We love receiving your enquiries, but please remember our Arbury Cambridge YouTube video, which answers a lot of questions about the historic Arbury district. There are more videos in the pipeline (this was our very first effort, so please forgive any rough edges!) but if the historic Arbury district interests you, we think you'll find the video useful. From the iron age site to the Carlton Arms, from the Roman settlement to Arbury Court, from the Arbury Community Centre to the Arbury Adventure Playground, from Manor Farm to Campkin Road - it's all there...

Debbie gazing out at Colonel Bennett's Manor Farmhouse trees from the Arbury Town Park in Campkin Road. The story so far.. . Intrepid Arbury Archivists Andy and Debs (Debs in her wheelchair) have gone out exploring Arbury in September, 2022. They have rediscovered the old Manor Farm cowshed, given up searching for the old Manor Nurseries gate columns in the Arbury Road hedgerow, had a breather in Arbury Town Park, enjoyed the view of the old Manor Farmhouse trees, and been to look at the modern day contents of the old Arbury Field. Then they moved over to South Arbury, where they assessed the 'Arbury history' display at Arbury Court. Now, READ ON! Having to miss out the North Arbury Chapel, The Ship public house and the Arbury Kebab van in Cameron Road, and the Nun's Way field, site of the legendary Arbury Adventure Playground, was a pain, but with only so much energy to spare, our heroes made some time for the original South Arbury Estate. Although time (and lack of en...

                       Photograph from Sara Payne's 1981 'Down Your Street' article - the Kingsway Flats. The photograph was taken by the 'Hump' and the seats on the corner of Verulam Way. The seats were let into the low wall, facing the hills and the flats. They were removed sometime around the late 1990s/early 21st century. The South Arbury 'Hump'... North Arbury had the Arbury Adventure Playground on the Nuns Way playing field, the Arbury Town Park and the Arbury Community Centre in Campkin Road. South Arbury couldn't really compete with those. But the children of the South did have the Hump, the seats, the Kingsway hills and the Kingsway blocks to play on, as well as St Alban's and Arbury Court recs. The hump is fondly remembered for being an exciting bike ride - and for being an excellent place to kick up dust - fascinating play for many children back in the '60s, '70s and '80s. The Hump was bricked in circa 2008. Some of ...

So, via Sara Payne's Down Your Street visit to Carlton Way in 1981, our own memories, and our (mostly previously unpublished) transcripts from the Arbury 1980 project, we're back in the original South Arbury's main street for a further look at its history. Carlton Way did not, of course, arrive all at the same time. While Arbury School opened in 1956, the Carlton Arms public house wasn't built until the late 1950s, for instance. It opened in 1959 - complete with its cosy off licence. Happy memories from years gone by of being taken to the Carlton Arms off licence to buy crisps and fizzy pop on summer evenings in the late 1960s, and also to return Gran and Grandad's Guinness bottles to get the deposit back for 'sweeties' a few years later, make one of our Arbury Archivists go 'all misty-eyed' over this picture. The Carlton Terrace shops were a 1960s innovation. Looking back to the 1970s days of Dean's, Blackwell's, Yarrow's (Yarrer's...

An enquiry from Ray: I find this blog a great resource. I have some ideas and will email you again ASAP. In the meantime I have a question. My Nan, who died six years ago, used to speak about going to an off licence in South Arbury when she was a young woman many years ago, and I don't think it was in the Carlton Terrace shops. Have you any idea where it was? Answer: Hello, Ray! Thanks for getting in touch. Quite right about Carlton Terrace - there was no off licence there years ago, but there was one at the Carlton Arms. It was through a door between the bay windows at the front of the pub. It had a lovely bell 'ting' as you entered - very full and melodic! One of us Arbury Archivers remembers being taken there by his mother in the late 1960s/early 1970s to buy fizzy pop, crisps, and something for Mum. He used to wonder where the person behind the counter used to appear from, not realising that the pub's bars were connected and the person was working behind them. Our ...