Comberton 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 authority ...

South Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, England, with a population of 162,119 at the 2021 census. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Chesterton Rural District and South Cambridgeshire Rural District. I ...

, England, just east of the

Prime Meridian A prime meridian is an arbitrary meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. Together, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian (the 180th meridian in a 360°-system) form a great c ...

History

Archaeological finds, including a

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

polished stone axe (found to the south of the current village) and a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

barrow (to the north), suggest there has been a settlement here for thousands of years. A

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

was discovered in 1842. The village was mentioned 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 as ''Cumbertone'', and therefore dates to at least the 11th century. Some houses in the village date from the 14th century. The hamlet of Green End was named after the landowner Sir Henry Green (d.1370), Chief Justice of the King's Bench 1361–5. The current Manor House at Green End dates back to the late 16th century.

Geography

Comberton is about 6 miles (10 km) south-west of the city of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, and just half a mile (800 m) east of the Prime Meridian, lying at a modest elevation of around 25 feet (8 m)

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. The

covers , and is part of the local government district of

. Nearby villages include Barton to the east and Toft to the west. Comberton is twinned with

Le Vaudreuil Le Vaudreuil () is a commune in the Eure department in Normandy in northern France. On 15 April 1969 the commune of Notre-Dame-du-Vaudreuil was joined with that of Saint-Cyr-du-Vaudreuil to form the present Le Vaudreuil. A bronze statue of the ...

, a village near

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

, France. The

is marked by a Meridian Line stone plaque on the north side of the main road (B1046) between Comberton and the neighbouring village of Toft. The line runs up the 14th fairway of the Cambridge Meridian Golf Club according to the club, but a check of the co-ordinates reveals that it is actually on the white tee of the 15th hole.

Community

Comberton has a population of about 2,400. It contains two churches: the

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 Britain ...

St Mary's, a Grade I listed Early English-style building dating from the 13th century, and a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

church dating from 1868. It also a

pub 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 was ...

, The Three Horseshoes, shops, a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

(Meridian Community Primary School) a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, a

recreation ground A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

, a

doctor's surgery A doctor's office in American English, a doctor's surgery in British English, or a doctor's practice, is a medical facility in which one or more medical doctors, usually general practitioners (GP), receive and treat patients. Description Doc ...

, a dental surgery, and at the centre of the village, a village

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

with resident ducks. The village has an infant playgroup, the Meridian Primary School,

Comberton Village College Comberton Village College is an 11–18 mixed secondary school and sixth form with academy status in Toft, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Cambridge. It opened in 1960 as a village college. History The school was first opened in 1960 by Henr ...

and the Comberton Sixth Form. (although the latter two share the name of the village they actually fall inside of Toft parish boundary)The latter two are part of the Comberton Educational Trust, which has other villages in its catchment area: Barton,

Bourn Bourn is a small village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England. Surrounding villages include Caxton, Eltisley and Cambourne. It is 8 miles (12 km) from the county town of Cambridge. The population of the parish was 1,015 peo ...

, Caldecote, Coton,

Cambourne Cambourne is a new settlement and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, in the district of South Cambridgeshire. It lies on the A428 road between Cambridge, 9 miles (14 km) to the east, and St Neots and Bedford to the west. It compris ...

, Hardwick,

Haslingfield Haslingfield is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England. The village is about six miles south-west of Cambridge, between Harston, Barton and Barrington. The population in the 2001 census was 1,550 people living in 6 ...

, and

Comberton Comberton is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, just east of the Prime Meridian. History Archaeological finds, including a Neolithic polished stone axe (found to the south of the current village) and a Bronze Age bar ...

. Comberton Village College has been at or near the top of the league tables for state comprehensive schools in England and is a National College 'National Support School', offering support to other secondary schools through being part of the Cambridge Consortium. It was the last Cambridgeshire Village College opened by Henry Morris, Chief Education Officer for Cambridgeshire.

References

External links

*
Comberton Village website
{{authority control Villages in Cambridgeshire Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire District

History

Geography

Community

See also

References

External links