Witchford 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 ...

about west of

Ely, Cambridgeshire Ely ( ) is a cathedral city and civil parish in the East Cambridgeshire district, in Cambridgeshire, England, northeast of Cambridge, southeast of Peterborough and from London. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the built-up a ...

, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,385.

History

Anglo-Saxon cemetery

When the site of RAF Witchford was being cleared a bulldozer driver found an Anglo-Saxon pagan cemetery on the site. The bulldozer unearthed and crushed about 30 skeletons. Little archaeological work could be undertaken but some artefacts were recovered, which T. C. Lethbridge stated to be consistent with the period AD 450–650. More recent survey work has found

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

domestic and other remains. An Anglo-Saxon cemetery was not found at that time, leading to the conclusion that this was not the site of the lost village of Cratendune.

Hundreds

Two hundreds of the

Isle of Ely The Isle of Ely () is a historic region around the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. Between 1889 and 1965, it formed an Administrative counties of England, administrative county. Etymology Its name has been said to ...

, North Witchford and South Witchford, took their name from the place and had their meeting-place at Witchford.

RAF Witchford

RAF Witchford was a

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the Strategic bombing during World War II#Europe, strategic bombing of Germany in W ...

station that was built in 1942 and closed and dismantled in 1946. From July to September 1943 it was the base of No. 196 Squadron RAF which operated

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson, a key feature of t ...

medium bomber A medium bomber is a military bomber Fixed-wing aircraft, aircraft designed to operate with medium-sized Aerial bomb, bombloads over medium Range (aeronautics), range distances; the name serves to distinguish this type from larger heavy bombe ...

s. From November 1943 until April 1945 No. 115 Squadron RAF was based at Witchford operating

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster, commonly known as the Lancaster Bomber, is a British World War II, Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to ...

heavy bomber Heavy bombers are bomber Fixed-wing aircraft, aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually Aerial bomb, bombs) and longest range (aeronautics), range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy ...

s. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

it was proposed to convert the airfield to a missile base. Rumours said it was to become a Blue Streak base. Hence some older residents refer to the site (now an industrial park) as "The Rocket Base". The village has an RAF Witchford Museum.

Church and chapel

Parish church

The oldest part of the

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

St Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Apostles in the New Testament, Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Chu ...

are its 13th-century

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

and west tower. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

were rebuilt in 1376. Two 14th- or 15th-century niches flank the chancel arch. The timber frame of the nave roof is 17th-century. The west tower has a

ring (The) Ring(s) may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV * ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...

of three bells, all cast by Christopher Graye of Haddenham in 1671. St Andrew's 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 ...

Baptist chapel

Witchford has a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

chapel.

Amenities

School

Witchford Village College Witchford Village College (sometimes abbreviated to W.V.C.) is a secondary school in the village of Witchford, near Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. Before becoming an academy the school was a specialist Sports College. With approximately 820 pupi ...

is a secondary school that serves all the surrounding parishes, including Haddenham, Little Thetford, Mepal, Stretham, Sutton, Wilburton and Witcham.

Pub

Witchford has a

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

, the Village Inn.

Half Marathon

The parish hosts the Grunty Fen Half Marathon road race, which has been held here annually since 1991. The race begins and ends at

and involves two laps into the nearby

Grunty Fen Grunty Fen is a fen and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wilburton, in the East Cambridgeshire district, in Cambridgeshire, England. It is 4 miles south west of Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely. In 1931 the parish had a population of 95. Hist ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

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