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We organise a range of events, projects and activities around the city. These events are often run in partnership with local groups and organisations.

Events

Projects

Women's Health Project

The Women's Health Project, based in East Chesterton and Arbury, seeks to bring together the local community and health professionals to address health issues. Monthly lunches with speakers are organised.

There are no meetings at present due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Newsletters

The Chesterton News is published by a partnership group including various churches and community groups, and us. Visit the St Andrew's Church website to find out more and download the latest edition.

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We organise a range of events, projects and activities around the city. These events are often run in partnership with local groups and organisations. The Women's Health Project, based in East Chesterton and Arbury, seeks to bring together the local community and health professionals to address health issues.

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We campaign for a healthier, freer, cleaner city in a fair and sustainable Britain. We stand up for the environment, electoral reform and the common good.

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On-line/post-COVID Community involvement plan?

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History and memories of my life here - from George Perec 'I Remember'

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I moved to our current house in 1984 when the area was one of the cheapest in Cambridge because of poor infrastructure, large council house population and distance from the centre of Cambridge.

In the 1980s opposition to Margaret Thatcher's policies also motivated active local community groups of council house tenants, Traveller communities and Asian Communities. I was one of the founders of Fen Estate Residents Association (FERA) that successfully fought against Tory plans to build a main Cambridge artery road past our house that would divide the community in two. This led to defeat of the Tories as city and county councillors of the area from which they have never recovered. Council elections ever since have been between Labour (generally the majority), Lib Dems and more recently green candidates.

In 1990s after birth of children I was less politically active because of juggling work and family commitments. But I was involved with more 'family-friendly' activities with the allotment society, and bringing together local wildlife, conservation and political activists to form the Bramblefield Nature Reserve.

From 2000s onwards no longer involved in local issues to focus on my international work and growing family.

This project is part of a reflective re-engagement with local issues. Laying a basis for locally useful and relevant visual communication work and becoming more directly involved in 2023 when I hope Covid-19 vulnerabilities will have ended.

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Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

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In Chesterton, there's a little bit of everything. Good schools and a more village-y feel than the city centre mean that it's attractive for families, but with modern riverside flats, yoga, and trendy brunch spots, it's increasingly home to young professionals.

As areas like Mitcham's Corner - just a 20-minute walk from the centre of Cambridge - are undergoing regeneration, it's the perfect time to start looking for a home in this up-and-coming area of the city.
Schools
If you're a family with young children, relocating to Chesterton means being near a wide range of educational facilities.

Chesterton Community College, which has an outstanding Ofsted rating, is located in West Chesterton, while Castle School (which picked up an award at the Cambridge News & Media Education Awards earlier this year) is nearby.

In terms of perfect primary schools, you can find Milton Road Primary School in West Chesterton, while over in East Chesterton, you'll find CATS College Shirley Community Primary School, Chesterton Primary School and Chestnut Nursery.

For extra-curricular educational facilities, Chesterton is also home to a ballet school.
Transport (bus rail, car etc)
Cambridge North train station is located just outside the council's ward map for the area, but for those in East Chesterton, it's just a stone's throw away.

For easy travel in to Cambridgeshire, the guided busway travels through Chesterton. There are numerous bus stops on Milton Road where you can hop on for a journey in to the city centre or on the scenic route towards St Ives.
Shopping
For high-end boutiques you might have to venture into the city centre, but foodies in Chesterton are sorted.

The Radmore Farm Shop on Mitcham's Corner has a huge selection of locally-grown food, meat that they've cured themselves and Cambridge-made products such as Hot Numbers Coffee. The shop has recently moved a few doors from its old location and had a trendy new redesign.

Meanwhile, on Chesterton Road, popular café Stir has branched out into baked goods. You can visit the Stir Bakery for sourdough, patisserie and more.

And Thirsty - another Chesterton Road fixture - sells a huge range of top-quality wine and beer at a variety of price points.
Food and drink
New cafés are popping up left, right and centre in Chesterton at the moment.

We've already mentioned Stir, but Number 30 on Chesterton Road, which opened in July this year, is doing a roaring trade in breakfast and brownies.

The district is home to the city's popular vegan café Stem + Glory, which has proved such a hit it's about to open a second branch in the city centre.

If you're looking for something a little more traditional, there are plenty of great pubs in the area - try the Old Spring or the Green Dragon.

And for friendly service, reasonable prices and thick, vinegary chips, grab a takeaway from Viking Fish and Chips.
Employment
If you're looking for work, the Cambridge jobs centre can be found in East Chesterton.

Over in West Chesterton, the Cambridge Business Park (home to the BBC) and the Cambridge Innovation Park can be found, while the Science Park is so close to the area, we feel safe calling it an honorary part of Chesterton.
Getting active
If you feel like getting active, Chesterton is the place to go.

You'll find the Chesterton Sports Centre over in West Chesterton, while in East Chesterton, there's the Cambridge Golf Driving Range.

Yogis aren't left out, as the district is home to not one but two yoga studios. The Satyam Yoga Wellbeing Centre is in the district's Hawthorn Way, while Camyoga has a studio at Mitcham's Corner.

And for the adventure-seeking, Cambridge Community Circus runs beginner's aerial classes at St George's Church on Chesterfield Road, off Milton Road. You can tone your muscles while learning how to perform amazing feats dangling in mid-air.

For those who'd rather stay with their feet firmly on the ground, the area is just across the River Cam from green spaces such as Midsummer Common and Stourbridge Common, making it easy to go for a scenic stroll.
Home prices
Chesterton is one of the most luxury neighbourhoods in Cambridge, with the average property selling over the past year being a terraced home at the average price £472,181, according to Rightmove.

This may put the average Chesterton property slightly above the average house price for the city as a whole (which hovers around the £450,000 mark, according to statistics), but the homes that are for sale are of the highest quality.

For cheaper accommodation, flats sold for an average of £277,704 and if you want to splash the cash, pick up a semi detached property at the average price of £518,941.

In short, everything from a suburban family home to a riverside apartment can be found in Chesterton.
What would you recommend in Chesterton?

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In Chesterton, there's a little bit of everything. Good schools and a more village-y feel than the city centre mean that it's attractive for families, but with modern riverside flats, yoga, and trendy brunch spots, it's increasingly home to young professionals.

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Origins and Early History: St Andrews Church

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Origins and Early History: St Andrews Church

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CHESTERTON, or Cestretone (the settlement by the Roman town) derives its name from its proximity to the Roman town of Cambridge which was built around what we now know as Castle Hill. The Normans built a castle on this hill, which came within the parish boundary.

it is impossible to state when there was first a church in Chesterton. There is no mention of a church in the Domesday Inquest, but this is no proof that one did not exist; in fact the Domesday Book states that "a priest has one virgate of land." It is probable that a church existed here in Norman times; we know the names of the Rectors from c.1200.

The Manor of Chesterton belonged to the King, and there was therefore no resident Lord of the Manor to give a lead to the village. The church was probably a subscription church, built by the effort of the villagers, like many other churches in East Anglia. The residents at that tine were chiefly villeins, or serfs, who worked for the Governor of the Castle.

In 1216, just before King John died, England seemed to be on the verge of civil war. To avoid this catastrophe the Pope sent to England as his legate, the Italian Cardinal Guala, to try to reconcile the contending parties, and pacify the Kingdom. His labours were successful, and on 8 November 1217, Henry III presented him, as a token of gratitude, with the church and living of Chesterton.

