Architecture of villages in Cambridgeshire
Around the historic city of Cambridge are numerous villages and towns which contain a wide variety of interesting buildings. Many of the villages surrounding Cambridge are popular with city workers as they offer more affordable housing and more green space, yet easy accessibility into the centre. Here we explore various villages surrounding the city through an architectural lens.
Architectural introduction to the villages of Cambridgeshire
Large parts of Cambridgeshire remain as unspoiled landscapes, ranging from the flat fertile northern drained fenland to the chalk uplands to the east and south. This is a very flat area, with the highest point at Great Chishill, south of Cambridge, reaching 146m above sea level.
The area includes a range of timber, brick and stone houses, traditional village churches, Ely’s magnificent cathedral and various unique halls and abbeys. The county is medium in size and borders a large number of other counties (7), therefore it is affected by the various architectural styles of its neighbours. Apart from Cambridge University, it largely has no particular distinct architectural character of its own; there are fenland brick houses of regional styles seen within Norfolk and Lincolnshire, and churches reminiscent of Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, for instance.
Commonplace building materials in Cambridgeshire villages
As there is little good stone native to Cambridgeshire, and the fenlands were never heavily wooded, clay bricks were favoured as a building material and all of the principal houses in Cambridgeshire were constructed from brick. Wisbech, for example, is predominantly brick-built, in various shades of red using Jurassic clays. The band of Gault clay that follows the river Cam produced washed out yellowy-grey bricks that became synonymous with large parts of Cambridge and the surrounding areas. Gault plain roof tiles were also used, particularly to the west of Cambridge. Thatch was a commonplace roofing material before the draining of the fens, often using material from the innumerable reed beds, and is still seen in some Cambridgeshire villages such as Hemingford Abbots and Abbotsley.
Stone was used in the construction of various important Cambridge buildings including the colleges, ranging from the soft limestone clunch, which was easily quarried and carved, to imported Barnack, Weldon, Ketton, Ancaster and Portland stones from quarries outside the county (via the fens and river systems).
Villages north of Cambridge
North of Cambridge, the settlements are primarily villages. Just above the A14 and within cycling distance of Cambridge city centre are the villages of Girton, Histon, Impington, Milton and Horningsea. Huntingdon Road, Histon Road and Milton Road lead out of the city northwards, with Huntingdon Road offering generous detached Victorian and Edwardian houses situated on large plot sizes. Towards the western end of Huntingdon Road, several sizeable new mixed-use developments have been underway over the last decade, including Eddington and Darwin Green.
Girton, lying 2 miles north-west of Cambridge, was largely developed in the 20th century; prior to this the village was largely devoted to arable farming. The housing is therefore a mixture of predominantly modern semi-detached and detached properties. Gretton school sits on the northern edge of the village, taking its name from the old name for the settlement, which means 'village on the gravel’ (as it is sited along a gravel ridge.)
Histon and Impington, through years of development, are now virtually attached to Cambridge and only separated by the A14 road. Histon contains various pubs, shops, churches, schools and a business park (site of the old Chivers & Sons preserve production factory), but like Girton is predominantly made up of housing. The older buildings are largely situated around the centre and main road, with more modern housing estates towards the edges of the settlement. The twisting main street was the mediaeval route between Cambridge and Ely. Impington Windmill, built 1806 and bought by the owner of Chivers & Sons in 1904, still stands today to the southern tip of the village.
Histon Manor, likely built in the 17th century, sits towards the north-west of the village. The building has been adapted through the years, including being reduced from a 3-storey hall to 2-storey manor house in the late 19th century. The Grade I listed Impington village college is a notable building by Walter Gropius and Maxwell Fry, designed in the late 1930s as an inspiring and welcoming space in which to socialise and learn. Impington Village College is described by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner in his The Buildings of England series as ‘One of the best buildings of its date in England, if not the best’.
The route of the old Cambridge and St Ives branch line railway which ran through Histon and Impington became the route for the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, which opened in 2011. Northstowe, a new town currently under construction to the northeast of Longstanton, was partly positioned here owing to its access into Cambridge via the guided busway.
The sizeable developments of Waterbeach and Cottenham lie slightly further north of Cambridge. Cottenham in particular has a broad mix of architectural styles, owing to a large number of the older houses being destroyed in numerous fires between the 17th and 19th centuries. Cottenham High Street has various attractive detached thatched cottages, Victorian and Edwardian houses and impressive churches, including All Saints at the northeastern tip of the village. The Grade I listed parish church is of 13th century origins but mostly rebuilt in the 15th century, with the upper stages of the West tower added in 1617.
Villages east of Cambridge
Fulbourn and Bottisham are two of the largest villages to the east of Cambridge. North and east of Fulbourn village the land is flat drained fen; to the south and southwest rise the Gog Magog Hills. The village of approximately 4000 inhabitants contains the partly 17th century Fulbourn Manor to the east. The village is attractive in its older parts, and provides easy access into the city along Cambridge Road. On the route along this road is Fulbourn Windmill, a smock mill from 1808.
Clunch stone was quarried in Burwell until 1962, when the pit was closed and subsequently flooded. Many of the local buildings therefore utilise this material. The village contains a variety of pleasant housing, including Manor House, The Hall and Ramsey Manor. The remains of the 12th century Burwell Castle sit west of St Mary’s Church. Surrounding the village are now several large solar farms.
