Arbury Road? No, Historically King's Hedges Was Elsewhere...

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 School is dearly loved by many of us and we treasure it, but those in the know accept it's not actually in any historically meaningful King's Hedges district, and the site had nothing to do with King's Hedges. The school was named by the council in 1968, which then had a bit of an obsession with the name. King's Hedges School pupils and teachers made many contributions to the Arbury 1980 project and the 1981 Arbury Is Where We Live! book.

As for the land north of Arbury Road, originally the fields were called Arbury or Harborough (a variation on Arbury) Meadows, North Arbury/Harborough Furlong, Arbury/Harborough Furlong, West Arbury/Harborough Corner, and, in the days of Manor Farm, two fields carried the Arbury name - Arbury (meadow), and Arbury Field - all references to the adjacent ancient earthwork at Arbury Camp Farm. The Arbury Meadows extended to a swathe of land south of Arbury Road.

The modern King's Hedges is simply an electoral ward and a redirected and vastly expanded road, on Arbury land.

We can assure you - there is nothing historically King's Hedges on Arbury Road.

We have addressed the issue of King's Hedges elsewhere on the blog in more detail - we recommend this post:

https://arburycambridge.blogspot.com/2022/03/exploring-real-kings-hedges.html

Comments

BadgerAugust 18, 2022 at 5:25 PM
I can't believe somebody thought there were 'king's hedges' in Arbury Road! There aren't even any 'king's hedges' in King's Hedges Road - the original - let alone the extension!
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