Comberton

For other places with the same name, see Comberton (disambiguation).

Comberton is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, a few miles south-west of Cambridge.

Comberton
Comberton village green and pond
Comberton Location within Cambridgeshire
Population	2,346 (2011 Census)[1]
OS grid reference	TL383563
District	South Cambridgeshire
Shire county	Cambridgeshire
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CAMBRIDGE
Postcode district	CB23
Dialling code	01223
Police	Cambridgeshire
Fire	Cambridgeshire
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	South Cambridgeshire
List of places UK England Cambridgeshire 52.187613°N 0.024048°E / 52.187613; 0.024048

History

Archaeological finds, including a Neolithic polished stone axe (found to the south of the current village) and a Bronze Age barrow (to the north), suggest there has been a settlement here for thousands of years. A Roman villa was discovered in 1842.^[2] The village was mentioned in Domesday Book of 1086 as Cumbertone, and therefore dates to at least the 11th century.^[3] Some of the present houses in the village date from the 14th century.

Geography

Comberton is about 5 miles (8.0 km) south-west of the city of Cambridge, and just 1⁄2-mile (0.80 km) east of the Greenwich Prime Meridian, lying at a height above mean sea level of around 25 feet (7.6 m). The civil parish covers 1,954 acres (790.8 ha), and is part of the local government district of South Cambridgeshire. Nearby villages include Barton to the east and Toft to the west. Comberton is twinned with Le Vaudreuil, a village near Rouen, France.^[4] The Prime Meridian is marked by a stone plaque on the north side of the main road (B1046) between Comberton and the neighbouring village of Toft.

Community

Comberton has a population of about 2,300,^[5][6] down from 2,400 in 2011.^[7] It has a pub, The Three Horseshoes, shops, a post office, a recreation ground, a doctor's surgery, and two churches: the Church of England St Mary's, a Grade I listed^[8] Early English-style building dating from the 13th century,^[9] and a Baptist church dating from 1868.^[10] The village has an infant playgroup, the Meridian Primary School,^[11] Comberton Village College,^[12] and the Comberton Sixth Form.^[13] The latter two are part of the Cam Academy Trust.^[14] The four corners of the crossroads at the village centre house the village pond with resident ducks, a school, a large farm house, Cross Farm, and the former village store, now a dental surgery.

From the 1930s onward, Cross Farm was home to the literary journalist and writer Lyn Irvine and her husband, Cambridge mathematician Max Newman. The hamlet of Green End, just north of the crossroads, was named after the landowner Sir Henry Green (d.1370), Chief Justice of the King's Bench 1361–1365. The current Manor House at Green End dates back to the late 16th century.

See also

• List of places in Cambridgeshire