Cardinal Guala, of Vercelli, was a prominent figure in the history of his time. He was a member of a wealthy family in Vercelli (near Milan, in Northern Italy), and had already founded an abbey there. The abbey church he dedicated to St Andrew, to whom he was particularly devoted. He my have been responsible for the present dedication of our own church; but dedicating churches to St Andrew seems to have been a local fashion.

He presented Vercelli Abbey with his Chesterton property, and thus it came about that the Abbey became the Rector of this parish in 1218, and it held the benefice for over 200 years. A copy of Cardinal Guala's portrait hangs on the wall of the South aisle.

On 18 November 1218, the Cardinal instituted the priest Adam of Wissenbeach (or Wisbech) as 'perpetual vicar' of Chesterton (the first such appointment by Guala), who was succeeded by Stephen Rampton, who is generally thought of as being the first vicar.

The church was rebuilt in cruciform design about 1250 in the style known as Early English, the first form of Gothic to become established in this country. Of this building there remains only a small section of the chancel arch and parts of the East windows of the two aisles.

About 1330 a general rebuilding of the nave and aisles was begun the extension to its present length of the South aisle, the extension of the North aisle to form three bays, followed by the addition of the West tower and steeple.

In the middle of the 14th century a house was built for the priest on orders from Vercelli. This building remains to this day and is now called Chesterton. Tower", standing until several years ago in the present vicarage grounds, but now forming the centrepiece of a new housing development which bears its name. The Tower is of two storeys and, despite recent restoration, of considerable architectural interest. It is a rare survival of a dwelling for the representative in England of a foreign appropriator.

During the 15th century the chancel was rebuilt, the North aisle completed to its present length and the North porch and clerestory were added. (An account of the church in 1748 describes a South porch in addition to the North, but when this was built and when it was subsequently pulled down is not known, but it is likely that it was built at the same time as the North porch.)

The Canons of Vercelli seem to have found Chesterton a source of difficulty. As early as 1298 they had the King's assent to a project of transferring the church and land to the Minoresses of Waterbeach this, however, was not carried through. Later, in 1347, plans were put forward to grant it to Denny Abbey (near Waterbeach), and similarly in 1391 and 1392 to New College, Oxford, but these, too, were abandoned. Eventually, in 1436, Henry VI with the aid of Pope Eugenius IV seized the advowson from the Abbot and Convent of Vercelli and gave it to King's Hall, Cambridge (though this was not confirmed by the Bishop of Ely until 24 May 1450); thus two centuries of Italian 'rule' at Chesterton came to an end. King's Hall later became Trinity College, which is the patron today.

Efforts were made, however, by the Abbey to obtain restitution of the church in subsequent reigns. In the year 1480 a recommendation was made by the Pope to Henry VII that the land should be restored to the Abbey, which, however, was not accepted. A letter dated 24 May 1558 was sent by the Duke of Savoy to Queen Mary. In it he recommended to the Queen "the two religious persons who bear this letter for aid in regaining a benefice of St Andrew in the Diocese of Ely which by Royal gift and consent of all the Barons of the realm and the Prelate of the diocese was perpetually united to the monastery of St Andrew in the city of Vercelli and possessed by it for more than two hundred years. They beg her protection'. The Queen, who was closely connected to the Duke by family ties, would no doubt have given full consideration to this appeal had not her death on the 17 November of the same year intervened. This put an end to the negotiations and with the change of policy in Elizabeth I's reign they were never resumed.

A North vestry was built early in the 16th century (this was extended in 1934 to form two vestries). The chancel was restored in 1842 44, the spire in 1847 and a general restoration took place in the following years. A Cambridgeshire directory of 1851 mentions that the restoration of the South side of the church had just been completed (which possibly included the pulling down of the South porch). A further restoration of the exterior of the chancel, and the tower and spire was completed in 1968.

On 25 May 1668 Samuel Pepys visited Chesterton and wrote in his diary "...walked to Chesterton to see our old walk; and there into the Church, the bells ringing, and saw the place I used to sit in; and so to the ferry, and ferried over to the other side and walked with great pleasure, the river being mighty high by Barnwell Abbey; and so by Jesus College to the town..."

During the 18th century many of the vicars were Fellows of Trinity College, and as such lived in College. In 1803 Parliament passed an Act that insisted that all parish priests must reside in their own parishes. In c.1820 a vicarage was built on Church Street (now a private residence), since when all the vicars have lived in the parish.

Although the church has been restored considerably since it was first: built so that very little of the original building is left, it is wonderful to think that for 700 years our parish church has had a continuous existence and life.

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CHESTERTON, or Cestretone (the settlement by the Roman town) derives its name from its proximity to the Roman town of Cambridge which was built around what we now know as Castle Hill. The Normans built a castle on this hill, which came within the parish boundary.

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East Chesterton is a lovely ward to live in, with a friendly and diverse community and some great open spaces, including two nature reserves. There are a number of busy community centres, and plenty of opportunities for residents to get involved in what’s going on. The annual Chesterton Festival is always a great event, and we look forward to seeing it back once COVID is under control.

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East Chesterton - Cambridge Labour Party

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East Chesterton is a lovely ward to live in, with a friendly and diverse community and some great open spaces, including two nature reserves. There are a number of busy community centres, and plenty of opportunities for residents to get involved in what's going on.

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Chesterton: Cambridge Community Archive Network

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Chesterton: Cambridge Community Archive Network

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This is the website of one of the groups in the Cambridge Community Archive Network. Here you can browse through our collection of local historical material, which includes photos, old documents and the memories of local people.

Find out more about us or get in touch.

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This is the website of one of the groups in the Cambridge Community Archive Network. Here you can browse through our collection of local historical material, which includes photos, old documents and the memories of local people. Find out more about us or get in touch.

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Pages available:

Chesterton Hundred
Chesterton - Introduction
Chesterton - Manors and other estates
Chesterton - Economic history
Chesterton - Local government
Chesterton - Churches
Chesterton - Nonconformity
Chesterton - Education
Chesterton - Charities for the poor

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In the early decades of the 21st century it is not necessarily obvious to residents of the Hurst Park Estate how closely associated our area is with Chesterton village, from which we are divided by Milton Road and Elizabeth Way. But we live in an electoral division that bears the ancient name and in a set of streets that is right in the middle of the old parish. The residential centre, until enclosure in 1840, was around the church and High Street that are landmarks on our way to riverside walks, the Cambridge Museum of Technology or our new railway station. There are still some fine old buildings to be seen. The parish of Chesterton, however, stretched westwards all along the north bank of the river Cam to the castle (where the 19th-century inmates in Cambridge gaol, where Shire Hall is now, were counted in Chesterton censuses). It went beyond Histon Road as far as Huntingdon Road and had boundaries in the north-west with Girton and Impington, and in the north-east with Milton.
The extent of Chesterton in 1840: from Girton to Milton and from Cutter Ferry to King's Hedges, with modern features in 1980 (British History Online)
The Romans were in Chesterton: their camp was on Castle Hill by the road to Godmanchester. A villa and burials were found when housing was developed in and near Arbury Road in the 1950s.

Later, British History Online (BHO) tells us that Chesterton was part of an Anglo-Saxon royal vill (a medieval parish or manor) that spanned the river until it was established as a separate burh ( a fortified settlement) north of the Cam in the 8th century CE. The built up parts of it did not rejoin Cambridge until 1912, and some of Hurst Park not until 1935. Apart from the village itself, Chesterton was arable land, with three open fields (West, Middle and East) until enclosure in 1840.

Our research in the Cambridgeshire Archives revealed some intriguing correspondence that shows that enclosure might have coincided with a railway that would now be close to Highworth Avenue. On February 13, 1836, solicitors Bignold, Pulley and Moore, acting for the Great Northern Railway Company, wrote to H. R. Evans, Clerk to the Trustees of the Ely Turnpike:

We find today that you are the Clerk of the Trustees of the Ely Trust and observing that this intended Railway crosses the Trust road near Chesterton Town by Claydon Way - May we beg the favour of your writing us a few lines by return of mail stating whether you on behalf of the Trustees will assent or dissent or will be neutral as to the property of the trust to be affected by this Railway.

Two days later Mr Evans replied:

This Great Northern Railway is not the same company as that which was incorporated in 1846 and which built the East Coast Main Line. According to R. B. Fellows (Railways to Cambridge, Actual and Proposed, Oakwood Press, 1948) the route proposed in 1836 ran from Whitechapel in London via Dunmow to Jesus Green in Cambridge and then via Lincoln to York. The Parliamentary Bill for this line failed at its second reading that year and was withdrawn.
Enclosure and the different types of tenure: freehold, leasehold and copyhold
Enclosure was the process of creating legal property rights to what had been common land and open fields. Freehold land was (and still is) owned absolutely by the owner. Leasehold property is conveyed for a fixed time, which can be quite long, in return for rent. Copyhold land was held from a manor (in this case, the Manor of Chesterton) to which rent was due. It could be bought, sold or enfranchised - that is, turned into freehold land. Copyhold tenure was abolished in 1926.
In the enclosure of 1840 all the then open land now comprising both sides of Hurst Park Avenue with its gardens, as far north as number 52, including Dalegarth on the one side and 95 to 99 Milton Road and the dental surgery on the other, was awarded to Thomas Riddel who already owned the windmill there. The land on the north-eastern side, up to about number 22, was freehold; the rest (6 acres and 16 perches) was copyhold from the Manor of Chesterton. The northern end of Hurst Park Avenue, Highfield Avenue, Orchard Avenue, Leys Avenue (including all the land to Arbury Road) and Leys Road were then in the possession of Eleanor Sparrow and Robert Sparrow, variously copyhold and freehold. Highworth Avenue is built on three plots (copyhold, freehold and leasehold) occupied in 1840 by Thomas Hall Fisher.

A tracing and adaptation of part of the Chesterton enclosure map of 1839, showing pre-enclosure boundaries and field names in red. The 'stopped up' Clayton Way ran from the Ely Turnpike, passing by the mill and its cottage on the land allocated in the enclosure to Thomas Riddel. It crossed the fields to Histon Road. The land allocated to Thomas Hall Fisher was later the location of the Highworth Estate. Eleanor and Robert Sparrow occupy, at the top, all of the land that later comprised Leys Laundry Farm, Leys Road, the brickworks, and the southern end of Arbury Road-referred to here as Histon Road from Chesterton. The original can be viewed in the Map Room at Cambridge University Library.

Enclosure was to bring rapid change: Chesterton's population doubled from 1,345 in 1841 to 2,480 ten years later. As BHO tells us, this was "largely through settlement in the new suburb". This refers to the area later known as New Chesterton, that district where the main thoroughfares are Histon Road, Victoria Road, Chesterton Lane and Chesterton Road. Most early development was on the main roads and 240 houses were built there by 1851. However, new developments led to some concerns so, in a move that anticipates attitudes that helped to drive the development of Hurst Park in the 1920s, Trinity and Magdalene Colleges,

... fearing the growth of a 'low suburb' with beerhouses and poor cottages, demanded at enclosure the creation of a tree-lined road with a walk by the river, and obtained a road 60 ft wide as far as the junction of the Milton and Chesterton roads, upon which the building line was set back by 30 ft the owners of brick pits there being expensively compensated for their removal.

But development there was and it progressed eastward during the next few decades. However, there was not much building off the main roads until the 1870s and 1880s, around the time when the various occupants of Hurst and the influence they had on the history of Chesterton begin to interest us. Major developments include:

Chesterton Road: there were 40 dwellings in the 1860s, 114 in 1881, 240 by 1910

Bermuda Row: built up by 1851

Albert Street: developed by the 1860s

Alpha Road: from the 1880s

French's Road: by 1877

Garden Walk: 10 houses by 1881 and 30 by 1910

Victoria Park: 68 dwellings begun by 1895

East of the junction we know as Mitcham's Corner were:

Ferry Path, a terrace of cottages built from 1844

Springfield Road

George Street: 25 houses by 1881

The De Freville Estate: laid out 1891-1893, 220 houses built by 1910

Kimberley and Pretoria Roads (the Central Building Estate), built between 1903 and 1910

Chesterton Hall Crescent: proposed in 1884, partly built 1890s to 1910

The Limes: built after 1885, where St Laurence's Church is now

Hurst: built in 1848 as Ely Villa, extended 1878-9

Houses in Milton Road between Hurst and Highworth Avenue, built by about 1913.

Highworth Avenue and Leys Road: planned in 1 912, partly built up by 1927

These two photographs, from about 1900, were taken from Milton Road near where the junction with Gilbert Road is now. They appear to have been taken on the same day as one of the pictures we have used in our section on the mill . The upper photo shows the mill, Hurst and the Limes. The lower photo looks the other way towards New Chesterton, where we can see St Luke's church on the left and French's Chesterton Mill on the skyline at far right. In the middle distance is a steam traction engine (probably a Burrell, we are told) with a thresher and an elevator (Cambridgeshire Collection, Cambridge Central Library).

The Ordnance Survey of 1885. Hurst, where the Dalegarth flats are now at the bottom of Hurst Park Avenue, has been built by John Jones in 1848 and extended by Mark and Frances Whibley in 1878-9. William French owns the mill, exactly where 24 Hurst Park Avenue was built in the early 1960s: it was served by the track from Milton Road between plots 258 and 259. John Bester is established in his Rose Nursery, and also has an orchard, on the land where Orchard, Highfield and Leys Avenues were to be built. The brickworks (certainly established by 1852) on the future site of Mulberry Close has its kilns and ponds. The Limes is yet to be built on the plot next to Hurst. Plots 259, 235 and 236 would later become Highworth Avenue and Leys Road. The Arbury Road / Union Lane / Milton Road crossroads is the only obvious feature one can identify in 2022.

Sixteen years later, the revised Ordnance Survey of 1901 shows the Limes (occupied by Sidney Freeman in 1896) next to Hurst, the mill still functioning, still owned by William French and run by Mr Baker the miller, the clay diggings at the brickworks have expanded, and the Leys School is running farm, laundry and orchard.

At the time of this 1925 Ordnance Survey, James McCallan Preston is still at Hurst while William Jolley, who succeeded Sidney Freeman in The Limes, died in 1920. Butcher-cum-mill-owner Arthur Rose sold his Milton Road frontage (three large houses stand there) and bequeathed the remainder of his land to his wife Etheldra and son Stanley when he died in 1914. The mill is disused: Stanley uses it as a store and manages a slaughterhouse next to it. Leys School has left the laundry and farm, now run by Charles Alder, Highworth Avenue and Leys Road have been developed, the tennis courts occupy the brickworks site and the shops in Milton Road are yet to be built.

