Alconbury is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to t ...

, England. Alconbury is situated within

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

which is a

non-metropolitan district Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''shire counties'') in a two-tier arrangement. Non- ...

of Cambridgeshire as well as being an historic county of England. Alconbury lies approximately north-west of

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cr ...

History

Alconbury was listed as ''Acumesberie'' and ''Almundeburie'' in the Hundred of Leightonstone in Huntingdonshire in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086. There was one manor 17.5 households at Alconbury. The survey records that there were 18 ploughlands with the capacity for a further two, and of meadows. St_Peter_and_St_Paul,_Alconbury_(geograph_1875570)

St_Peter_and_St_Paul,_Alconbury_(geograph_1875570)

The church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. The Great North Road passed through the village and Alconbury Weston to the north-west. The A1 was dualled from Water Newton to Alconbury Hill in three stages in 1958. The £1.25m two mile A1 bypass opened in December 1964, joining the road at the point where it now meets the A14 (former A604) at th
junction
at the top of a hill. It followed part of the former A604. In November 1998, the bypass was converted into the A1(M) whic
terminates
next to the village. The former road is partly the B1043 which is also part of the former A14 and the rest of the former A1 to

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire unti ...

. Units of the US Air Force were based at Alconbury from 1942 to 1945, and then from 1953 to 1995.

Government

As a civil parish, Alconbury has its own elected parish council, made up of 10 members. The second tier of local government is

Huntingdonshire District Council Huntingdonshire District Council is the local authority for the district of Huntingdonshire in Cambridgeshire, England. Based in Huntingdon, it forms the lower part of the two tier system of local government in the district, below Cambridgeshi ...

which is a

of Cambridgeshire. Alconbury is a part of the district ward of ''Alconbury and The Stukeleys'' and is represented on the district council by one councillor. The village's highest tier of local government is

Cambridgeshire County Council Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council of Cambridgeshire, England. The council consists of 61 councillors, representing 59 electoral divisions. The council is based at New Shire Hall at Alconbury Weald, near Huntingdon. It is a me ...

. Alconbury is a part of the electoral division of ''Huntingdon'' and is represented on the county council by two councillors. Cambridgeshire County Council intends to move its headquarters to Alconbury, from Cambridge, by 2020. At Westminster, Alconbury is in the parliamentary constituency of

. The current MP is the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Jonathan Djanogly, who has represented the constituency since 2001. Alconbury was in the historic and

administrative county An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...

until 1965. From 1965, the village was part of the new administrative county of

Huntingdon and Peterborough Huntingdon and Peterborough was a short-lived administrative and geographical county in East Anglia in the United Kingdom. It existed from 1965 to 1974, when it became part of Cambridgeshire. Formation The Local Government Act 1888 created ...

. In 1974, following the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, Alconbury became a part of the county of Cambridgeshire.

Geography

Alconbury is in the district of

and gives its name to

RAF Alconbury Royal Air Force Alconbury or more simply RAF Alconbury is an active Royal Air Force station near Huntingdon, England. The airfield is in the civil parish of The Stukeleys, close to the villages of Great Stukeley, Little Stukeley, and Alconbur ...

, as well as the new Alconbury Weald development, situated on the former airfield of

. The village is near to the point where a major north–south trunk road, the A1, crosses the only major east–west trunk road: the A14. In 2005 there were proposals to convert the former

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

of RAF Alconbury into a freight-only commercial airport to benefit from these surface links, however these proposals never came to fruition. Nearby, to the east, are The Stukeleys:

Great Stukeley Great Stukeley is a village north-west of Huntingdon. Great Stukeley is in Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as a historic county of England. It lies on the old Roman road of Ermine Street. The E ...

and

Little Stukeley Little Stukeley is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of The Stukeleys, in Cambridgeshire, England. Little Stukeley lies approximately north-west of Huntingdon. Little Stukeley is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a no ...

. Just north of the A1/A14 junction is Alconbury Hill.

Demography

Population

In the period 1801 to 1901 the population of Alconbury was recorded every ten years by the UK census. During this time the population was in the range of 483 (the lowest in 1801) and 967 (the highest in 1851). From 1901, a census was taken every ten years with the exception of 1941 (due to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

). All population census figures from report ''Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011'' by ''Cambridgeshire Insight''. In 2011, the parish covered an area of and so the population density for Alconbury in 2011 was 327.4 persons per square mile (126.4 per square kilometre).

Amenities

The village has a Neighbourhood Watch group, cricket club, football teams, community choir, a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

, a doctor's surgery, post office and houses the local MP. There is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

primary school,Alconbury C of E Primary School
. Retrieved 23 February 2009 A service station on the B1043/A14 junction closed in August 2007 and re-opened in 2012 under new owners. There are several annual events held in the village including The Neighbourhood Watch Summer Fête, Village Show, Harvest Supper. Biannual events - Christmas tree festival, Scarecrow Festival, open gardens. Alconbury will be the terminus of the ongoing Cambridge Metro project to improve public transport in the east of England.

References

External links

Victoria County history entry for Alconbury

1st Alconbury Scout Group

Alconbury Parish Council

Cricket Club

Manor House Hotel

Baptist church
{{authority control Villages in Cambridgeshire Huntingdonshire Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire