Trumpington, Cambridgeshire

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude=52.174
longitude=0.109
official_name= Trumpington
population =
shire_district= Cambridge
region= East of England
shire_county = Cambridgeshire
constituency_westminster= South East Cambridgeshire
post_town= CAMBRIDGE
postcode_district = CB2
postcode_area= CB
dial_code= 01223
os_grid_reference= TL442549

Trumpington is a village within the city of Cambridge, UK, of which it is a suburb. It's on the south-west side of the city and borders Cherry Hinton to the east, Grantchester to the west and Great Shelford and Little Shelford to the south-east.

There is evidence of Iron Age and Roman settlements in Trumpington. By 1085 there was a thriving community meriting inclusion in the Domesday Book. Until the 20th century Trumpington was an agricultural village with cattle and sheep as well as crops. [ [http://www.trumpingtonresidentsassociation.org/ Trumpington Residents’ Association ] ]

Trumpington's association with agriculture was extended further in 1955, when the Plant Breeding Institute (PBI) – founded in 1912 as part of the University of Cambridge's School of Agriculture – moved to a site adjoining Maris Lane in Trumpington. Here the PBI developed new plants, notably potatoes called Maris Piper and Maris Peer, and a barley called Maris Otter. These are now in use worldwide. In 1990 the PBI relocated to Colney, near Norwich, but the reference to the Maris Lane site survives in the names of plants.

The war memorial in the village was designed and carved by Eric Gill, who also designed and carved the crocodile [ [http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/history/years/croc.php Department of Physics, Cavendish Laboratory, 100 Years and more ] ] on the wall of the Cavendish Laboratory. The memorial was dedicated on Sunday 11 December 1921 to commemorate 36 Trumpington men who died in the First World War. The Second World War claimed eight more local men; their names were added by David Kindersley, a pupil of Gill.

The parish church of St Mary and St Michael is the resting place of Henry Fawcett, the blind academic and politician who, as Postmaster General (1880-1884), introduced parcel post, postal orders and other innovations. The primary school is named Fawcett School after him. The church also contains the monumental brass of Sir Roger de Trumpington, a crusader knight who died in 1289; it is said to be the second oldest brass in England.

Chaucer's "The Reeve's Tale" is set in the village.

The nineteenth-century novelist G. A. Henty, was born in Trumpington. The BBC journalist Bridget Kendall grew up in Trumpington and attended Perse School for Girls.

References