Two years after this last map, in 1927, more change is afoot:

Milton Road is largely built up, but the land to the north is mostly still open

Stanley Rose the butcher drives his animals up the access lane to his slaughterhouse next to the disused mill, which is still prominent on the slope

Elizabeth Sell Swann, owner of Leys Laundry Farm, died in 1926

At Hurst, where the Joneses, Whibleys and Taylors have preceded them, James McCallan Preston and Florence Preston died within a few months of each other in 1927

Noel Dean lives at 19, Leys Road

On September 12th, Cambridge Estates Ltd is incorporated and buys Hurst on September 22nd and Leys Laundry Farm on October 14th

The Hurst Park Estate is born where once grain was grown and milled, fruit trees flourished, pigs rooted, cows were milked, and linen was laundered.

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In the early decades of the 21st century it is not necessarily obvious to residents of the Hurst Park Estate how closely associated our area is with Chesterton village, from which we are divided by Milton Road and Elizabeth Way. But we live in an electoral division that bears the ancient name and in a...

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Chesterton

THE ancient parish of Chesterton, immediately north-east of Cambridge, (fn. 1) covered 2,795 a. (1,131 ha.) until the boundary changes that fol- lowed the incorporation of its inhabited area into the borough of Cambridge in 1912.(fn. 2) Extending north from the Roman ceastre north of the river Cam,(fn. 3) it perhaps represented a quarter of the territory of an Anglo-Saxon royal vill spanning the river, from which the other three quarters were detached when a burh was established at the river crossing, probably in the 8th century.(fn. 4) Chesterton continued as a rural vill, bounded south-east by the river, south-west mostly by the Cambridge-Huntingdon road, following the line of a Roman road.(fn. 5) Called from the 1270s Huntingdon way,(fn. 6) the road was a turnpike be- tween 1745 and 1874.(fn. 7) The north-west boundary with Milton was nearly straight, as was the northern part of the north-western one with Girton and Impington along the track of a disused Roman road.(fn. 8)

At the south-east corner the boundary circles north from the river to enclose the Roman and Saxon settlement that became Cambridge's northern suburb. Chesterton, however, included the 5-a. site, within that suburb, of the royal castle built in 1068. (fn. 9) About 1600 the castle, serving as a prison, belonged ecclesiastically to Chesterton.(fn. 10) The gaoler was sufficiently well acquainted with the villagers to maltreat a pris- oner giving evidence against them c. 1585. (fn. 11) In the 1620s there were lawsuits between the keeper of the castle and the lords of Chesterton manor over the land outside the castle walls, the lord and villagers claiming it as their commonable waste.(fn. 12) In the 1660s the shire and jury houses and the house of correction were still taxed in Chesterton,(fn. 13) and in the 19th century the keepers and prisoners at the castle, usually numbering 65-85, were counted in Chesterton in censuses.(fn. 14)

From 1912 the inhabited 1, 173 a., the south- ern third of the ancient parish, was adminis- tratively part of Cambridge. The remaining 1,622 a. were transferred to Milton, but later in that year 694 a. along the north-western side of Chesterton were assigned to Impington. In 1923 Chesterton civil parish was incorporated in Cam- bridge Without. In 1935, as building began to extend northward, 570 a. of the land that had gone to Impington were added to Cambridge, and 894 a. east of the Milton road, since the 1890s gradually included in the Cambridge sew- age farm, were transferred to the borough, leav- ing in Milton 634 a., comprising the north-west part of Chesterton's East field and the former Chesterton fen, the latter as a detached part. (fn. 15)

The land is virtually level, (fn. 16) varying only between 15 and 7.5 m. (50 and 25 ft.), highest in the south-west and lowest near the river in the north-east, where the fen was said to cover some 200 a. in 1567,(fn. 17) though only 47 a. in 1637.(fn. 18) The soil lay largely upon gault, covered in places with chalk marl, but mostly, except in parts of the west, with beds of gravel, and beside the river with alluvium.(fn. 19)

Chesterton remained predominantly arable, with three open fields, probably cultivated on a triennial rotation from the Middle Ages until its inclosure in 1838. Thereafter its southern two thirds were steadily overrun by the suburban growth of Cambridge, while the northern part was largely occupied by the 1980s by the sewage works and industrial estates, apart from scattered playing and sports fields and a 'green belt' along the north-western border.

Signs of human activity from the Bronze Age onwards have been found in the parish, among them cinerary urns from an Iron Age burial ground north-east of the village, (fn. 20) where also were traces of early Anglo-Saxon burials.(fn. 21) On the north-western border a greatly decayed earthwork of uncertain date,(fn. 22) called by the 13th century Hardburgh, later Arborough or Arbury Camp,(fn. 23) was formerly 250 m. across; its western half, in Impington, had been obliterated by 1800.(fn. 24)

Chesterton had 24 peasant households in 1086. (fn. 25) Possibly c. 190 persons paid tax there in 1225.(fn. 26) In 1279 there were c. 80 resident landholders and at least 80 messuages and 5 cottages.(fn. 27) Natural growth was probably aug- mented by immigration: of c. 320 surnames recorded between 1275 and 1325 almost 100 were derived from place names elsewhere, a third of them outside the county.(fn. 28) Almost 80 people paid the subsidy in 1327.(fn. 29) In the plague year of 1349 deaths of tenants reported on the principal manor, usually less than 10 a year, rose to at least 32 and probably almost 70.(fn. 30) The village was still populous in 1524, when 73 people were assessed for tax;(fn. 31) 69 households were reported in 1563.(fn. 32) In 1637 140 occupiers owed offerings to the vicar.(fn. 33) Under Charles II 95-105 dwellings were taxed,(fn. 34) in 1676 probably housing 160-175 adults.(fn. 35) In 1728 there were 100 families with 500 or 600 people,(fn. 36) and 116 dwellings housed 125 families in 1794.(fn. 37)

Figure 2: Chesterton 1840-1980

After 1801 the population of the village rose steadily from 741 to c. 1,110 in the 1820s. By 1841 the ordinary population had reached c. 1,345, and it continued to increase, largely through settlement in the new suburb, doubling to c. 2,480 by 1851. Growing thereafter by more than a third in each decade until the 1880s, it rose from 2,820 in 1861 to 3,865 in 1871, 5,420 in 1881, and 7,290 in 1891, then by a fifth or more to 9,365 in 1901 and 11,260 in 1911. In the 20th century the civil population reached 11,490 in 1921, and over 15,410 in 1931. That in private households within the wards comprising the ancient parish numbered 16,890 in 1951, 21,885 in 1961, 27,830 in 1971, and 28,900 in 1981.(fn. 38)

Chesterton village (fn. 39) stood by the river near the southern edge of the parish, its closes curving gently north-eastward along a high street men- tioned in 1293.(fn. 40) The church and main manor house stood to the south-west off Church Lane, so named by 1327,(fn. 41) called in the 1850s Church Street. A back lane to the north, mentioned in 1600,(fn. 42) renamed Scotland Road by 1881, was linked to the west end of the high street by Mill Lane, recorded by 1325,(fn. 43) renamed from the 1840s Union Lane after the Chesterton work- house built by it. Lesser lanes led south off the high street, including at the west end Chapel Street, so styled from the late 19th century, which bent back to Church Street. Ferry Lane ran south from the middle of the high street to the parallel Water Street, so named by 1580,(fn. 44) beside the river.

