Great Wilbraham is a small village situated in a rural area some seven miles (11 km) to the east of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, 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. Cam ...

, between the edge of an area of low-lying drained

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich Groundwater, ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as ...

s to the west and north, and higher ground beyond the A11 to the east. The administrative authorities are

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 ...

South Cambridgeshire District Council South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

, and Great Wilbraham Parish Council.

History

The parish of Great Wilbraham has been occupied for thousands of years; a Neolithic camp was excavated in the west of the parish in 1976, and a Bronze Age barrow, where up to eight burials were discovered in 1852, lies alongside the

Fleam Dyke Fleam Dyke is a linear earthwork between Fulbourn and Balsham in Cambridgeshire, initiated at some timepoint between AD 330 and AD 510. It is three miles long and seven metres high from ditch to bank, and its ditch faces westwards, implying inv ...

in the southern corner of the parish. A possible Roman dwelling was also located in woodlands. The medieval history of Great Wilbraham is tied up with that of neighbouring Little Wilbraham, and they were first distinguished in the 13th century when it was also known as King's Wilbraham. Listed as ''Wilburgeham'' in the 10th century, and ''Wiborgham'' 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 manus ...

, the name "Wilbraham" means "Homestead of a woman called Wilburh".

Church

A church was built in Wilbraham in around 970 by a monk from Ramsey Abbey. The present church, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, dates from the 12th century, and the font and the nave's north wall survive from that period. Extended over the following 200 years, the west tower dates from around 1400. A short spire was added but had gone by the late 18th century. The village has been home to nonconformity since the 17th century, and there has been a strong Baptist presence since then. A Baptist chapel survives at the north end of Angle End.

Village life

Great Wilbraham is mostly residential in nature. Employment within the village is mostly agricultural but there are also a number of small businesses. Many of the working residents commute into

or other nearby towns such as Newmarket. The village has a variety of house types, mostly Victorian or older, with post-war infill development, and a small number of modest-scale modern estates. No significant expansion is anticipated in the near future. A number of attractive period houses surround the large village green, which adjoins the churchyard. There is 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 ser ...

/general store and a village hall/social club. Great Wilbraham retains one public house, the Carpenter's Arms, which has been open since at least 1767. Former pubs were The (Sedan) Chair, recorded from 1765, and the 19th century King's Head and White Swan, both of which closed in the late 1960s. The Voluntarily Aided Church

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 ...

enjoys an excellent reputation with approximately 100 pupils between the ages of 5 and 11. Within the village there are two pre-school groups, one attached to the school. Children of secondary age mostly attend the Village College in the nearby village of

Bottisham Bottisham is a village and civil parish in the East Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England, about east of Cambridge, halfway to Newmarket. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,983, including Chittering, increasin ...

. There is a strong sporting tradition within the village, with cricket and football teams making use of the green.

Darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...

and indoor bowls are also played in the Social Club. Money is raised by an annual Sports Day which includes many stalls and events such as coconut shies, pony rides, running races and even cake competitions.

Notable people

Robert Bolgar Caius Coriolanus Robert Ralph Bolgar (2 June 1913 – 23 June 1985), sometimes spelt Bolgár, was an English classical scholar of Hungarian origins, a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. Known as Robert, he published most of his work as R. R. Bolg ...

(1913–1985), Cambridge don

References

External links