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Aldreth

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Aldreth
Aerial view of Aldreth
OS grid referenceTL446735
• London62 mi (100 km) S
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townELY
Postcode districtCB6
Dialling code01353
PoliceCambridgeshire
FireCambridgeshire
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament
WebsiteECDC
List of places
UK
England
Cambridgeshire

Aldreth is a hamlet in Cambridgeshire with about 260 residents (2001 census). It is located near the larger village of Haddenham and falls under the same Parish council. Aldreth is surrounded by fenland on all sides and the River Great Ouse, or the Old West as the locals call it, runs close by.

History

The origin of the name

  • The name Aldreth comes from Alrehetha 1170; landing place by the alders; OE alor plus hȳth.[1] In the text of the twelfth century Liber Eliensis the place-name Aldreth is written Alreheðe, not Aldreth. The meaning of this Saxon or Danish name is literally "landing place (ie a hythe[2]) of alders (ie. the tree). Also, there are interchangeable references to Aldreth in various chronicles, and it is referred to as both Alrehethe and Alreheðe.[3] Alder does not mean "old" (that word is Alter). It means Alder tree, which is one of the few old English words still used in modern English.[4]
  • Another theory about how Aldreth got its name may be as a corruption of the patron saint of Aldreth, Æthelthryth or Etheldreda. Audrey is short for Etheldreda and so the name may come from the name Audrey itself.[5]

The battles

Main article: Hereward the Wake

The following text has been summarised from the MS:De Gestis Herwardi Saxonis,[6] The exploits of Hereward the Saxon,[7] an embellished Anglo-Saxon account of the battles thought to have been written by Leofric (fl.1070–1071),[8] not to be confused with Leofric, Earl of Mercia. The work was transcribed, in 1895, by S. H. Miller, Esq., Fellow of Royal Astronomical and Meteorological Societies, and translated by Rev. W. D. Sweeting, M.A., Vicar of Maxey, Market Deeping.[9] The ODNB entry for Hereward says of De Gestis Herwardi Saxonis, "...it has been almost universally execrated. Nevertheless, it may embody some authentic detail".

Aldreth may have been the site of two battles[10][11] in history between Hereward the Wake (Saxons) and William the Conqueror (Normans). Aldreth was one of three routes into the Isle of Ely at that time; Stuntney Causeway 2.25 miles (3.62 km) to the south-east, the Earith Causeway 10 miles (16 km) to the west-south-west and the Aldreth Causeway 7 miles (11 km) south-west of the Isle of Ely.[12]

Geography

Geology

The village is on an east-west running boulder clay (middle-Pleistocene till) ridge sitting on a belt of mainly Jurassic Kimmerigian clays running south-west from The Wash. To the east is a north-south running belt of geologically more recent Upper-Cretaceous Lower Greensand capped by Lower-Cretaceous Gault Clay; the whole area is surrounded by even more recent fen deposits. To the west, again running north-east—south-west, is a scarp belt of middle-Jurassic sedimentary rocks including limestone and sandstone.[13][14]

The flat fenland countryside around the village, typical for this part of the region, lies about 16 feet (5 metres) above sea-level. The highest point in the village is 23 feet (7 m) above sea-level and the highest point in the area is 85 feet (26 m) at Ely, seven-mile (11 km) north-east.[15] In contrast, the highest point in Cambridgeshire, 479 feet (146 metres) above sea-level, is at Great Chishill, 21 miles (34 kilometres) almost due south. Holme at nine feet (2.75 m) below sea-level is East Cambridgeshire's (and the United Kingdom's) lowest point, and is 18 miles (29 kilometres) north-west.[16]

References

  1. ^ Mills, A.D. (1991, 1998). A dictionary of British place-names:Aldreth. Oxford University press. ISBN 0198527586. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  2. ^ Oxford English Dictionary (OED):Hythe (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2010. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help) (subscription required)
  3. ^ Fairweather (2005) p.502
  4. ^ Rex, Peter (2004). The English Resistance: The Underground War Against the Normans (Revealing History). The History Press LTD. p. 68. ISBN 9780752428277.
  5. ^ Head (1995) p. 86 quoting Stenton, Frank (1943) Anglo-Saxon England Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Miller, S H (1895). De Gestis Herwardi Saxonis: The exploits of Hereward the Saxon. G C Caster. Retrieved 3 August 2010. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Roffe, David (2004–2010). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) : Hereward (fl.1070–1071) (online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 3 August 2010. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)(subscription required)
  8. ^ Roffe, David (2004–2010). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) : Leofric (fl.1070–1071) (online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 3 August 2010. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)(subscription required)
  9. ^ Penhey, R.J. (2007). "The Bourne Archive". Willoughby Memorial Library. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  10. ^ Miller (1895) chap. XXI
  11. ^ Miller (1895) chap. XXV
  12. ^ Head (1995) p. 149 plus google earth for distances
  13. ^ Darby (1940) p. 3 fig. 1
  14. ^ Geological Survey of Great Britain (Map) (Based on 1st series 1:50000 map part of sheet 143– 1974 ed.). Ordnance Survey. 1981. § Cambridge, Sheet 188. {{cite map}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  15. ^ Get-A-Map (Map) (2010 1:25,000 Scale ed.). Ordnance Survey. § TL446735GB. Retrieved 11 August 2010. {{cite map}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  16. ^ "UK's lowest spot is getting lower". England: BBC. Friday, 29 November 2002. p. 1. Retrieved 11 August 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)

Bibliography

  • Fairweather, Janet (2005). [Google Books [[Liber Eliensis]]: a history of the Isle of Ely from the seventh century to the twelfth]. The Boydell Press. p. 502. ISBN 1843830159. Retrieved 3 August 2010. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  • Head, Vincent (1995). Hereward: Quoting Stenton, Frank (1943) Anglo-Saxon England Oxford University Press. Alan Sutton Publishing Inc. p. 86. ISBN 0750908076.
  • Miller, S H (1895). De Gestis herwardi Saxonis. Geo. C. Caster, Market Place, Peterborough. Retrieved 16 August 2010. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
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