Few village houses dating from before 1800 survived 20th-century rebuilding and road widening. (fn. 45) The most substantial is Roebuck House, at the west end of Water Street, at which Robert Robinson in 1775 rebuilt, partly in brick, the rear of a symmetrical early 18th-century house, partly timber-framed, which has a five- bay front towards the river. Some timber-framed dwellings of the late 16th or the 17th century, with original brick chimney stacks, but recased in brick in the 18th century, survive further east along Water Street, but other timber-framed cottages standing in the 1950s had been demol- ished by the 1980s. The most notable house on the high street is the grey-brick early 19th- century Hill House, with a symmetrical front and an elaborate early 18th-century doorcase probably brought from elsewhere. Other older houses there are early 19th-century grey-brick cottages built singly or in terraces. Among those on the south was Thrift's Walk with a row of 10 in 1851.(fn. 46) A more substantial terrace survives at Pye Terrace east of Chapel Street, put up c. 1900.(fn. 47)

The village had 116 inhabited dwellings in 1794, (fn. 48) and grew to almost 150 in 1801, 216 in 1821, and 314 in 1841, besides 17 empty or being built.(fn. 49) In 1838, when there were 11 farmhouses and c. 15 public houses, the subdivision of 57 other houses produced 178 tenements alto- gether.(fn. 50) After 1841 the number of dwellings remained stable at c. 320, of which up to 20 might be unoccupied, into the 1860s, and in- creased only slightly to c. 375 in the 1870s and 1880s. The high street had 105-120 in the mid 19th century, c. 150 by 1861, and 185 by 1871, while Church Street then had 12-16, Union Lane 11-12, the northern back lane 50-60, and Water Street 35, increased by 1861 to 60. By the 1860s over 15 houses had been built along the Fen road which continued Water Street eastward. The population of the village and the four or five farmsteads built after inclosure to the north-east rose from c. 1,380 in 1841 to 1,425 in 1851, 1,450 in 1861, and reached 1,780 in 1871.(fn. 51) The village was still not linked physically to the expanding suburb in 1910, when it con- tained c. 395 houses, 160 on the high street, 45 on Church and Chapel Streets, and 50 cottages on Union Lane; it had, however, probably stretched outward at its edges, with 62 on Water Street and 29 on Scotland Road.(fn. 52)

The village lay off the main lines of communi- cation through the parish, which led toward the northern approach to Cambridge across the later Magdalene bridge over the Cam. Besides Hunt- ingdon way and the Howes mare, the latter mentioned c. 1300, (fn. 53) and probably leading to the hamlet of Howes by the far western corner of the parish, there was a road which, after briefly following the route to the village beside the river, forked north-east towards Milton. It was called Milton way by 1280, and was later distinguished as Mickle Milton way from a Little Milton way nearer to the fen.(fn. 54) North of the castle and medieval suburb another road leading directly north to Histon was called Histon way by 1300.(fn. 55) Ways through the fields, such as Oakington way, recorded by 1310,(fn. 56) were mostly stopped up at inclosure in 1838. To link the village with its neighbours to the north-west two roads were then partly straightened. One largely following the line of the earlier Mill way, the modern Arbury Road, runs north-west from Union Lane to enter Impington near Arbury Camp. Roughly parallel to the north-east was the new Kings Hedges Road. Those roads, with the 'New Hunt- ingdon Road' then laid out to link the Milton and Histon roads north of the castle,(fn. 57) and renamed Victoria Road by 1841,(fn. 58) formed the framework for Chesterton's suburban growth in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In the 1580s two houses, one originally built as a lodge, were put up on part of the waste near the castle, one on the site of a gravel pit, on land leased from the lord. (fn. 59) From the early 18th century a few cottages arose south of the road leading from Cambridge to the village, just within the parish boundary.(fn. 60)

The establishment of a new suburb was anti- cipated for some time before inclosure in 1838. From the 1810s small plots with common rights were sold, often to Cambridge tradesmen, with the prospect of acquiring potential building sites when Chesterton was inclosed. (fn. 61) By the 1830s William Custance, a Cambridge surveyor, had bought c. 60 a., favourably situated for building, and successfully pressed the inclosure com- missioners to put his allotment in the same area between the Huntingdon and Histon roads, where he proposed to build 'substantial houses for respectable tenants'.(fn. 62) Meanwhile Trinity and Magdalene Colleges, fearing the growth of 'a low suburb' with beerhouses and poor cottages, demanded at inclosure the creation of a tree- lined road with a walk by the river, and obtained a road 60 ft. wide as far as the junction of the Milton and Chesterton roads, upon which the building line was set back by 30 ft., the owners of brick pits there being expensively compens- ated for their removal.(fn. 63)

Building of the kind feared, creating a suburb called by the 1870s New Chesterton, began in the area south of Victoria Road, where 35 a. was split among several small landowners in 1838. (fn. 64) By 1851 many people had moved out from Cambridge, attracted by low rates and rents.(fn. 65) Over 240 houses had been built by then, occu- pied by c. 1,260 persons. The number of dwell- ings in that area rose to 350 by 1861, 525 by 1871, and more than 845 by 1881, when 78 more were being built. Another 110 were put up between 1881 and 1884. The population of the suburb rose from 1,470 in 1861 to 2,285 by 1871 and 3,760 in 1881,(fn. 66) when the number in term time was allegedly 4,015. It was then growing by almost 400 each year, and reached 4,725 in 1884, and nearly 5,000 by 1889 and 6,500 by 1892.(fn. 67)

The initial building was largely along the roads east and north from the Cambridge boundary. (fn. 68) From the late 1840s successive terraces of tall middle-class houses were put up along the north side of the Chesterton road, and by the 1870s stretched almost as far as the fork leading to Milton. St. George's Terrace had been built further east by 1861. The number of dwellings along that main road increased from c. 40 in the 1860s to 95 by 1871 and 114 in 1881, and to c. 240 by 1910. From the 1860s 20-30, and by 1881 55, stood east of the Milton road beyond the fork. The Huntingdon road saw little building before the late 1860s. Meanwhile more modest dwellings were put up further north: along the Histon road there were 60 by 1861, 110 by the 1870s, and 180 by 1910. Victoria Road had 55- 60 by the 1850s and 180 in 1881.

Except at Ferry Path, where a terrace of c. 30 cottages was built from 1844,(fn. 69) there was little building off the main roads until the 1870s. Some working-class cottages, 37 by 1851, were put up on Bermuda Row off the eastern side of the Histon road, others, over 30 by the 1860s, on Albert Street near the east end of Victoria Road. The area south of Victoria Road was gradually built up from the late 1870s, beginning with short streets of cottages at its north-western angle, while the parallel streets to the south-east, running north-west off the Chesterton road, such as Alpha Road,(fn. 70) were laid out and built with larger houses from the late 1880s. North of Victoria Road more roads, mostly dead ends, were gradually laid out running northward: by 1877 the private road to French's corn mill had 19 dwellings, while further east Primrose Street was begun by 1872.(fn. 71) The longer Garden Walk had 10 houses by 1881 and 30 by 1910, when 68 stood along Victoria Park, begun by 1895.(fn. 72) East of the Milton road junction more terraces rose along side streets from the late 1870s, including the 'New Cut', later George Street, laid out in 1875,(fn. 73) which had c. 25 houses by 1881. In the early 1880s(fn. 74) a network of small streets filled the angle between the Histon and Huntingdon roads; on land sold for building in 1904,(fn. 75) Richmond and Oxford Roads, planned in the 1890s, were built up with more substantial houses, number- ing respectively 110 and 130 by 1910. Further north-west, however, building on land once owned by Clare College was delayed until the 1930s.

