre for the community. Our thanks to all those involved.

And finally, Mrs White has written:

May I just express my appreciation of your articles about Old Arbury from the transcribed conversations of people in the area years ago? They give a link to ways and days now long gone and the people that lived here then. I think they are wonderful.

Thank you very much, Mrs White. The articles are very popular and their origins go back to the Arbury 1980 project and the 1981 Arbury Is Where We Live! book, which inspired Andy to start the Arbury Archive. Some links to the articles: Mrs Hinchcliffe: here; Mrs Wiles: here; Mr Cardinal: here.

More soon!

Comments

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

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. It was

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 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. 'Cambridge Weekly News', 1982. 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

Manor School Memories Part 1

The Manor School on Arbury Road was one of the main focuses of life for North and South Arbury for decades. With its evening classes and youth centre, and various community activities - like the annual Christmas party for the elderly and the annual school play in the 1980s ( Annie Get Your Gun and Dracula Spectacular spring to mind) - the Manor opened as separate boys' and girls' schools in 1959 (the girls had to share the boys' buildings at first as their own were still under construction). The school later became co-ed. An aerial view of t he Manor Schools - Boys' and Girls', around 1960, with a section of Arbury Road and Arbury Court. Note Arbury Court was yet to gain its library and large supermarket building, and Campkin Road was still the Manor Farm Drive. The side of the Manor School 'new block', built in the early 1970s, the tower block and boys' gym beyond. The school was built in the Park Meadow of the old Manor Farm - which is how the &

Arbury Court - Part Of The 'Centre' Of The Original Arbury Estate...

A view across Arbury Court, looking towards Arbury Road, in 1976. Arbury Court is part of the 'centre' of the original Arbury Estate in Cambridge. The Court, with its pub, supermarket, hardware store and post office, chip shop, newsagent, TV shop, greengrocer, hairdresser, chemist, supermarket and branch library, is part of the 'hub' of the estate. The historic Arbury district. The Arbury or Harborough (the names were variations on each other and interchangeable) Meadows covered most of the land north of Arbury Road. The road ran from Milton Road to the Histon/Cambridge Road until the late 1970s. The Manor Farm was formed in the years following the 1840 Chesterton Enclosures. Orchard Park (originally Arbury Park and, before that, Arbury Camp Farm) features the outline of part of the Arbury prehistoric settlement at Ring Fort Road. We've inserted the sites of Arbury Court, the Guided Busway and Campkin Road. Arbury Road marks the boundary of North and South Arbury, a

Arbury Archaeology and History: Part 1

Imagine an iron age settlement. It is surrounded by a circular earthwork. People live here. There are houses, and pens for animals within the enclosure. Until recent years, it was not believed to be a fort. The settlement is larger than some, but believed to be very much the equivalent of what we now call a village - the earthwork simply to defend it from wolves and animal thieves. The earthwork is filled with water, and reeds and rushes grow there. Despite the naming of the Arbury earthwork as 'Ring Fort Road' in the Arbury Camp Farm Arbury/Orchard Park development, the original height of the earthwork and its enclosed area were not believed to indicate that Arbury was a fort (compare to Wandlebury), and the findings of archaeologists from Cambridge and London from the early 1960s to 1970 discounted the notion. Comment from Arbury Camp, Cambridge, A Preliminary Report on Excavations - by John Alexander and David Trump, 1970: The excavations therefore tend to confirm earlier s

Ask Arbury: The Roman Villa in Arbury

E-mail to Arbury Cambridge blog: Was a Roman villa found at King's Hedges? I recently saw an outside display in North Arbury/King's Hedges Ward called 'The Roman Landscape in King's Hedges' which claims there was one. And is King's Hedges Road Roman? We've seen that display. Electoral wards are not historic areas and local historians really do need to be mindful of that fact. The answer to your questions regarding the Roman villa and King's Hedges Road is no. The Roman villa was found on the site of King's Hedges School, which is not part of the historic King's Hedges acres. Historically, King's Hedges was simply a named property, a farm, of fifty eight acres, and is now north of the guided busway. It was never a district. King's Hedges School is dearly loved by many of us and we treasure it, but those in the know accept it's not actually in any historically meaningful King's Hedges district, and the site it was built on ha

Manor School Memories - Part 2

Lads from the Manor Boys' School in 1960. D. Claton, M. Farrow, R. Mitchell, C. Peck, I. Skeels, R. Potter and G. Paine are present. Do any readers remember who is who? School's back in - Manor School/Community College on Arbury Road that is (now North Cambridge Academy). Here is the second part of our series on Manor Memories - Part 1 is here . Pupils' foreign holiday, 1960: the first Manor girls to go on a joint foreign holiday with Manor boys: G. Anderson, J. Barnes, C. Blackwell, H. Brown, S. Budd, L. Carter, A. Clarke, L. Doggett, C. Doughty, P. Drake, S. Hardy, E. Harradine, B. Kaspar, D. Miller, J. Parker, L. Phillips, J. Reeves, J. Spencer, J. Symonds, with headmistress Mrs Firman. Note the Manor Schools' caretaker's house can be seen in the background, and the trees of the old Manor Farm orchard. October 1960, and here is a view of the Manor Boys' and Girls' schools from the car park at the Snow Cat public house (now the Cambridge Gurdwara). A view

What Arbury Means To You...

We thought it would be good to invite comments (or emails - arburyestate@btinternet.com) from readers about what Arbury means to you. Of course, many have already made their views plain on here, but we like the idea of a dedicated blog post. Please be aware that we are referring to the original Arbury area here, the area between Gilbert Road and King's Hedges Road, not modern electoral wards/misnamed apparently 'separate' housing estates. From 'Arbury is Where We Live!' (1981): Community action has always been important in Arbury. The first Arbury community groups were formed with the building of South Arbury in the 1950s, and North Arbury has seen many fantastic community efforts - resulting in the likes of the Arbury Adventure Playground, Arbury Carnival, Arbury Community Centre and the Arbury Town Park. So, what does Arbury mean to YOU? How long have you lived here? Are you interested in Arbury history? What do you like about Arbury? What do you dislike? What mak

Arbury Snippets Part 4: Arbury Terrace, Arbury Hedges, 19th Century Pugilists, Hunting & Escaped Prisoners At The Real King's Hedges And Suspects On The Arbury Meadows...

We've superimposed the old Arbury Meadows, Furlongs and Corner onto a 1900 map. Remember, the Manor Farm, which covered most of North Arbury (or the Council's inappropriately named 'King's Hedges Ward'), did not exist before the 1840s. Our 1900 map also features the details from the 1840 enclosures map. The names Arbury and Harborough were variations on each other and interchangeable. Whilst the 1840 enclosures map used the 'Harborough' form, an 1839 newspaper article (featured) used the 'Arbury' form. During the late 1800s, the 'Harborough' form all but disappeared. The Arbury name is derived from the Old English for 'earthwork', the earthwork surrounding the iron age settlement at Arbury Camp Farm (now Orchard Park, originally Arbury Park). The earthwork, or at least part of it, was a landscape feature for around 2000 years, and the part of the outline seen on this map is incorporated into the design of Ring Fort Road. Arbury was. f

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