Ickleton

Infobox UK place
official_name= Ickleton
country= England
region= East of England
os_grid_reference= TL492437
latitude= 52.07
longitude= 0.17
post_town= SAFFRON WALDEN
postcode_area= CB
postcode_district= CB10
dial_code= 01799
shire_county= Cambridgeshire
shire_district= Huntingdonshire
population= 655 (2001 Census)
hide_services= Yes
website= http://www.ickletonvillage.co.uk

Ickleton is a village on the Cambridgeshire–Essex border in England. It grew at the point where the ancient Icknield Way crossed the River Cam, so it is likely that some form of habitation has existed on the site since prehistoric times. However, the present layout of the village probably dates mainly from the late Saxon period.

History

There has been a settlement at Ickleton for at least two thousand years. The pre-Roman Icknield Way runs through the parish, and in Roman times there was a villa in the village, not far from a nearby Roman fort at Great Chesterford. The Domesday Book of 1087 shows that the village then had a population of about 250. By the time the railway arrived in 1845, the population had grown somewhat and today Ickleton is home to about 650 people.

Location

Cambridge lies about 20 km (12 miles) to the north, and Saffron Walden about 8 km (5 miles) to the south. The River Cam (or Granta) forms the eastern border of the village. Houses are mainly grouped around three streets, Abbey Street, Frogge Street, and Church Street, which leads into Brookhampton Street. The village itself lies at the eastern end of the parish which stretches for 3 km (2 miles) to the west amidst rolling farmland.

Economy

Throughout its history, agriculture and related trades have been almost the only economic activity. It was only after the Second World War that farming ceased to predominate. Today, Ickleton's farms are hugely more productive than they were, even in the 1940s, yet they employ only a small number of people. Like many other rural villages, most of the working population is now employed elsewhere, in Cambridge, other towns nearby, or in London.

There are a few small businesses in the village, as well as a pub and a village shop. The Wellcome Trust Genome Campus is in Hinxton, less than one mile away.

Architecture

The focal point of the village's architecture is its parish church, which is undoubtedly one of the most important in East Anglia. It dates from the 11th century and contains a series of early wall paintings of the 12th and 14th centuries revealed after a serious fire in 1979.

External links

* [http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/F9A39BCA-2A15-4267-A913-4D3F70DE60BE/0/Ickleton.pdf 2001 Census]