Hardwick, Cambridgeshire

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude=52.2133
longitude=0.01186
official_name= Hardwick

population =
shire_district= South Cambridgeshire
region= East of England
shire_county = Cambridgeshire
constituency_westminster=
post_town= CAMBRIDGE
postcode_district = CB23
postcode_area= CB
dial_code= 01954
os_grid_reference=TL373587

Hardwick is a village in the county of Cambridgeshire, located approximately 6 miles west of the city of Cambridge and immediately south of the A428 Cambridge-St Neots road. It is approximately 4 miles east of the newly developed village of Cambourne. The Village is practically on the Greenwich Meridian.

Historically, the village of Hardwick is hundreds of years old and consisted of a few houses and farmland around St Mary's Church, on what is now the southern edge of the village. It has expanded greatly over the last forty years, mainly due to an estate of hundreds of houses built on the orchard land to the north of the original village, with the roads taking the names of the displaced trees (e.g. Ellison, Bramley, Worcester, Pippin...)

Although significant building ceased, a number of new houses have been built over the years all over the village - wherever developers were able to acquire any plots of land; these are often the once large gardens of the earliest estate houses.

The Blue Lion, the only pub in the village, lies on Cambridge Road. The Sports and Social Club is based next to the football and cricket pitches in the centre of the village.

Hardwick Community Primary School is the local pre- and primary school for children in the village. Children of secondary school age usually go on to attend Comberton Village College, located in Comberton, southwest of Hardwick.

The village shop and post office are also on Cambridge Road. There are a number of local businesses based on St Neots Road, which is the northern border, in Newton House and Broadway House. In November 2006 part of Newton House burned down, destroying a takeaway food outlet and a Turkish restaurant, the rest of the building has been left unoccupied pending reconstruction work. Broadway house provide homes to several businesses. The adjacent property is the Conservative Party headquarters for Cambridgeshire. Further west on St Neots Road a pet shop, a car repair/maintenance garage, an agricultural machinery merchant and a furniture store can be found.

In 2006 to 2007 the A428 was improved with a new section of dual carriageway replacing the old single, all the way past Cambourne to Papworth Everard.

Gallery

External links

* [http://www.hardwick-cambs.org.uk/church/index.htm St. Mary's Anglican Church] - of historic interest as it dates back to the 15th century - see [http://www.druidic.org/camchurch/churches/hardwick.htm Druidic Churches - Hardwick]
* [http://www.hardwick-cambs.org.uk/ Hardwick Village Website]