Gamlingay

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude=52.1579
longitude= -0.1946
official_name= Gamlingay
population = 3,535
shire_district= South Cambridgeshire
shire_county = Cambridgeshire
region= East of England
constituency_westminster= South Cambridgeshire
post_town= SANDY
postcode_district = SG19
postcode_area= SG
dial_code= 01767
os_grid_reference= TL236526

Gamlingay is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, near the border with Bedfordshire. It is 14 miles (22 km) from Cambridge and the population in 2001 was 3,535 people.

History

An ancient village featured in the Domesday Book, the name comes from the Old English "Gamelingei", meaning "an enclosure of Gamela's people". [Mills, A.D. (1998). A Dictionary of English Place-names. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford. p147. ISBN 0-19-280074-4]

Often, this is mispronounced as 'Gamblingay'.

There has been a settlement on the site since the middle Bronze Age and there are signs of occupation from the middle Stone Age. The village may have first been established around a central green south of the High Street (now known as Church Street); a complex of medieval buildings stood at the east end of the green, but only a tithe barn and the house known as 'Emplins' remain today. Another focal point was provided by the crossroads at the other end of Church Street and houses spread to the south and east of the junction. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Gamlingay grew to the east towards Dutter End and west to Green End. By 1801, Gamlingay had a population twice as large as that of the hundred's second-largest parish, Bourn.

Gamlingay is steeped in history, with many listed buildings in the village. The stone for building the church was from a quarry within the village. This quarry then offered the perfect location for an archery range. Being dug into the ground it was a safe area where archery could be practiced, and thus was named 'The Butts'. In medieval times it was a requirement that all men over a certain age were capable of using a bow and arrow.Fact|date=August 2008 The Butts is now a children's play area.

Throughout history, Gamlingay has been a farming village. Most of the village was owned by the Oxford college Merton, and the Cambridge colleges Downing and Clare. Until a few years ago, the houses (subdivisions) at the local village college were named after Merton, Downing and Clare.

In 1600, 64 houses- comprising much of the village - were destroyed in the "Great Fire of Gamlingay", as described in an extract of a letter from the Privy Council to Sir Thomas Egerton:

"Whereas divers of the Justices of the Peace in the coutitie of Cambridge have certyfied us the lamentable accydent that bath fallen upon the inhabitantes of Gamlingay in the said countie, by casualltie of fire that happned on the 21St daie of Aprill last, whereby the moste parte of the said towne to the nomber of 76 houses with divers barnes and stackes of corne were suddainlie consumed."

By 1844, Gamlingay had five inns, including the Cock (dating from at least 1588), the Rose & Crown (1622) and the Blue Ball (1770s). The Sultan was built near the station in 1867. At one time, there were 54 pubs in Gamlingay to serve the coach routes from London. It is thought that Dick Turpin rode through the village on his way North.Fact|date=August 2008

Gamlingay had a station on the Bedford and Cambridge branch of the London and North Western Railway, [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/CAM/Gamlingay/index.html GENUKI: Gamlingay] ] which opened in 1862 and shut in 1968 in the Beeching cuts. [ [http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/g/gamlingay/index.shtml Subterranea Britannica: Gamlingay Station] ]

Governance

There are 13 councillors on Gamlingay Parish Council. [ [http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/rstarksfield/pcmem.htm Gamlingay Parish Council] ] The parish is represented on South Cambridgeshire District Council by two councillors for the Gamlingay ward [ [http://www.scambs.gov.uk/CouncilAndDemocracy/Elections/newwards.htm South Cambridgeshire District Council: Electoral wards] ] and on Cambridgeshire County Council by one councillor for the Gamlingay electoral division. [ [http://www2.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/db/council1.nsf/menus/councillors?OpenDocument Cambridgeshire County Council: Councillors] ] It is in the parliamentary constituency of South Cambridgeshire, represented at the House of Commons by Andrew Lansley. [ [http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/commons/l/ UK Government: Find your MP] ]

Geography

Gamlingay is 14 miles (22 km) west of the county town of Cambridge, five miles (9 km) south-east of St Neots and 45 miles (72 km) north of London. It is north of the small town of Potton and south-west of Waresley. The parish ranges from 39 metres (along the Millbridge Brook) to 73 metres (near Potton Wood) above sea level. [http://www.getamap.co.uk Ordnance Survey: www.getamap.co.uk] ] The village is at around 50 metres. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66675' Parishes: Gamlingay', A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 5 (1973), pp. 68-87. Date accessed: 02 August 2008] ] Most of the central parish is on the Lower Greensand; the soil in the eastern part of the parish is clay with gault subsoil.

By the 12th century, heathland had developed on the Lower Greensand and the poor drainage of the soil there meant there were two quaking bogs, on Gamlingay Heath (drained in 1855) and Cinques Common. Treeplanting and pig rearing after inclosure in 1844 altered the landscape.

In addition to Gamlingay village, the parish includes outlying areas named Gamlingay Cinques, Gamlingay Great Heath and Little Heath. Woodbury used to be in the parish but was transferred to Bedfordshire in 1965 and a hamlet named Newton on the Heath had disappeared by 1279.

Demography

At the time of the 2001 census, Gamlingay parish had 3,535 inhabitants living in 1,410 households. The ethnic group of 99% was white, with 0.4% Asian or Asian British, 0.1% black or Black British, 0.3% mixed and 0.2% other. 77% were Christian, 0.3% followed another religion and 22% cited 'no religion' or did not state one. [http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/52D704F3-CBEF-4186-A96F-BE9087115518/0/Gamlingay.pdf Cambridgeshire County Council: Parish Census profile 2001] ]

Economy

Gamlingay is now largely a commuter village: 44% of its employed residents work outside of Cambridgeshire, 30% more than 20km away and 11% more than 40km away.Fact|date=August 2008

Farming, mainly arable, was the primary employer in Gamlingay for many centuries. A third of the parish was cultivated in 1801, with wheat the main crop, then barley and peas. In 1937, there were 12 smallholders and 11 market gardeners. There was some gravel extraction south of the village in the late 19th century; in 1864 the village had three brickworks. In 1912, one occupied an area of 31 acres (12.5 hectares), with 12 kilns and a warehouse capable of holding 500,000 bricks. The closure of the brick and tile works probably caused the parish's population to fall in the after its sale in 1920.

Landmarks

A war memorial, built from Cornish granite, stands outside Gamlingay Village College and commemorates men from the village who died in the First and Second World Wars. [ [http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Cambridgeshire/Gamlingay.html Roll of Honour: Gamlingay] ]

Two timber-framed buildings in the village date from the late 15th or early 16th centuries: Emplins [ [http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=52699 Images of England: The Emplins] ] , a large house near the church, and Merton Manor Farm. A total of 60 buildings in Gamlingay parish are listed, including the Baptist chapel on Stocks Lane, [ [http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=52755 Images of England: Baptist Chapel, Stocks Lane] ] Merton Grange, [ [http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=52753 Images of England: Merton Grange, Station Road] ] the Cock Inn, [ [http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=52710 Images of England: Cock Inn] ] a red telephone box outside the church, [ [http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=52828 Images of England: Telephone Kiosk, Church Street] ] and many buildings along Church Street.

Transport

The B1040 road runs through Gamlingay from Potton to the A14 near Hilton; minor roads lead to Hatley, Everton and Little Gransden. The nearest railway station is at Sandy, Bedfordshire. Buses run from Gamlingay to destinations including Cambridge, St Neots, Great Gransden, Little Paxton and Sandy. [ [http://www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnlistr.asp?L1=GAM003&op=D Travel Search: Gamlingay] ]

Education

Children aged 4-9 years are educated at Gamlingay First School; [ [http://www.gamlingayfirst.com Gamlingay First School] ] Gamlingay Village College takes pupils aged from 9-13 [ [http://www.gamlingaymiddle.cambs.sch.uk/index.php Gamlingay Village College] ] and also offers adult education classes [ [http://www.education-bassingbourn.org.uk/index.php?section=Gamlingay%20Village%20College Bassingbourn Village College: Gamlingay] ] and library services. [ [http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/leisure/libraries/directory/gamlingay_lap.htm Cambridgeshire County Council: Gamlingay Library Access Point] ] The nearest secondary schools are Sandy Upper School and Stratton Upper School, Biggleswade. [ [http://www.hatley.info/community/schools.htm Hatley.info: Schools] ]

Religious sites

Gamlingay has a church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. It was built around the 12th century in the Early English style with a square tower (now containing six bells) from field stones and local ironstone. A church existed in the parish before 1120. Gamlingay is part of the ecclesiastical parish of "Gamlingay with Hatley St George and East Hatley".

There is also a mission church at Gamlingay Heath dedicated to St Sebastian, originally constructed in iron in 1879. The village's first Baptist chapel was built in 1710, known as the Old Meeting House. It was rebuilt in 1840 and restored in 1881. A congregation of Particular Baptists worshipped at a chapel built around 1800 at Gamlingay Cinques; it was demolished in the mid-1960s. A Primitive Methodist chapel was built at Green End in 1855.

Community amenities

Local amenities include pubs, shops, sports fields, a community centre, clubs and societies, nursery schools and a Grade II listed telephone box.Fact|date=August 2008

References

* James Brown, "Gamlingay: Six Hundred Years of Life in an English Village" (London: Cassell, 1989)

ee also

* List of places in Cambridgeshire

External links

* [http://www.gamlingay.org/ Community website]
* [http://www.brycchancarey.com/places/gamlingay/ Brycchan Carey's Gamlingay pages]