Meanwhile to the east the construction of the Victoria Bridge, opened in 1895, (fn. 76) encouraged middle-class migration to new roads made on 31 a. sold in 1886, which extended almost to the village.(fn. 77) Between 1891 and 1893 the De Freville estate was laid out for large houses on De Freville Avenue and Montagu and Humberstone Roads,(fn. 78) quickly built up, (fn. 79) and having 220 houses by 1910. The empty land to their west was filled in between 1903 and 1910 with modest houses on streets bearing Boer War names. North of the main road Chesterton Hall Cres- cent, proposed in 1884 on the Wragg Gurney estate,(fn. 80) was partly built up between the 1890s and 1910.

Further north the survival of the large Hall and Manor farms (fn. 81) restrained new building, which in the 1920s consisted mainly of ribbon development along the Milton road, by 1930 reaching almost to the railway line.(fn. 82) In 1909 the county council sold for building 58 a. in the angle of the Milton and Arbury roads,(fn. 83) which were not immediately built upon. North of the Milton road the Highworth estate was laid out for sale in 1914; Highworth Avenue and Leys Road had been built up by 1927. Another 25 a. to their north-west then sold for building was also built up by the mid 1930s as part of the Hurst Park estate,(fn. 84) replacing a large Victorian house of that name. To the south-west St. John's College laid out c. 1931 on the recently acquired Wragg Gurney estate over 100 plots each side of Gilbert Road, linking the Milton and Histon roads, for middle-class houses built by the late 1930s.(fn. 85) On the northern part of that estate, where Roseford Road was begun in 1936, the outbreak of war stopped building.

From the 1930s the emphasis changed from private to public building. (fn. 86) The city council had already put up some houses along arboreally named roads between the Chesterton and Milton roads, acquired in 1921.(fn. 87) About 1930 there followed more council estates around Kendal Way and Ramsden Square each side of the Milton road beyond the point which ribbon building had then reached. By 1931 there were c. 630 houses in the area soon to be St. George's parish, including 142 along the Milton road, 115 on Ramsden Square, and 158 off Green End Road. The council shortly built 220 more on Kendal Way and Trinity Hall 140 others on land to the west.(fn. 88) Housing associations were also active: the Cambridge association was then building in the angle between Union Lane and the Milton road. The Hundred Houses associ- ation built Eastfield further east along Scotland Road, adding c. 1955-6 the Scotland Road estate of 215 dwellings to the west. Fallowfield east of the old village was also developed as assisted housing by the late 1930s.

Even more extensive council building followed the Second World War. (fn. 89) In 1947 the city council acquired the unused northern part of the former Hall farm from St. John's College,(fn. 90) and in the 1960s most of the former Manor farm from the county council.(fn. 91) The only large private development in that area was the McManus estate west of the Histon road, where c. 575 dwellings were put up from Windsor Road northwards in the early 1960s on land sold by St. John's College in 1959.(fn. 92) East of the privately built Fen estate, begun before 1939, the city council inserted c. 300 dwellings between the Cam Causeway and the railway. From 1957 it developed North and South Arbury on c. 100 a. between Gilbert Road and Arbury Road, around a network of side roads, eventually comprising c. 2,400 dwellings. Between 1957 and 1960 it also started work in the area north and west of Ramsden Square, where 800 houses were built on c. 85 a. In 1967 building began on the Kings Hedges estate north-west of Campkin Road, where by 1986 some 1,570 dwellings had been completed on 125 a., many in blocks of three and four storeys surrounded by grass. By the mid 1980s building had almost reached the city boundary. The new council estates were inhabited largely by families removed from older parts of the city, and there were many complaints of lack of social facilities, of loneliness among the old, and of vandalism by the young.(fn. 93)

Chesterton's road communications followed the lines established before 1800. The Milton road was part of the Cambridge-Ely turnpike from 1763 to 1874, (fn. 94) the tollgate closest to the town being moved outward in 1838 to the Jolly Waterman.(fn. 95) No bids were received for tolls in 1846, following the opening of the railway.(fn. 96) In the late 20th century part of the Cambridge northern bypass, constructed from 1976 and opened in 1979, swept through the northern part of Chesterton by then transferred to Milton.(fn. 97) Along the eastern edge of the parish the Great Eastern Railway built in 1844 and opened in 1845 its main line between Cambridge and Ely, still fully in operation in 1987, and added in 1847 another line running north-west towards St. Ives and Huntingdon,(fn. 98) which after 1970 was open only for occasional goods traffic.(fn. 99) The angle between the two lines was still occupied by sidings in the 1980s. By the 1850s specially built cottages off the Fen road housed railway staff. The Railway Tavern stood nearby.(fn. 100) The neighbouring ballast pits, much used for skating in winter in the mid 19th century,(fn. 101) were later filled in to provide a site for Chesterton Junction railway depot, where welded rails were made until the late 20th century.(fn. 102)

Waterborne communications were also im- portant to the village, which was linked to Cambridge by several ferries from the Middle Ages. In the late 14th century control of the ferries was contested between Barnwell priory, lord of the manor, and the borough. About 1390 the burgesses forcibly obstructed the priory's nominee as ferryman, seized his takings, and appointed its own lessee, as it continued to do until the 1490s. (fn. 103) In 1506, however, it ceded to the priory all its claims to the 'old ferry',(fn. 104) which remained with the manor until the 1580s.(fn. 105) In the 1550s and 1560s the greater part of the profits, perhaps £12 out of an annual rental of £14, was said to arise during Stourbridge Fair.(fn. 106) By the mid 18th century the ferry was attached to the Green Dragon inn, often called the Ferry House.(fn. 107) By the 19th century that ferry, leading to Stourbridge common, was the easternmost of three in regular use, including one sold in 1790.(fn. 108) The others were Cutter Ferry, to Midsummer common, attached until 1920 to the Wragg Gurney estate,(fn. 109) and one established by the early 18th century from Ferry Path to the Fort St. George inn.(fn. 110) Although the Conservators of the Cam provided footbridges across the lock nearby from the 1790s,(fn. 111) that ferry remained in regular use in the 1840s,(fn. 113) and those further east into the 1930s. They were superseded only by the building of substantial road bridges: the Victoria Bridge of 1895, south of the fork of the Chester- ton and Milton roads, and the Elizabeth Bridge, opened in 1971,(fn. 113) south-west of the village, which its approach road severed from the sub- urb.

Boat building, probably undertaken in the Middle Ages, when one family was surnamed Shipwright from c. 1280 to c. 1335, (fn. 114) flourished in the 19th century. The Crosses, who started a boatyard near the Fort St. George crossing in 1799, were in business until the 1860s, and the Searles had opened another nearby, facing Midsummer Common, by the 1840s.(fn. 115) In the mid 19th century many people were employed in the village in that trade along Water Street, one boatbuilder employing 5 men in 1861, another 8 in 1881.(fn. 116) From the 1860s to the 1890s there were usually four or five firms of boatbuilders, which provided boats largely for pleasure and racing. Private boatyards gradually disappeared as rowing clubs established their own boat- houses: the university and three colleges had boathouses in the 1880s, three more colleges by 1896.(fn. 117) In 1910 there were 13 college boathouses. Of five private ones,(fn. 118) two closed c. 1935, a third c. 1950; (fn. 119) the last survivor, Banhams marina, was removed c. 1970. (fn. 120) In the 1980s college boathouses still lined the bank between the Victoria and Elizabeth bridges.

