Comberton

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Comberton
Comberton village green.jpg
Comberton village green and pond
Cambridgeshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Comberton
Location within Cambridgeshire
Population2,346 (2011 Census) [1]
OS grid reference TL383563
District
Shire county
Region
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
List of places
UK
England
Cambridgeshire
52°11′15″N0°01′26″E / 52.1876°N 0.0240°E / 52.1876; 0.0240

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

Contents

Toponymy

One explanation for the village name is of Celtic origin, possibly named after a landowner by the name of Cumbra.[ citation needed ] Such village names are often derived from "Cumbre" + "-tun", where "Cumbre" generically means Briton(the Cymru) , and -tun is an Old English suffix meaning enclosure or farmstead. [2] The Domesday Book (1086) has it recorded as Cumbertone. According to William Kip’s map of the area in 1607 Comberton is spelt as it is today (2025). [3]

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. [4] The village was mentioned in Domesday Book of 1086 as Cumbertone, and therefore dates to at least the 11th century. [5] 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 12-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. [6] 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, [7] [8] down from 2,400 in 2011. [9] 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 [10] Early English-style building dating from the 13th century, [11] and a Baptist church dating from 1868. [12] The village has an infant playgroup, the Meridian Primary School, [13] Comberton Village College, [14] and the Comberton Sixth Form. [15] The latter two are part of the Cam Academy Trust. [16]

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

References

  1. "2011 Census". Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  2. "Key to English Place-names". kepn.nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 August 2025.
  3. "History of Comberton – Comberton Village Website". 28 April 2017.
  4. "Comberton history".
  5. "Comberton". Open Domesday Book. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  6. "British towns twinned with French towns". Archant Community Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  7. "Census 2021: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough provisional ward level population summary" (PDF). Census 2021: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough provisional ward level population summary. Cambridgeshire County Council. 3 November 2023.
  8. "Comberton (Cambridgeshire, East of England, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map, Location, Weather and Web Information". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  9. "South Cambridgeshire District Council population forecasts". Archived from the original on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
  10. "CHURCH OF ST MARY". Historic England. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  11. "St. Mary's website: History" . Retrieved 19 December 2009.
  12. "CBC website" . Retrieved 19 December 2009.
  13. "Comberton Primary School" . Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  14. "Comberton Village College" . Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  15. "Comberton Sixth Form" . Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  16. "Our Schools". Cam Academy Trust. Retrieved 25 November 2024.