A question from Tina: Where was King's Hedges originally and how does it differ from King's Hedges Ward? And please can you tell me what is all this about King's Hedges Ward really being Arbury? Hi, Tina! Thanks for getting in touch. We think the maps above and below will explain the fake King's Hedges and its position on the Arbury map. It was a tiny farm of fifty eight acres and now the City and County Council's electoral ward has swept over historic Arbury land - and the original North Arbury Estate, and parts of East Chesterton. The same map as featured at the top of the article, but with pre-Manor Farm field names. The 1840 Chesterton Enclosures map uses the 'Harborough' version of the name, but a newspaper from 1839 references the 'Arbury Meadows', showing that both names were current and interchangeable. The fields at Manor Farm which referenced the earthwork were simply called 'Arbury' and 'Arbury Field'. The Arbury Meadows al...

We've had one very interesting find this week.  Council houses in Cambridge were being sold to tenants long before 1980, and this one was originally sold around the late 1960s. When we moved into Cunningham Close on South Arbury in 1971, the house was already owner occupied. The house was sold again in 1982 - for what now seems an amazing £23,950. It was originally a two bedroomed house, a third bedroom being provided via a partition, and the owner had recently installed central heating - not in great evidence on the Arbury in those days. Now, if only we could find a Tardis...

Arbury Is Where We Live! - 1981: Mrs Lark and many others campaigned for Arbury community facilities. An interesting question from Badger: Why was community activism more prevalent on North Arbury than South?  Answer: the estate was united as Arbury - far more relevant than 'North Cambridge' (historic Cambridge is a distant city centre) or the misplaced, council planners' whim and motorway driven 'King's Hedges' - and gained a sense of local history very quickly. And South Arbury did participate. The united Arbury estate gained the Nun's Way Field, Arbury Adventure Playground, Arbury Community Centre and Arbury Town Park. North Arbury also begat the Arbury Carnival.  The North Arbury name is historically correct - much, if not most, Arbury history lays north of Arbury Road (though it is important to remember the many Roman finds in South Arbury) - and the North Arbury community, in unison with its South Arbury counterpart, campaigned for and organised some...

Richard and Amelia Brett with their dog, Nell, in the Park Meadow at Manor Farm - later the site of Manor School/North Cambridge Academy. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was common for housewives to prepare dough for bread at home and then take it to the local baker to be baked. This was exactly what Mrs Amelia Brett of the Manor Farm on Arbury 'Meadow' Road, did. The dough would be wrapped in a sheet and placed in a pram to be taken to Chesterton village. The task of transporting the dough was entrusted to one or two of her eleven children. One hot summer's day, in the early 1890s, Amelia entrusted her daughters Elizabeth and Louisa with the task. They had never done it before - and so were rather pleased. But not for long. The large amount of dough in the pram kept causing it to tip from side to side, and as the girls pushed the sheet-wrapped bundle back into the carriage, something very odd began to happen. It began to swell. The sheet began to fill and overflow th...

David Cardinal, Gordon's father, who was the milk roundsman for his brother and sister in law's business - seen here at the back of No 3, Manor Farm Cottages, in the 1930s. The final part of Mr Gordon Cardinal's The Arbury ends with his best wishes to the (then) modern day Arbury children of 1983, and his hope that they will derive as much fun and enjoyment from living in the district as he did when it was farmland. The Arbury was written two years after the publication of Arbury Is Where We Live! - the book based on the 'Arbury 1980' primary schools' project. It was a source of great pleasure to Mr Cardinal that modern children felt a sense of community and belonging to the Arbury Estate - and that 'The Arbury', although vastly changed since his childhood, lived on. THE ARBURY  By Gordon Cardinal PART SIX When we closed the nursery each day, we just pulled the five bar across the drive. No locks needed then. Just a notice saying 'CLOSED' on t...

Ordnance survey map from circa 1900 - with field names and some modern landmarks penned in. Spot King's Hedges! An email from Sam: 'I read recently that the hedges on the northern side of Arbury Road are the King's Hedges. Are they?' Hi, Sam! No. The hedges on the northern side of Arbury Road are perfectly ordinary hedges. Up until the late 1970s, King's Hedges Road led north of the guided busway to a fifty eight plot called King's Hedges and is nothing to do with Arbury Road. King's Hedges Road was redirected and hugely extended in the late 1970s as part of the A14 development and lopped off the original end of Arbury Road.  It is likely that the name 'King's Hedges' came from hunting in the days of the old royal manor of Chesterton. A warren of hedges around the site of the original King's Hedges was used to trap and kill animals as prey for royal hunting sport - and these were known as the 'King's Hedges'. King's Hedges Sch...