Chesterton had long provided other diversions for visitors from Cambridge. In 1579 students going to the village to play football were am- bushed and beaten by the villagers, incited by the constable Thomas Parish. (fn. 121) The university, relying upon a Privy Council order of 1575, sought to suppress such pastimes so close to Cambridge, including bear-baiting in 1581,(fn. 122) bull-baitings, and stage plays, as in 1592, when during Stourbridge Fair a group of the queen's players lodged and apparently performed in houses at Chesterton.(fn. 123) Implicitly supported by the lord lieutenant and county justices, despite the disapproval of the Privy Council, the par- ishioners, led by John Batisford, still in the early 17th century opposed the university's attempts to regulate the village alehouses. Only in 1616 did the university obtain confirmation of its power to control and license alehouses in Chester- ton,(fn. 124) which was not relinquished until 1856. (fn. 125) In the late 18th and early 19th century the village had tea gardens, bowling greens, skittle grounds, and billiard rooms.(fn. 126)

The proximity of the town also affected the number of public houses in the parish. In the late 17th century (fn. 127) only 2-4 alehouses were regularly licensed, in the early 18th century 6, in the 1750s and 1760s c. 10, and from the 1770s only 6 again. Several were acquired by Cambridge brewers in the 18th century,(fn. 128) in- cluding two near the castle, converted from cottages after the 1740s, also the Three Horse- shoes, renamed by 1765 the Castle, still standing close to the castle in the 1980s.(fn. 129) Of those in the village itself in the 1750s, the Green Dragon, established in the 1730s,(fn. 130) in part of a range of four 16th-century timber-framed dwellings on Water Street, with dormers toward the street over a projecting first floor,(fn. 131) was still open in the 1980s; the Three Tuns remained open into the 1870s, while the Bleeding Heart was con- verted in the 1920s into a Co-operative store, demolished c. 1972. (fn. 132) The Queen's Arms of 1780, perhaps the King's Arms of 1755, and successively renamed the Bowling Green, after its main attraction, in the 1790s and the Sir Robert Peel c. 1840, reverted to its first name in the 1890s. Closed in 1936 and later converted to offices, the house still retained in 1985 its upstairs billiard room.(fn. 133) Three more public houses were opened in the 1830s, eight in the early 1840s, and ten more between 1850 and 1855, only three of which, the Pike and Eel, the Haymakers, and the Yorkshire Grey, rebuilt c. 1935, were still open in 1987.(fn. 134) By 1855 there were 26 public houses in the whole parish, mostly in the village. In the new suburb was the Portland Arms, opened on the Milton road in 1839, converted in the 1880s into Searle's Hotel and rebuilt in the 1930s, when its old name was revived.(fn. 135) Some of the village taverns were of poor repute in the 1840s, attracting questionable people with music and dancing, and giving rise to fights between village lads and men from Cambridge.(fn. 136) About 1871 there were still 12 public houses on the village high street and 4 elsewhere in the village.(fn. 137) A Conservative Working Men's Associ- ation, founded in 1870, initially drew c. 200 members roused by the threat posed by the Liberals' proposed licensing laws to Chesterton's numerous drinking places, but it faded after 1872.(fn. 138) The village still contained 13 public houses in 1910,(fn. 139) but only 6 in the 1930s and 1960s,(fn. 140) 2 of which fell victim to road widening c. 1975. (fn. 141) Among those in the suburb was the Golden Hind by the Milton road, opened in 1937,(fn. 142) in an opulent Elizabethan style.

Under the Inclosure Act, (fn. 143) 91/2 a. in the east field were allotted in trust as a recreation ground.(fn. 144) In the late 19th century that land was being leased and the rent used for public purposes.(fn. 145) Control was transferred in 1891 to the new local board,(fn. 146) whose successor, the urban district council, still owned 4 a. by Fen Road in 1910.(fn. 147) A new recreation ground, c. 5 a. west of the church acquired by 1888,(fn. 148) was still in use in the 1980s. Cricket matches run by a village club were recorded in the 1830s.(fn. 149) A cricket club mentioned in 1853 was promoting matches on the Church Closes by the 1870s,(fn. 150) while another was pro- posed to involve New Chesterton residents too in 1881.(fn. 151) A village music society was giving concerts at the National school by 1880.(fn. 152)

Chesterton's friendly societies included branches of the Ancient Shepherds, probably formed c. 1845, which had 40 members in 1890, and the Ancient Order of Foresters, with some 70 members by 1870, regularly meeting at the Bleeding Heart. Both were still active in the 1890s.(fn. 153) In 1876 the vicar started a working men's club with 90 members, and provided a reading room and coffee house. By 1884 financial difficulties and a declining membership led to the transfer of its premises to the Church Tem- perance Society.(fn. 154) The enlarged coffee tavern was reopened as a reading and recreation room with 50-70 members in 1888.(fn. 155) In 1931 Mrs. R. Clark of the Old Manor House, in memory of her son killed in the First World War, gave the former Wesleyan chapel on the high street for use by the Chesterton Men's Club, which had 200 members within a year and was still active in the 1980s.(fn. 156) The East Chesterton Community Association, formed in 1973, was replaced in 1981 by one linked to the new St. Andrew's school.(fn. 157) From the late 19th century the new suburb was served by various social organiz- ations. An Old Chesterton cottagers' garden club was replaced in 1873 by a new one, which usually held its annual flower and vegetable shows at the Industrial school or St. Luke's schoolroom on Victoria Road.(fn. 158) The New Chesterton Young Men's Union, started in 1885 to provide debates, lectures, and a reading room,(fn. 159) was restyled from 1892 the New Chesterton Institute. The premises in Holland Road south of Victoria Road, into which it had recently moved in 1892,(fn. 160) were enlarged in 1927, and were still in regular use in the 1980s.(fn. 161) Between 1900 and 1910 the urban district council converted the site of the last brickyard in New Chesterton into Alexandra Gardens.(fn. 162) The Arbury estate community centre was opened in 1974.(fn. 163)

The Chesterton poor-law union, formed in 1836, (fn. 164) immediately acquired a site for a work- house south-west of Mill Lane. A building designed by John Smith of Cambridge was started the same year,(fn. 165) and completed in 1838, for up to 350 paupers. Of grey brick in three storeys, it has four wings extending from a central octagon, containing the master's lodging and a brick-vaulted kitchen.(fn. 166) In the mid 19th century it usually housed c. 160 inmates. (fn. 168) In 1930 the buildings were converted into a hos- pital, for old people by the 1960s, when there were 200 beds. It was still in use in 1987. From 1964 the East Anglian Regional Hospital Board occupied a large office block built to the south- west.(fn. 168)

After inclosure land in Chesterton was increas- ingly used for public and academic activities primarily serving the inhabitants of Cambridge. In 1843 the Cambridge Cemetery Co. opened a non-denominational cemetery on c. 10 a. east of the Histon road, whose management was transferred to the city council in 1936. The central chapel, built on a Greek cross plan in Gothic style, was demolished after 1955, but the small Tudor-style lodge survived in 1987.(fn. 169) In 1841 the Cambridge Friendly Society built the Victoria Asylum north of Victoria Road to pro- vide 12 homes for respectable elderly members. Other one-storey dwellings, some themselves later removed, were added from the 1890s on- wards; the original block, designed by George Bradwell with a pedimented centre upon Doric pilasters,(fn. 170) was demolished in the 1970s. (fn. 171) Be- tween 1896 and 1920 the Church-sponsored Waifs and Strays Society used the former Indus- trial school buildings off Victoria Road for the Harvey Goodwin Home for boys. Reopened in 1924 after rebuilding, it was finally closed in 1980.(fn. 172) About 1893 the Cambridge borough council bought all the 65 a. owned by the parish charity east of the Milton road, upon which a sewage farm was laid out in 1895. It was enlarged to cover 177 a. in 1923, and the farm was converted in 1937 into a sewage treatment works, extended between 1973 and 1978.(fn. 173) In 1922 a football stadium for Cambridge City football club was built off the east end of Victoria Road. It was partly reconstructed, partly redeveloped in 1987.(fn. 174)

