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.
We deal with the original Arbury Estate here - with North Arbury's King's Hedges sub-district up near the original King's Hedges Road (before the road's massive expansion and redirection in the late 1970s, lopping off the end of the original Arbury Road).
The King's Hedges Estate component, dreamt up by council planners, was always poorly defined because it wasn't actually in King's Hedges and Kings Hedges, the original acres, were still unbuilt on. Many local residents knew them well. They are now largely occupied by the Cambridge Regional College, the motorway, and open land.
The Council's King's Hedges Estate project was also poorly defined as the (historically non-King's Hedges) 'King's Hedges School' and 'King's Hedges Church Centre' were close to the North Arbury Post Office and North Arbury Chapel in Cameron Road, the Arbury Adventure Playground in Nun's Way and the Arbury Community House in Lawrence Way. The King's Hedges Learner Pool is also in the old Arbury/Harborough Meadows, very close to the prehistoric earthwork, in fields later called simply 'Arbury' and 'Arbury Field' in the Manor Farm era.
Arbury/Harborough Meadows? The earthwork was referenced throughout the centuries north of Arbury Road, and before the establishment of the Manor Farm the land was known as the Arbury or Harborough Meadows (Harborough was a variation on the Arbury name, the names co-existed and were interchangeable), with 'North Arbury/Harborough Furlong' up by the farm track that was the original King's Hedges Road, and 'West Arbury/Harborough Corner and 'Arbury/Harborough Furlong' covering a large tract of the land that became North Arbury or "King's Hedges".
In the 1960s and '70s, Council planners were apparently obsessed with the King's Hedges name. Why? It stems from a much more recent era of history than prehistoric Arbury, has hunting connotations, and was north of the guided busway - a farm of fifty-eight acres.
North Arbury was where a lot of the original Arbury community spirit blossomed, it was part of the original Arbury electoral ward, and gave us the Arbury Adventure Playground, the Arbury Community house, Arbury Community Centre, Arbury Town Park, North Arbury Post Office and the North Arbury Chapel. Of course, we can't forget Arbury Kebab! Most of these things were achieved with great effort, campaigning and fund raising from the North Arbury community. And North Arbury is historically correct. We are talking about the meadows by a prehistoric earthwork here - something which pre-dated Chesterton!
Who pays for the likes of a poorly researched outdoor plaque which has appeared on the estate - proclaiming the glories of the 'King's Hedges Landscape in Roman Times' - and the Roman villa unearthed on the site of King's Hedges School? Once more, the area was not King's Hedges - it was the Arbury/Harborough Meadows and Furlongs near Arbury Camp, and neither King's Hedges School or the Roman villa have anything to do with the historic King's Hedges acres.
Historic references should be historic, not based on modern school names, Council planners' whims, 1970s road extensions and Council electoral wards - otherwise they are simply misinformation. Look on the maps. Where was the historic King's Hedges? Where was its 'landscape'?
The other bone of contention with King's Hedges is that the most likely origin of the name is a hedged hunting warren, designed to trap animals so that they could be killed for 'sport' in the days of the old Royal Manor of Chesterton. This does not appeal to us as an area name, particularly as the warren was not even south of the Guided Busway. The old Arbury name, with its prehistoric links to a human habitation, is something we relish.
And if you're thinking, 'Ah, but King's Hedges sounds so posh!', just scrape away at the history a little. In the 1800s, the 'historic King's Hedges landscape', the real one north of the busway, continued its 'sporting' associations with huge crowds from town and gown gathering to watch men knocking 'seven bells out of each other' as we used to say.
And as for Roman times... well, King's Hedges does not have that kind of antiquity, of course, nowhere near, but Roman finds were discovered on the site that would become the original King's Hedges many centuries later, including some coins, a small earthwork and a Roman cremation.
These were similar discoveries elsewhere in the Arbury district.
We have always been fascinated by local history, a passion begun by Arbury Is Where We Live! in 1981, and we think it absurd to throw our local history under the bus and send locals searching for the 'King's Hedges' in the hedgerow on Arbury Road - which has absolutely nothing to do with them.
