Wansford | |
---|---|
![]() Elton Road, Wansford | |
Location within Cambridgeshire | |
Population | 506 |
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Peterborough |
Postcode district | PE8 |
Police | Cambridgeshire |
Fire | Cambridgeshire |
Ambulance | East of England |
UK Parliament | |
Wansford is a village straddling the City of Peterborough and Huntingdonshire districts in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. It had a population of 506 at the 2021 Census. [1] It is situated 7 miles (11 km) west of Peterborough and 8 miles (13 km) miles south of Stamford. It is close to the county boundary with both Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. The village is also located close to the A1 road and was on the route of the original Great North Road before the modern A1 was built. The village has since been bypassed by the A1 but the former Great North Road still exists through the village.
The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin is a Grade I listed building and is the main Church of England parish church of Wansford. [2] There is also a former chapel in the village centre, but this has since been converted into a private residence. The Great North Road crossed the River Nene on Wansford Old Bridge, which is a Grade I listed building. The stone bridge replaced a wooden bridge with eight arches damaged by floods in 1571. [3] The Great North Road was diverted to the east and the 1920s concrete bridge is itself Grade II*; it now carries the northbound carriageway of the A1.
Wansford is under two parish councils. Wansford Parish Council, within the area of Peterborough City Council, comprises the village north of, and including, the Old Bridge. The village to the south of Wansford Old Bridge (The Haycock side) is represented by Sibson-cum-Stibbington Parish Council and comes under Huntingdonshire District Council. Wansford station is in Stibbington parish. The village was split between two counties until 1965 when it came under one authority, (Huntingdon and Peterborough and, from 1974, Cambridgeshire). The boundary post between the Soke of Peterborough in Northamptonshire (the north side of the River Nene) and Huntingdonshire (the south bank) is still there halfway across the bridge. [4]
On 2 May 2007 the helicopter of Phillip Carter, entrepreneur and owner of the Haycock Hotel, was found as it had crashed nearby in woods at Kings Cliffe. [5]
According to local folklore, related in Defoe's A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain (1724), the name Wansford-in-England comes from the tale of a local man who fell asleep on a hayrick and upon awakening found himself floating down the River Nene towards the sea. He asked a traveller on the riverbank where he was, and upon hearing the reply "Wansford", asked, "Wansford in England?". The name stuck and the Haycock Hotel takes its name from the legend. [6]
This version of the story seems to be derived by oral transmission from "Barnabæ Itinerarium, or Barnabee's Journal", an account of four long and often drunken journeys north through England published by Richard Brathwait in 1638 and reprinted in 1820, with extensive notes, by Joseph Haslewood. [7] The hero, Barnaby, was allegedly born in Appleby-in-Westmorland, and his surname may have been Harrington (there was much discussion of the truth of these facts in prefaces to later editions - and indeed as to whether Barnaby had ever existed). [8] The poem is written in elegant Latin verse with a parallel translation into English doggerel (only the English is given here). [9]
The references to Wansford are in the third journey, after Barnaby has visited Stilton and before he heads north to Stamford. As the second verse shows, he arrived when Wansford had been hit by the plague and the doors were marked with warnings. [10]
Wansford has no real regular bus services aside from ring-and-ride buses and school bus services. [11] The nearest village with regular bus services to Peterborough, Stamford and Bourne is Barnack and further afield is Peterborough. The village was served by two railway stations, Wansford railway station was under miles southwest of the village on the former Northampton and Peterborough Railway which connected the village with Northampton, Wellingborough, Irthlingborough, Raunds, Thrapston, Oundle and Peterborough. The station was opened in 1845 and the station was also a junction for a branch line to Stamford East railway station via Barnack.
An additional station to serve the main village centre, called Wansford Road railway station, opened in 1867. This station though was also a distance from the main village centre and closed along with the branch line to Stamford East in 1929. Wansford station closed in 1957 to passengers and the stretch of the line from Northampton to Oundle in 1964. The line between Oundle and Peterborough via Wansford remained open for freight traffic and a boarding school in Oundle until 1972, when it too was closed. The station and line reopened around five years later under the Nene Valley Railway, a heritage railway group and trust. They bought the railway line between Yarwell and Peterborough via Wansford and they built a new station building at Wansford and now use the station for their main operations and headquarters.
In 2022, it was announced that National Highways planned to convert the single carriageway of the A47 between Leicester and Peterborough into a dual carriage way. This would involve cutting through part of the former Stamford to Wansford Branch Line and the relocating of Wansford Road station. Nene Valley Railway agreed to take the building and reuse it at their Peterborough terminus. This is still in the process of occurring. [12] [13]
Cambridgeshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East of England government statistical region, and popularly known as one of the three counties of East Anglia. The largest city is Peterborough, followed by the county town of Cambridge.
The A47 is a major road in England linking Birmingham to Lowestoft, Suffolk. Most of the section between Birmingham and Nuneaton is now classified as the B4114. From Peterborough eastwards, it is a trunk road.
The Nene Valley Railway (NVR) is a preserved railway in Cambridgeshire, England, running between Peterborough Nene Valley and Yarwell Junction. The line is 7+1⁄2 miles (12.1 km) in length. There are stations at each terminus, and three stops en route: Orton Mere, Ferry Meadows and Wansford.
Peterborough railway station serves the city of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. It is 76 miles 29 chains (122.9 km) down the East Coast Main Line from London King's Cross. The station is a major interchange serving both the north–south ECML, as well as long-distance and local east–west services. The station is managed by London North Eastern Railway. Ticket gates came into use at the station in 2012.
Barnack is a village and civil parish in the Peterborough unitary authority of the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England and the historic county of Northamptonshire. Barnack is in the north-west of the unitary authority, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south-east of Stamford, Lincolnshire. The parish includes the hamlet of Pilsgate about 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest of Barnack. Both Barnack and Pilsgate are on the B1443 road. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 931.
Woodston is a largely residential and industrial area of the city of Peterborough, in the unparished area of Old Fletton, in the Peterborough district, in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. For electoral purposes, it forms part of Fletton ward in North West Cambridgeshire constituency. Oundle Road runs through most of Woodston into the Ortons.
The A605 road is a main road in the English counties of Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire.
Peterborough East was a railway station in Peterborough, England. It was opened on 2 June 1845 and closed to passenger traffic on 6 June 1966. Located on East Station Road just off Town Bridge, only the engine sheds and one platform remain. The station had services running west to Northampton and Rugby, as well as to the east to March, Wisbech, and Norwich.
Wansford railway station is the headquarters of the Nene Valley Railway in Cambridgeshire, England. The station building was opened in 1995 and contains a ticket office, shop, cafe and toilets. The locomotive sheds are located at this station. Also at the station there is a picnic area and children's playground. The station was formerly the junction for a branch to Stamford, which separated to the north just east of the river bridge at Wansford.
Sibson-cum-Stibbington is a civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The parish includes the villages of Sibson and Stibbington, together with Wansford railway station and that part of Wansford village south of the River Nene. The Nene forms the northern boundary of the parish, in a large loop around it from west to east.
Castor Railway Station was a station serving the villages Castor and Ailsworth in Cambridgeshire. It was on the old London and North Western Railway Northampton to Peterborough line. On 3 January 1945 the station was badly damaged by a V1 attack. The station closed in 1957 but trains between Rugby and Peterborough East continued to run until the line itself closed in 1966. The line between Wansford and Peterborough has since been reopened as the Nene Valley Railway, although Castor station itself remains closed.
Uffington and Barnack was a railway station in the Soke of Peterborough serving the villages of Uffington, Barnack and Bainton.
The City of Peterborough in East Anglia has an extensive and well integrated road network, owing partly to its status as a new town. Since the 1960s, the city has seen considerable expansion and its various suburbs are linked by a system of parkways.
Oundle railway station is a Grade II listed former railway station in Oundle, Northamptonshire on the former Northampton and Peterborough Railway line which connected Peterborough and Northampton. In 1846 the line, along with the London and Birmingham, became part of the London and North Western Railway. At grouping in 1923 it became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway.
Ufford Bridge railway station was a station serving the villages of Ufford and Southorpe in the Soke of Peterborough. The station was situated where the road from Ufford crosses the railway, at the point where it meets the Barnack to Southorpe road.
Wansford Road railway station was located in Northamptonshire serving the village of Wansford. It was some distance east of the village on the A47 road, although still nearer than the more important Wansford station of the London & North Western Railway. The station was built in 1867.
Stamford East railway station was the Stamford and Essendine Railway station in Water Street, Stamford, Lincolnshire. The line was worked by the Great Northern Railway but retained its independence until 1886, when the GNR took the line on perpetual lease.
The Northampton and Peterborough Railway was an early railway promoted by the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) to run from a junction at Blisworth on the L&BR main line to Northampton and Peterborough, in England. The construction of the line was authorised by Parliament in 1843 and the 47 mile line opened in 1845. The line largely followed the river Nene, and for economy of construction, it had many level crossings with intersecting roads, rather than bridges. In 1846 the L&BR joined with other companies, together forming the London and North Western Railway (LNWR).
Pondersbridge is a village in Whittlesey civil parish, part of the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England. Pondersbridge is essentially a settlement which has built up around the river crossing, situated on an artificial drainage cutting called Bevill's Leam. The banks of Bevill's Leam form a strong visual boundary. The older settlement has been extended on the Main Road, north-wards by the local authority housing. The settlement has very limited services and a sporadic development pattern. The main part of Pondersbridge is contained within a triangle of roads - the B1040, the B1095 and The Drove.
John William Livock was an architect based in England, best known for his railway stations constructed for the London and North Western Railway.