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Witcham

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Witcham
Population429 (2011)[1]
OS grid referenceTL463800
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townELY
Postcode districtCB6
Dialling code01353
Websitehttp://www.witcham.org.uk
List of places
UK
England
Cambridgeshire
Signpost in Witcham

Witcham is a small village near Ely in Cambridgeshire, England.

The village is surrounded by fenland farms and has a village hall and a 13th-century church dedicated to St Martin. It has a pub called the White Horse, which was the winner of the Ely and District CAMRA Rural Pub of the Year Award 2006, 2010, 2011 and Overall Pub of the Year Award 2011. It also has a fine village green.

The village hosts the World Pea Shooting Championships on the second Saturday in July every year and has staged the competition annually since 1971.

Witcham is built around a cross-roads in the centre of the village with each of the four roads having housing on each side for 50-200m. The north-bound street is called "Martins Lane", the east-bound street is "High Street", south-bound is "The Slade", and west-bound is "Silver Street", which leads to the more recent housing developments of "Westway Place" and "The Orchards".

The Witcham Gravel Helmet in the British Museum

The name of the village derives from "Wycham", meaning "place of the wych elms", after the trees that used to grow there in significant numbers. A Roman cavalry helmet dating from AD 14 was found in the village gravel pit, and now resides in the British Museum.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics. Area: Witcham (Parish)". ONS. 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  2. ^ British Museum Collection