Some Cambridge colleges established sports grounds in Chesterton: Trinity had a cricket ground by 1885. (fn. 175) Other grounds off the Milton and Huntingdon roads laid out after 1900 were still in use in the late 20th century.(fn. 176) In 1921 the National Institute of Agricultural Botany established its first seed testing station in the far west corner of the ancient parish beside the Huntingdon road. The site was its national headquarters in 1987.(fn. 177) In 1909 three professors bought 10 a. north of the Milton road as a site for field laboratories where the university's biological departments could keep livestock for scientific observation; part was used for build- ings for the Institute for Animal Nutrition. That land and another 17 a. acquired in 1913 were made over to the university in 1913 and 1920. Some buildings were occupied by the depart- ment of Animal Pathology, later of Veterinary Studies, from 1927 to 1949, after which they were used by the departments of Genetics and Physiology until 1975. From 1929 other new buildings, extended in 1950 and 1968, were occupied by the Dunn Nutritional Laboratory, founded in 1927 and concerned until the 1960s mainly with studying the place of vitamins in human diet. It was still there in 1987, when the rest of the land, along with the adjoining University athletics ground and Magdalene Col- lege sports field to the south, was sold for development.(fn. 178)

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THE ancient parish of Chesterton, immediately north-east of Cambridge, (fn. 1) covered 2,795 a. (1,131 ha.) until the boundary changes that fol- lowed the incorporation of its inhabited area into the borough of Cambridge in 1912.(fn. 2) Extending north from the Roman ceastre north of the river Cam,(fn.

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The Cambridge street where residents are plagued by terrifying driving

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Residents on a Cambridge road have revealed how they are plagued by racing cars and anti-social behaviour after a caravan crash.

On Wednesday night (August 1), a car towing a caravan dumped its trailer all over Long Reach Road in East Chesterton.

The caravan had blocked off half of the road, so police had to be at the scene until the early hours of the morning while recovery vehicles cleared the area.

The body and trailer, which had split in two, have now been cleared, but some damage still remains.

Bits of glass and fibreboard have littered the pavement and grass surrounding the road.

More obvious damage can be seen from the road itself.

White paint has rubbed off onto the road, alongside a long scratch where the trailer arm had come into contact with the road.

The road in East Chesterton is a stone's throw from Fen Road, a street that has become notorious for speeding and anti-social behaviour.

Speeding vehicles, cars being chased, and abuse towards cyclists have all been reported.

The Fen Road incidents reached a crescendo on April 25, when a six car pile-up took place near Cheney Way.

After being branded Cambridge's " wild west", a report to Cambridge City Council's outlined the problems residents of the road faced, saying they included:

 Dangerous, anti-social and inconsiderate driving.

 Intimidation and criminal public order offences.

 Criminal damage, specifically egg-throwing and the use of ball-bearing weapons to smash windows.

The report, released in June, revealed police had launched a Community Action Team (CAT) to patrol the area, had seized two "problem cars" and had identified a group of young men for enforcement.

There have been fewer reports of incidents since the police crackdown - but yesterday's incident has brought back fears of the area's "wild west" image returning.

It's worrying people on Long Reach Road and causing them a serious inconvenience.

Mrs J Isaacson, who has lived on the street for more than half a century, is all too aware of the changes on the road since she first arrived in East Chesterton.

The long-standing resident says this is "the worst it's ever been" and has slammed the road as an "utter disgrace".

Recounting the events of Wednesday night, she said: "I wasn't there when it happened, but I was arriving back from bowls at 10pm and the van had blocked the road off, which meant I had to drive right up Cheney Way, onto Bourne Road, and then reach Long Reach Road that way.

"There was police cars, fire engines and recovery vehicles, and the entire street was out looking at it.

"They haven't really cleared it. You can still see glass on the pavement, and a council lorry was here at about 2am this morning with cones.

"I assumed they would be cutting off the road."

And Mrs Isaacson says there have been other incidents of cars racing in the street.

The 81-year-old said: "The other night, there was a woman cycling up the station, and five of them were trying to knock her off the bike and harassing her.

"I was going at a snail's pace in my car to see if she was ok, she went up the cycle path and out of sight though.

"Another time I was driving down and there was two cars racing each other. I shouted to them: 'Racing again?' and they just stuck two fingers up to me before driving off.

"That was the first time I'd been scared around here."

Mrs Isaacson added: "I wouldn't want any of my grandchildren to live around here because it's just too much."

And she is by no means the only person to have problems on the road.

Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said: "I heard cars racing round but that's a usual problem around here.

"We're used to cars hurtling road at over 40mph here, we just try to ignore it."

A third local who witnessed cars "speeding round the area" on Wednesdaynight said: "We saw a car going up and down Cheney Way.

"Before that we had a car racing round here at 70mph, five minutes later it came back around.

"It was going that fast I couldn't see what kind of car it was.

"Something needs to be done about it, because it's getting very dangerous"

Speaking about Wednesday night's crash, a spokesman for Cambridgeshire Constabulary said: "We were called to reports of a vehicle crash on Long Reach Road at 9.38pm.

"We arrived at the scene to discover a caravan split in half was left in the road.

"The car towing the caravan had already made off by the time officers arrived, however we did assist in recovering the vehicle.

"The road was cleared by 1am, and officers will now be investigating how the caravan got there.

"We are treating the incident as suspicious, and if anyone has any information we'd like them to get in touch with us via 101, or contact Crimestoppers to make their report anonymously."

You can contact Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or by visiting crimestoppers-uk.org.

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The Cambridge street where residents are plagued by terrifying driving

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Residents on a Cambridge road have revealed how they are plagued by racing cars and anti-social behaviour after a caravan crash. On Wednesday night (August 1), a car towing a caravan dumped its trailer all over Long Reach Road in East Chesterton.

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Accessed 21/12/2021

It is also the name of two electoral wards (West Chesterton and East Chesterton) in the city. The total population of both wards at the 2011 Census was 18,134. These are roughly the same as the area normally called Chesterton: specifically the land north of the River Cam, east of Castle Hill and south of the Arbury and King's Hedges estates.

City councillors for the area are Councillors Gerri Bird, Baiju Thittala and Carla McQueen. As county council divisions are different from city council wards, part is covered by Cllr Ian Manning and part by Cllr Elisa Meschini.

A large housing association estate makes up part of the East Chesterton area.[2]

A local board of health (urban sanitary district) was formed for Chesterton in 1880, becoming Chesterton urban district under the Local Government Act 1894. This was abolished in 1912, with the urban area becoming part of the municipal borough of Cambridge, and the larger but less populous rural part forming part of the Milton parish.

Buses run seven times an hour to Cambridge city centre and six times an hour to each of Milton and Addenbrooke's Hospital.[3]

Milton Road (the A1309 and A1134) is the major arterial road through Chesterton, linking the centre of Cambridge to the southwest with the A14 road to the northeast.

A new Cambridge North railway station, built on the edge of East Chesterton, became operational in May 2017,[4] something that had been campaigned for by numerous local politicians for decades.