Somewhere a couple of miles away can be termed 'Arbury' by our council rulers, but the area closest to the earthwork, the Arbury Meadows, is named after a tiny farm somewhere else?
Bonkers.
We'd like to encourage other people in the historic Arbury district to study local history - we think it's good for the community, but they need historical facts, not concocted-for-Council's-convenience electoral wards, strangely named 'estates', and late 1970s road expansions and redirections.
We think 'Arbury & King's Hedges' is a ridiculous name (even North Cambridge is better), it artificially divides the estate, has no historical bearing on the land north of Arbury Road, and undermines interest in what is a genuinely fascinating tract of history - stretching back to the Iron Age at least. The Arbury name unites us as modern people living in an area that has been occupied for over two thousand years, from the ancients of Arbury Camp to the Romans to the 19th Century farms and on up to date. King's Hedges is a modern and highly divisive red herring.
Arbury it is to us. Always. Perhaps people living in the parts of East Chesterton now falling into the 'King's Hedges Ward' might also prefer their more historically relevant area name.
You can read more on this subject in our articles here and here.
I remember Janet Jones, one of our County Councillors years back. She was always saying things like 'Arbury will rally to fight!' when it came to issues like the proposed closure of Manor School, because she knew people were invested in the Arbury name. But she was fully aware of the planned ward break ups in the '70s and '80s and slid in 'King's Hedges' for less passionate speeches. When the new County Council King's Hedges Ward was formed out of the northern part of the Arbury Estate in the mid-1980s, she said: 'I'm so used to saying "Arbury - my people!" Now I'll just have to get used to saying "King's Hedges - my people!" She had no idea at all - yet at the time of Arbury Is Where We Live she was all over the Arbury name. I didn't really like her - although I was and still am a fanatical Labour supporter.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of King's Hedges, I think it's just the council getting hopelessly mixed up between areas and named properties - for that's all King's Hedges was. It was named after a brutal piece of medieval history - a hunting warren composed of hedges. If I'd named a small farm built on the site of a teapot pottery 'Teapots', would the council then have named the land already named after the prehistoric site adjacent, 'Tea Pots' and put a road called 'Tea Pots' through it? Most of King's Hedges Road (the 1970s bit), King's Hedges School, Church Centre, recreation ground and ward/estate are all in the ancient Arbury Meadows - and KH as a name has unpleasant associations.
ReplyDeleteI read recently that Arbury Camp is probably of much more importance than previously thought. Modern finds indicate it was a fort, smaller than Wandlebury but still of great note. Imagine naming Wandlebury after some grotty little farm nearby! The Council divides Arbury, it divides most things it touches. It just thinks in terms of electoral wards, dormitory suburbs, naming streets after councillors and ideologies. It ignores things like the Arbury book and just does what it want. This I think is a reason why people are more divided and isolated than they were. It's not the only one, but ignorant council planners and their soulless estates, with names based on their silly whims like Kings Hedges, do not help one little bit.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid in the 50's and 60's, we often used to play in Kings Hedges woods. It was a lot of fun. I came on this site to try and find out why the woods were just done away with, which is a shame. There used to be cuckoo's there and numerous wildlife . How destructive to just get rid of it
ReplyDeleteThe 'woods' are referred to as the 'Spinney' in the sales particulars for the 58 acre King's Hedges in 1909. The buyer had to pay an additional £42 for the trees. 'King's Hedges woods' was never the official name, simply applied by some locals. Others referred to the area as the 'Mere Way' (such as Mr Jones, born 1910, who contributed memories of playing there to the Arbury 1980 project). The Mere Way or Akeman Street was the Roman road which ran through Arbury. 'The Woods' were a marvellous place to play as they were old and uncultivated, unlike the Chivers trees at Arbury Camp Farm, and once provided a temporary hideout for escaped prisoners from Cambridge Gaol! It's a shame they've gone. The A14 straddles the original 58 acre King's Hedges plot, and Cambridge Regional College this side. We'll pick up on this further for a future 'Ask Arbury'. Thanks for writing.
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