Barkway is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the North Hertfordshire district of

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, England, about five miles south-east of Royston, 35 miles from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and 15 miles from the centre of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. The

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

Prime Meridian A prime meridian is an arbitrarily chosen meridian (geography), meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. On a spheroid, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian (the 180th meridian ...

passes a mile or so to the west of Barkway.

History

Barkway is reputedly listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as ''Birchwig'', meaning Birch Way. Barkway has a number of 15th and 16th century properties, some with thatched roofs. Barkway High Street

Most properties are on or near the High Street, which is part of the old London to Cambridge coaching route. Barkway has had a village church for over 1,000 years. The current flint and stone church, which is over 800 years old and dedicated to St Mary Magdalene, has a full

peal In campanology (bell ringing), a peal is the special name given to a specific type of performance of change ringing which meets certain exacting conditions for duration, complexity and quality. The definition of a peal has changed considerably ...

of 8 bells which are rung every week.

Geography

The village has an infants' school, the Tally Ho pub, a recreation ground with children's play area and football pitch, a golf course, a garage and a number of active social organisations. There is a village hall on Cambridge Road. Two major country estates are adjacent to the north of the village: Cokenach, which has a long-established cricket club, and Newsells which is now a stud farm.

Governance

Barkway has three tiers of local government at parish, district and county level: Barkway Parish Council, North Hertfordshire District Council, and Hertfordshire County Council. The parish council meets at the recreation ground pavilion on Cambridge Road (opposite the village hall). Barkway is an

ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, and it was part of the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Edwinstree. The parish historically included the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Nuthampstead. Nuthampstead took on civil functions under the

poor laws The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief in England and Wales that developed out of the codification of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws in 1587–1598. The system continued until the modern welfare state emerged in the late 1940s. E ...

from the 17th century onwards and therefore became a separate

in 1866, when the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws. Despite becoming a separate civil parish, Nuthampstead remains part of the ecclesiastical parish of Barkway.

Population

The parish had a population of 849 at the 2021 census. The population had been 775 in 2011, and 656 in 2001.

Notable residents

* Sir Humphrey de Trafford, a prominent racehorse owner, resided at the Newsells Park Estate with his family from 1926 until his death in 1971. * Richard J. Evans, Regius Professor Emeritus of History at Cambridge.

References

External links

Barkway-Newsells village siteCokenach Cricket Club
* Villages in Hertfordshire Civil parishes in Hertfordshire North Hertfordshire District {{Hertfordshire-geo-stub