Waterbeach

For other uses, see Waterbeach (disambiguation).

Waterbeach
Waterbeach village sign
Waterbeach Location within Cambridgeshire
Population	5,166 (2011)
OS grid reference	TL496654
District	South Cambridgeshire
Shire county	Cambridgeshire
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CAMBRIDGE
Postcode district	CB25
Dialling code	01223
Police	Cambridgeshire
Fire	Cambridgeshire
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	South East Cambridgeshire

Waterbeach is a village on the edge of The Fens, 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Cambridge in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It has grown recently as a dormitory settlement for Cambridge.

History

Village

Waterbeach is on the Car Dyke, a Roman waterway whose course can be traced as far as Lincoln. Recent archaeological investigations have found extensive evidence of Roman settlement at the south end of the village.

Waterbeach appears in the 1086 Domesday Book as Utbech. In the 12th century, the Knights Templar occupied Denny Abbey to the north of the village, one of several Scheduled Ancient Monuments, which houses the Farmland Museum. Also scheduled are the site of Waterbeach Abbey, to the south of the present church, and a stretch of the Car Dyke.

The lawyer/politician John Yaxley acquired an estate at Waterbeach by 1610 and lived there. He and Edward Aungier of Cambridge purchased the manors of Waterbeach and Causeway from the Crown for £900 in 1614.

RAF and British Army

A Royal Air Force station, RAF Waterbeach, was built on the northern edge of the village in 1940, for the RAF Bomber Command. After the Second World War, the station was operated by RAF Transport Command and then by RAF Fighter Command until 1966, when the site transferred to the Royal Engineers and became Waterbeach Barracks. The small Museum has closed, but its collection has been saved and put in storage.

The barracks closed on 28 March 2013, after a move by all the remaining Army units to RAF Kinloss in Scotland and to RAF Wittering in 2012–2013. The site is being used to provide 6,000–10,000 new homes.

Today

St John's Church

Waterbeach has expanded in recent years along with the economic growth in the region. It has increasingly become a dormitory for Cambridge. The village has several shops and businesses. There is a small industrial estate at the edge of the village and several small companies have premises in the village itself. Waterbeach Community Primary School has some 300 pupils. Adjacent to it is Waterbeach Independent Lending Library.

An Anglican Church of St John the Evangelist, a Baptist church famous for its ties with Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and a corps of the Salvation Army are present in the village. Active community groups include Scouts and Girl Guides, the Army Cadet Force, playgroups and a play scheme, and a Community Association. The Denny End industrial estate and Cambridge Innovation Park accommodate businesses such as the Milton Brewery and A&R Cambridge Ltd. To the south-east is a Woodland Trust nature area called Cow Hollow Wood, created in 2000 to mark the Millennium.

Transport

Waterbeach railway station is on the Fen Line between Cambridge and King's Lynn. The village lies close to the busy London–King's Lynn A10 road. The village has a bus service linking it to Cambridge and to the towns of March, Wisbech and Littleport and the city of Ely. A proposal to move the railway station closer to the development at the Barracks was approved by the local planning committee in 2018.

An Ordnance Survey map of the 1920s shows an agricultural tramway running north from Clay's Farm on Joist Fen to Middle Farm, between the railway and the River Cam, opposite the ferry to Upware.

Notable people

In birth order:

• Richard Jugge (died 1577), the Royal Printer generally credited with inventing the footnote, was probably born in Waterbeach.
• Robert Masters (1719–1798), a writer, historian and cleric, served as Rector of Waterbeach in 1775–1784.
• William Keatinge Clay (1797–1867), an antiquary and cleric, served as Rector of Waterbeach from 1854 until his death in 1867.
• Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1797–1867), the eventual Baptist Pastor of London's Metropolitan Tabernacle, served first at Waterbeach Baptist Church, when he was 17 years old.
• David Stafford-Clark (1916–1999), a psychiatrist, poet and author, served with the RAF Bomber Command at Waterbeach during World War II.
• Terry Hale (born 1936), a player for Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club (1957–1978), was born in Waterbeach.

See also

• List of places in Cambridgeshire

References

Sources

• South Cambridge District Council Local Plan 2004
• GENUKI entry for Waterbeach

Bibliography

• John F. Hamlin and Oliver J. Merrington (2011 and 2014), At the 'Beach: the story of Royal Air Force Waterbeach and Waterbeach Barracks, Peterborough: GMS Enterprises (available from Waterbeach Military Heritage Museum) ISBN 1-904514-63-4
• William Keatinge Clay (1852), A History of the Parish of Waterbeach in the County of Cambridge, Cambridge: Deighton Bell (Cambridge Antiquarian Society, Octavo series, Vol. 4)
• Robert Masters (1795), A Short Account of the Parish of Waterbeach: in the Diocese of Ely, London

External links

• Waterbeach Community Association
• Waterbeach Parish Council
• Waterbeach Forward – campaign group
• Fen Edge Community Association