Great Wilbraham is a small village situated in a rural area some to the east 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 ...

, between the edge of an area of low-lying drained

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires ...

s to the west and north, and higher ground beyond the A11 to the east. The administrative authorities are

Cambridgeshire County Council Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council for non-metropolitan county of Cambridgeshire, England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county, which additionally includes the City o ...

, South Cambridgeshire District Council, and Great Wilbraham Parish Council.

History

The parish of Great Wilbraham has been occupied for thousands of years; a Neolithic camp was excavated in the west of the parish in 1976, and a Bronze Age barrow, where up to eight burials were discovered in 1852, lies alongside the

Fleam Dyke Fleam Dyke is a linear earthwork between Fulbourn and Balsham in Cambridgeshire, initiated some time between AD 330 and AD 510. It is three miles long and seven metres high from ditch to bank, and its ditch faces westwards, implying invading Saxon ...

in the southern corner of the parish. A possible Roman dwelling was also located in woodlands. The medieval history of Great Wilbraham is tied up with that of neighbouring

Little Wilbraham Little Wilbraham is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, east of Cambridge between the A1303 and the A11. It is in the district of South Cambridgeshire. It is a small village with a population of only 394, increasing to 425 at the 2011 cens ...

, and they were first distinguished in the 13th century when it was also known as King's Wilbraham. Listed as ''Wilburgeham'' in the 10th century, and ''Wiborgham'' 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 ...

, the name "Wilbraham" means "Homestead of a woman called Wilburh".

Church

A church was built in Wilbraham in around 970 by a monk from

Ramsey Abbey Ramsey Abbey was a Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine abbey in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, Ramsey, Huntingdonshire (now part of Cambridgeshire), England. It was founded about AD 969 and Dissolution of the Monasteries, dissolved in 1539. The site ...

. The present church, dedicated to

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

, dates from the 12th century, and the font and the nave's north wall survive from that period. Extended over the following 200 years, the west tower dates from around 1400. A short spire was added but had gone by the late 18th century. The village has been home to nonconformity since the 17th century, and there has been a strong Baptist presence since then. A Baptist chapel survives at the north end of Angle End.

Village life

Great Wilbraham is mostly residential in nature. Employment within the village is mostly agricultural but there are also a number of small businesses. Many of the working residents commute into

or other nearby towns such as Newmarket. The village has a variety of house types, mostly

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

or older, with post-war infill development, and a small number of modest-scale modern estates. No significant expansion is anticipated in the near future. A number of attractive period houses surround the large village green, which adjoins the churchyard. There is a

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

/general store and a village hall/social club. Great Wilbraham retains one public house, the Carpenter's Arms, which has been open since at least 1767. Former pubs were The (Sedan) Chair, recorded from 1765, and the 19th century King's Head and White Swan, both of which closed in the late 1960s. The Voluntarily Aided Church

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

enjoys an excellent reputation with approximately 100 pupils between the ages of 5 and 11. Within the village there are two pre-school groups, one attached to the school. Children of secondary age mostly attend the

Village College The village college is an institution specific to Cambridgeshire, England, including the Peterborough unitary authority area. It caters for the education of 11- to 16-year-olds during the day, and provides educational and leisure facilities to t ...

in the nearby village of

Bottisham Bottisham is a village and civil parish in the East Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England, about east of Cambridge, halfway to Newmarket, Suffolk, Newmarket. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,983, including Ch ...

. There is a strong sporting tradition within the village, with cricket and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

teams making use of the green.

Darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

and indoor bowls are also played in the Social Club. Money is raised by an annual Sports Day which includes many stalls and events such as coconut shies, pony rides, running races and even cake competitions.

Notable people

Robert Bolgar Caius Coriolanus Robert Ralph Bolgar (2 June 1913 – 23 June 1985), sometimes spelt Bolgár, was an English classical scholar of Hungarian origins, a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. Known as Robert, he published most of his work as R. R. ...

(1913–1985), Cambridge don *

Edward Bond Thomas Edward Bond (18 July 1934 – 3 March 2024) was an English playwright, theatre director, poet, dramatic theorist and screenwriter. He was the author of some 50 plays, among them '' Saved'' (1965), the production of which was instrument ...

(1934–2024), playwright

References

External links