Fen Ditton

Fen Ditton is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, on the northeast edge of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 the parish had a population of 760. The parish covers an area of 5.99 square kilometres (2 sq mi).

Fen Ditton lies on the east bank of the River Cam, on the road from Cambridge to Clayhithe, and close to junction 34 of the A14. The nearest railway station is Cambridge North; Waterbeach station is several kilometres north of the village.

The site has been occupied since at least neolithic times, and stone tools have been found on the meadows between the village and the river.

The name was first recorded in around 950 as Dittone, meaning "the village by the ditch", derived from the Fleam Dyke, the prehistoric ditch that passed through the village from the river to the edge of the fens at Stow-cum-Quy and can still be seen just to the east of the village. The name was later changed to its present name to distinguish it from Wood Ditton.^[3]

The village's history is closely connected to its position on the River Cam, which provided trade throughout the medieval period and its principal connection to other settlements. A large wharf at the western end of the High Street allowed goods to be delivered for the annual Stourbridge Fair between the 12th and 14th centuries, but trade declined in later centuries. The wharf was still in use in 1845, but the opening of the London-Cambridge railway line removed its commercial purpose and it closed. More recently the river has been used primarily for leisure purposes.^[4]

A paper mill was opened in the parish in around 1550, only the second recorded in England. Standing on Coldham's Brook at the junction of modern-day Ditton Walk and Newmarket Road it had fallen out of use by the early 19th century; it is now occupied by offices.^[4]

El primer camino del pueblo discurría entre el río y la iglesia, uniendo Fen Ditton con Horningsea al menos desde principios del siglo XV. En el siglo XVII, se trasladó al este de la iglesia. Ninguna de las dos rutas hacia Horningsea se conserva, pero su trazado hacia el sur, en dirección a Cambridge, está marcado actualmente por Ditton Walk y el sendero de Wadloes. En el siglo XVIII, se construyó un nuevo camino en la zona más elevada para conectar Newmarket Road con Fen Ditton y Horningsea, y que ahora constituye la principal vía de comunicación del pueblo. La línea de ferrocarril de Cambridge a Fordham , inaugurada en 1884, atravesaba la mitad sur de la parroquia. ^{[ 4 ]}

El área conocida como Fen Ditton Fields formó parte de la parroquia hasta que fue transferida a Cambridge en 1938. Con la expansión de Cambridge, se construyeron viviendas en los terrenos durante la primera mitad del siglo XX, y también alberga el Cementerio Municipal de Cambridge , el único cementerio que aún acepta nuevos entierros en Cambridge. Actualmente, el área limita con la antigua línea de ferrocarril, Coldham's Common y el Aeropuerto de Cambridge . Pye Telecommunications , pionera en el uso de radios en taxis, abrió su sede en esta área en 1944; fue adquirida por Philips en la década de 1980. ^{[ 4 ]}

La iglesia parroquial de Santa María la Virgen, perteneciente a la Iglesia de Inglaterra, fue construida en el siglo XII. Construida con piedra de Barnack y mampostería, con revestimientos de piedra caliza y guijarros, consta de presbiterio, nave, naves laterales norte y sur, pórtico sur y torre oeste. Se conservan algunos elementos originales de mampostería del siglo XII, y la torre data del siglo XIII. ^{[ 5 ]} Está coronada por una veleta con forma de ocho remeros . ^{[ 6 ]}

La iglesia católica romana de San Vicente de Paúl se encuentra en Ditton Lane. Es un edificio de madera, revestido con chapa ondulada, y, al ser un edificio prefabricado, ha estado ubicado en varios lugares (como hospital improvisado, club y salón) hasta que se estableció como iglesia en su ubicación actual en 1958. La iglesia tiene una asistencia regular de alrededor de 80 personas. ^{[ 7 ]} Aunque está en Ditton Lane, y a poca distancia del pueblo, esta iglesia se encuentra en realidad dentro de la ciudad de Cambridge, no en Fen Ditton.

Fen Ditton is often associated with The Bumps, the annual rowing races held on the river alongside the village. This association can be seen in the church's weather vane, which takes the form of a rowing eight, and a service for rowers is held there each year. During the 1940s and 50s a ferry would operate across the river to The Plough public house during May Week until it sank in 1961.

There are two public houses in Fen Ditton. The Plough runs down to the river at Green End; The King's Head, active since at least 1760, is situated alongside the church. Former pubs include The Sluice or Pike and Eel, to the north of the village on the river; The Harvest Home on Green End; and The Blue Lion, rebuilt in 1951, where the High Street meets the Horningsea Road. The Blue Lion closed in March 2012 to allow the site to be redeveloped as housing. The Ancient Shepherds on the High Street was built as three cottages in 1540. It closed as a public house in June 2020, was bought by Mark J Poynton, and reopened later in 2020 as a restaurant, under the name of MJP @ The Shepherds.^[8] Fen Ditton Gallery was established at 23 High Street in 1990 and is generally run on an appointment basis with several exhibitions a year.^[9]

Children initially attend Fen Ditton Primary school and usually then go on to Bottisham Village College. The village's store and post office closed in 2005. The shop unit is presently used as a studio and gallery by Christina Green, one of Fen Ditton's artists in residence.

Fen Ditton is home to both a cricket^[10] and a football team. Both sides play their home games on Fen Ditton Recreation Ground.

The village's war memorial, unveiled in 1921, sits on a grass island at the junction of High Street and Church Street. It is a tapered obelisk set on a plinth that lists the names of 22 villagers killed in the First World War and a further five from the second. Among those commemorated is Captain Keith Lucas. The war memorial is a Grade II listed building.^[11]

On Church Street, opposite the church, is a small, picturesque row of three cottages, known as Willys' Almshouses. Wall plaques explain they were built by Sir Thomas Willys, 1st Baronet, whose family were the principal landowners until the 1730s, as six cottages ("for six poor widows") in 1665, rebuilt in 1877, and finally, in 1968-69, combined into the three used today. These are operated by a charity,^[12] "for rental by single independent people of the parish of Fen Ditton".^[13]

• Elizabeth Cheney, the great-grandmother of Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, and Catherine Howard, three of the wives of King Henry VIII of England, thus making her great-great-grandmother to King Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth I.

• Horningsea
• Clayhithe
• Waterbeach

• Fen Ditton Halt railway station

• Fen Ditton Parish Council
• 2001 Census summary (PDF)