The village of Cheveley is situated in the county of

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

and lies about four miles east-south-east of the market town of Newmarket. The population of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

was 1,990 at the 2011 Census. Cheveley falls within the local government district of

East Cambridgeshire East Cambridgeshire (locally known as East Cambs) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in Ely. The population of the District Council at the 2011 Census was 83,818. The district was formed on 1 April 197 ...

. Geographically, Cheveley stands on the third highest point in Cambridgeshire at above sea level. The hamlet of Cheveley Park, a mile from Cheveley, is the home of Cheveley Park Stud.

History

The origin of the village dates to the tenth century. Its name is first attested 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 and derives from Old English. The second element derives from Old English ''lēah'' 'open land'. The first element was long thought to be the word '' chaff'', but more recent research suggests that Old English ''ceaf'' could also denote the chaffinch. Thus the name probably meant 'open land characterised by chaffinches'. In the mid-2010s, a smithy in use between c.1100 and c. 1220 was excavated by

Headland Archaeology Headland Archaeology Ltd is a wholely owned subsidiary of the RSK Group. Headland provides archaeological services and heritage advice to the construction industry. Company history Headland Archaeology Ltd was established in 1996. Headquartere ...

. It had been temporarily abandoned in the 1140s and 1150s, probably due to the chaos of

The Anarchy The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Normandy between 1138 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a war of succession precipitated by the accidental death of William Adelin, the only legi ...

Land use in Cheveley

The trees of the

Duke of Rutland Duke of Rutland is a title in the Peerage of England, named after Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. Earldoms named after Rutland have been created three times; the ninth earl of the third creation was made duke in 1703, in who ...

's old park, no longer a ducal domain, spread over into the roadway and gardens of this village near the

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

border. A

linear village Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...

, Cheveley's non-residential

land use Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long his ...

consists almost entirely of

paddock A paddock is a small enclosure for horses. In the United Kingdom, this term also applies to a field for a general automobile racing competition, particularly Formula 1. Description In Canada and the United States of America, a paddock is a smal ...

land used by studs, the most notable being the Cheveley Park Stud, after which the

Cheveley Park Stakes The Cheveley Park Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it ...

are named.

War memorial

By the road outside the church, in memory of the men who did not come back, stands a soldier with bowed head in a niche below a cross. The Jacobean Rectory has great (possibly 18th-century) iron gates, said to have come from the Alington family's seat at

Horseheath Horseheath is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, situated a few miles south-east of Cambridge, between Linton and Haverhill, on the A1307 road. It was known to the Romans, and it had for a while a fine house in a great park, but both are now ...

Church

The fine aisleless church, in the shape of a cross, has a 600-year-old tower beginning square and ending with eight sides, a turret rising from the ground, with a winding stairway to the belfry and a summit once used for beacon fires. The fine arches with clustered pillars on which the tower rests are the glory of the church indoors, recalling the days when there were four guilds here, each guild keeping a light burning on these piers. Three of the four brackets for the lights are still here, one carved with a face and one a grotesque little fellow with his legs doubled behind him. The church belongs to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

's three great building centuries, and still has the oak screen set in its chancel arch 600 years ago. The choir-stalls are 'modern' with fine carvings of dogs, fishes, birds, bats, dragons, and a wolf. There are two Jacobean chairs, and a richly inlaid one of cypress wood, the seat opening to form a chest; it is thought to be the throne of a Venetian

Doge A doge ( , ; plural dogi or doges) was an elected lord and head of state in several Italian city-states, notably Venice and Genoa, during the medieval and renaissance periods. Such states are referred to as "crowned republics". Etymology The ...

of the 14th century. A little glass in a transept window is older still. The painted font is 19th-century, most unusual in its blaze of colour, a new dress in mediaeval style. Under an arch on the chancel wall is one of the Folkes family, in a red cloak, reading a book. He died in 1642. There is a memorial to James Hand, who was Rector for 49 years until 1830. There are some pictures and a description of the church at the Cambridgeshire Churches website.The church's page at the Cambridgeshire Churches website
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Education

Children initially attend the primary school in the village, with many then going on to the nearby secondary school

Bottisham Village College Bottisham Village College is a Mixed-sex education, mixed secondary school located in Bottisham, Cambridgeshire, England. The school opened in 1937 as the second Village College, village college in part of the Local Director of Education Henry Mo ...

. In the 1920s, one of the pupils at Cheveley Church of England Primary School was Bill Tutte, who later became a noted 20th century mathematician, especially remembered for his brilliant code-breaking activities at

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...

during World War II.

Amenities

Presently, Cheveley has many local amenities. The recreation ground provides an off-road field, where cricket, football and mere dog walking take place. The Red Lion public house is situated to the south of the village. The local village store, Cheveley Post Office is situated opposite the Red Lion pub. The Icknield Way Path passes through the village on its 110-mile journey from

Ivinghoe Beacon Ivinghoe Beacon is a prominent hill and landmark in Buckinghamshire, England, 233 m (757 ft) above sea level in the Chiltern Hills, close to Ivinghoe and Aldbury. Dunstable, Berkhamsted and Tring are nearby. The Beacon lies within the ...

in Buckinghamshire to Knettishall Heath in Suffolk. Th
Icknield Way Trail
a multi-user route for walkers, horse riders and off-road cyclists also passes through the village.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Cambridgeshire Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire East Cambridgeshire District