Little Shelford is a village located to the south 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 ...

, in the county of

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, in eastern

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The River Granta lies between it and the larger village of Great Shelford, and both are served by Shelford railway station, which is on the West Anglia Main Line from

to London Liverpool Street. The village has one pub, the Side Quest, on the High Street. It was opened in 2025 following the closure of the Navigator. Little Shelford also contains a Fish & Chips shop called Winners and Chinese takeaway. The parish is mostly low-lying. It is bounded on the west by the

M11 motorway The M11 is a motorway that runs north from the A406 road, North Circular Road (A406) in South Woodford to the A14 road (Great Britain), A14, northwest of Cambridge, England. Originally proposed as a trunk road as early as 1915, various plans ...

and by field boundaries, and on the east by the River Cam or Granta. The highest point of the parish is Clunch Pit Hill, 31 m (TL447499).

Church and notable families

The Church of All Saints, Little Shelford is the village's

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

. The church is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, and dates from the 12th century. Three tablets commemorate General Sir Charles Wale, who survived many battles to die at Little Shelford in 1848; his son, who fell at the Siege of Lucknow; and his eight grandsons and great-grandsons who died in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Other notable members of the Wale family associated with Little Shelford include Thomas Wale, Gregory Wale and Henry Charles Wale. A monument to Gregory Wale can be seen on St Margaret's Mount to the west of the village.

Locality

The de Freville

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

survives. One of many hidden ways leads past the manor and the farm where the river slips through a wood and kingfishers streak over an ancient mill pool. The children's writer Philippa Pearce renamed the village "Little Barley", with Great Shelford becoming "Great Barley", the River Cam, which flows through the area, becoming the "River Say", and Cambridge being renamed "Castleford" and deprived of its university. These names are used in a number of her books, most famously '' Minnow on the Say'' (1955) and '' Tom's Midnight Garden'' (1958).

References

* Mee, Arthur, (revised by CLS Linnell & ET Long), ''The King's England - Cambridgeshire'', Hodder and Stoughton, London, New revised edition, 1965, P.165-6.

External links

Little Shelford website2001 CensusAll Saints churchLittle Shelford history website
{{authority control Villages in Cambridgeshire Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire District