COTTENHAM

'Cottenham' is a village in Cambridgeshire. It is close to The Fens. Before the fens were drained in the 19th century Cottenham was on the last contour before the water logged marshes, with Ely being the nearest dry land to the north (some 20 miles away).

Contents

History

Village Amenities

Churches

Sport and Recreation

Legends

Famous Residents

Cottenham Village Design Statement

See also

External links

History

'Great Fire of Cottenham - 4 April 1850'
The village of Cottenham fell victim to a great many fires over the centuries, but none so devastating as that which occurred on 4 April 1850.
Starting in the High Street around 8.30 in the evening, the flames spread rapidly and though there was no loss of human life "a vast quantity of poultry and pigeons and a good many pigs were destroyed." Forty to fifty cottages burnt down as well as the Black Horse and White Horse inns and the Wesleyan Chapel which was housed in a barn on what is now Telegraph Street.

The arsonist was believed to be one William Hayward, who was lodging at the Lamb Inn whilst doing casual labour for Thomas Graves on the boundary of whose property the fire had started. The landlord of the Lamb was quick to report that Hayward had said to him "I have been a match for old Graves ... damn and blast the fire: I wish it would burn half Cottenham down." Suspicions were fuelled the morning after the fire when the landlord woke to discover Hayward had left town.
A rather trumped up case was brought against Hayward for referral to the coming assizes but, presumably for want of hard evidence, the bill was ignored by the Grand Jury.

Village Amenities

Cottenham has a fairly wide range of amenities in the village, including:
Two GP Surgeries, a Dental Surgery, a Library, a Co-operative Store and Pharmacy, a Junior School & SecEd School (also serving Willingham & Waterbeach), two Newsagents, a Post Office, Cambridge Building Society,four Pubs (The Chequers, Hopbind, Jolly Millers & Wagon & Horses), a Chinese take-away & fish & chip shop, a Bangladeshi/Indian restaurant, a Butcher, a Baker, two Hairdressers and a Beauty Salon, B & C Motors, VIP Bookmakers, Cambridge Cabinets, Hollandceramics, a couple of Carpet Shops, a Picture Framer, Fire Station, Scout Hut, Conservative Club, Central Garage & Filling Station, British Legion & Salvation Army, Smithy Fen lucky heather emporium and much much more.

Churches

Cottenham has 3 different churches in the village, All Saints Anglican Church, Baptist and Methodist

Sport and Recreation

Cottenham has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V
Cottenham United Football Club play on the King George V Playing Fields, the club has boys and girls teams from U'7s up to Senior level. The Senior team have been constant competitors in the Kershaw Premier League (Top level of Amateur football in England) finishing 3rd in 2005/06. In the 2006/2007 season the Cottenham United B Team achieved promotion.
There is a successful cricket club playing on the fields in the summer months with both youth and adult teams.
Cottenham does have a social rugby team for older generations who just want to play the game, called the Cottenham Rengades playing at Cottenham Village College.
Also at the King George Playing Fields is an outdoor bowling green
The Village college does provide facilities of a gym, sports hall and outdoor swimming pool with extensive field facilities for the community. Tennis courts and outside 5-aside courts get regular use by the public also.
The village is also home to Carters Gym off the village green.

Legends

The church sits at the end of this long village, and according to local legend and tradition has a strange tale attached to it. The villagers of times gone by wanted to build the church in a more centralised part of the community. The townsmen started the task, but it was said that the stones mysteriously started being transported back to their original site, so afraid, the locals decided to leave the church where originally intended.

Famous Residents

The grandmother of the poet Samuel Pepys lived in Cottenham; the house in the northern area of the village bears a plaque. Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury between 1695 and 1715 was born in Cottenham in 1636. The Norwich City footballer Adam Drury was also born in Cottenham.

Cottenham Village Design Statement

Cottenham was one of the villages in the United Kingdom to produce a Village design statement. It was one of four pilot projects, the others being Stratford-on-Avon, Cartmel in Cumbria and Down Ampney in Gloucestershire. These were promoted as "exemplars", together with written guidance training and advice for other communities wishing to take up the initiative
The original 1994 Design Statement was endorsed by the people of Cottenham through a process of exhibitions and consultation. A wide public consultation exercise was carried out in March and April 1994, with copies of the draft document circulated to all residents and businesses in the village. It was also sent to a wide range of relevant organisations, particularly those interested in matters of design, and public notices were placed in the local press on 25th and 31st March 1994.
The Design Statement was adopted as Supplementary Planning Guidance by South Cambridgeshire District Council on 19th May 1994. Since that time both the village and planning legislation have evolved, with the result that the original document is now less relevant than when it was first written.
To ensure that the Design Statement remains an effective tool for guiding development within the village, the Cottenham Village Design Group has spent the last year revising the Design Statement. The 1994 document has been thoroughly reviewed and brought up-to-date, with additional material included based on the experiences of using the Design Statement to comment on planning applications over the preceding decade. Further changes have been made to comply with the requirements for adoption as a Supplementary Planning Document within the Local Development Framework for South Cambridgeshire.
A public consultation on the new draft Design Statement is being held between 20th July and 31st August 2007.

See also

★ List of places in Cambridgeshire

External links

★ Cottenham Online

★ Cottenham United Football Club

★ Cottenham Newsletter

★ Cottenham Theatre Workshop

★ Links to Cottenham websites

★ The Cottenham Village Society

★ History of Cottenham Chuch

★ Economic History of Cottenham

★ 2001 Census

★ Cottenham Info Pages

★ Cottenham Village Design Group

★ Cottenham Environment Audit Group

★ Cottenham War Memorial - Roll of Honour