Quy Hall is perhaps the most notable building in Stow cum Quy, originally from the 16th century and rebuilt by William White between 1869-1873. The extensive grounds contain a lake, ha-ha and 1822 cast-iron bridge which was bought from St John’s College Cambridge.
Northeast of Stow cum Quy and sited just south of the village of Lode is Anglesey Abbey. The building was originally a hospital, then a Priory for Augustinian Canons. The remains of the buildings which survived the Dissolution were adapted around 1600 to create a house and variously adapted over the centuries. The building was taken over by the National Trust in 1966, and a visitor reception building was constructed in 2008.
Further afield, the Suffolk town of Newmarket lies 14 miles northeast of Cambridge and is most famous for its horse racing. This industry has led to the development throughout the 20th century of many horse training stables, of which many older and smaller properties have been converted or have the potential to become residential dwellings.
Villages south of Cambridge
Grantchester is considered the most attractive village close to the centre of Cambridge, with various historic buildings including St. Mary and St. Andrew church and the 15th century Manor Farm and The Orchard Tea Garden, famous for its visiting writers, economists and intellectuals including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes and Bertrand Russell.
The large village of Great Shelford, which now merges with Stapleford to the east, contains various interesting houses close to the Church of St Mary. These include The Grange, Rectory Farmhouse, King’s Mill House and De Freville Farmhouse.
Other notable villages to the south of Cambridge include Sawston and the largely residential collection of nearby settlements, including Babraham which houses a research campus, Great Abington, Hildersham, Whittlesford, Pampisford, Duxford and further afield, Linton and the Chesterfords (Great Chesterford and Little Chesterford). Notable buildings in these villages include:
Chilford Hall in Linton, with the 19th century property extended with brutalist board-marked concrete additions by Michael Dixey. The site has been used as a vineyard since the 1970s.
The American Air Museum hangar by Norman Foster Architects at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford was given Grade II* listed status in 2020, despite having only been completed in the late 1990s, reflecting its architectural and historical significance.
Abington Hall in Great Abington, which was originally built in the early 18th century and subsequently remodelled. The site has been largely redeveloped as the commercial Granta Park, masterplanned by Eric Parry Architects.
Villages west of Cambridge
The village of Wimpole contains Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire’s largest and most impressive mansion. The red brick and stone building, which originally dates from the 1640s, has been variously remodelled and extended throughout the centuries, including by John Soane in the late 18th century. The gardens contain a gothic architectural ‘sham castle’ folly on the hill north of the house, built during landscaping works by Capability Brown. The Wimpole Estate was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1976.
Sitting at the centre of Barrington, which lies approximately 7 miles south-west of Cambridge, is an expansive village green which contains various 17th and 18th century houses. The village is spread longitudinally, with housing largely following the route of the high street. A Clunch stone quarry operated here in the 20th century, with the site currently being redeveloped as a housing estate. Barrington Hall, which is situated west of All Saints church, and Rectory Farm, east of the church are two notable properties in the village.
Barton is an attractive village south-west of Cambridge, within cycling distance of the city centre. Burwash Manor is a popular courtyard of independent businesses including a farm shop, set in the grounds of the original manor farmhouse. The most interesting of the contemporary houses in the village is on New Road, designed in the 1960s by Barry Gasson and John Meunier; the cast concrete block appearance was influenced by the Colin St John Wilson houses in Grantchester Road, Cambridge.
The red brick Bourn Hall is perhaps Bourn’s most interesting building. Situated south-west of St Helena and St Mary’s church, the house was built in the early 1600s and adapted in the 1810s. There are various 13th to 17th century farmhouses, and a 17th century windmill situated several miles north-west of the village towards Caxton. Wysing Arts Centre lies south-west of the village, in the grounds of the 17th century Wysing Grange. The Arts Council England supported complex contains artist studios, in a building of 2007 by Hawkins/Brown.
Madingley’s largest and most impressive building is the Grade I listed Madingley Hall, built in the 1540s. Originally constructed as a private house, Cambridge University acquired the building in 1948 and the building is now used by the Institute for Continuing Education, alongside a conference centre and hotel. The impressive 1470s gateway to the grounds was reused from the Old Schools in Cambridge. Situated south-east of Madingley and accessed from Madingley Road is the American Cemetery and Memorial, built in the 1950s by Perry, Shaw & Hepburn, Kehoe & Dean.
Cambourne is a considerable new settlement, started in the late 1990s and still under construction. The masterplan, by Terry Farrell, aimed to retain woods and water courses, while creating generous spaces and green ‘corridors’. The largely pastiche residential architecture is on the whole generic and inoffensive, with the public and commercial buildings executed with varying degrees of success. South Cambridgeshire District Council moved its offices to the Cambourne business park in 2004. Cambourne is popular with workers in Cambridge owing to its close proximity via road and housing that is more affordable than the city.
Other notable towns and cities in Cambridgeshire
Ely, Godmanchester, Huntingdon, Royston, St. Ives and St. Neots are larger than the villages explored in this article, but contain a large portion of the Cambridgeshire population and many areas of new build housing. Huntingdon, Royston and St. Neots are particularly popular with commuters who work in London owing to their fast railway links.
As local Cambridge architects, Inclume have worked on projects in many of the villages and towns that surround the city, including Crowlands Villa and Blacksmiths Barn. Contact us if you would like to speak to one of our friendly team about a potential project and we would be happy to discuss how we can assist.
