Orchard Park, previously known as Premier Park and before that Arbury Park, is a district 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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

contiguous Contiguity or contiguous may refer to: *Contiguous data storage, in computer science *Contiguity (probability theory) *Contiguity (psychology) *Contiguous distribution of species, in biogeography *Geographic contiguity of territorial land *Contigu ...

with 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 ...

. Previously agricultural land and the site of Premier Park a huge estate for Premier Travel who amongst other things was a main National Express operator with housing for its drivers. the area is currently an extensive housing estate with additional development continuing on adjacent land.

History

The area now called Orchard Park has been settled since at least the

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 ...

and remnants of the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

ring fort Ringforts, ring forts or ring fortresses are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Bronze Age up to about the year 1000. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wales ...

, Arbury Camp, remain. The area was also occupied during the

Roman occupation of Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered was ...

. By the beginning of the 21st century the area was mostly used for

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

before it was identified by local government for development. Building started in 2006 and was due to be completed around 2009, but had been suspended from September 2008 till June 2009 when building restarted. The development contains a number of newly built houses and flats — mixed

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

and private dwellings. It has been proposed that under current boundary change proposals Orchard Park should fall within

Cambridge City Council Cambridge City Council is a district council in the county of Cambridgeshire, which governs the City of Cambridge. History Cambridge was granted a Royal Charter by King John in 1207, which permitted the appointment of a mayor. The first recorde ...

's boundaries in the future.

Education

Orchard Park Community Primary School caters for 5–11 year olds. Nearby

Cambridge Regional College Cambridge Regional College is a mixed further education college in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. College profile The college offers courses in a wide range of subjects from hair and beauty and mechanics to media studies and science, as ...

offers further education. Image:Cambridge_Orchard_Park_community_centre.jpg, The Orchard Community Centre and houses along Central Avenue. Image:Cambridge_Orchard_Park_primary_school.jpg, Orchard Park Community Primary School. Image:Cambridge_Orchard_Park_Premier_Inn.jpg,

Premier Inn Premier Inn is a British limited service hotel chain and the UK's largest hotel brand, with more than 72,000 rooms and 800 hotels. It operates hotels in a variety of locations including city centres, suburbs and airports competing with the like ...

in Orchard Park.

Transport

The area has bus and road connections to the centre of Cambridge as well as the A14 trunk road. Services on the

Cambridgeshire Guided Busway The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, known locally as The Busway, connects Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives, Cambridgeshire, St Ives in the English county of Cambridgeshire. It is the longest guided busway in the world, overtaking the O-Bahn Buswa ...

began in August 2011 after a lengthy delay. The busway passes the edge of the development with two sheltered bus stops at East and West Orchard Park. A path reducing the travelling distance for pedestrians and cyclists to Histon has been proposed, to reduce Orchard Park resident's dependency on motorised transport. The Ring Fort Path proposal would close the gap between the local hotel and school and the pedestrian crossing over the A14 to Histon. The area is 2 miles from Cambridge North Station

Cambridge North railway station Cambridge North railway station is a railway station located in the Cambridge suburb of Chesterton, close to Cambridge Science Park. The station is on the Fen Line, which runs from Cambridge to King's Lynn. It connects to the Cambridgeshire ...

and 3 miles from Cambridge Central Station.

Nearby communities

Arbury Arbury is a district and electoral ward of the city of Cambridge, England. The ward borders the following other wards (from North, proceeding clockwise): Histon, King's Hedges, West Chesterton, Market and Castle. History The area has been occu ...

Impington Impington is a settlement and civil parish about 3 miles north of Cambridge city centre, in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It forms part of the Cambridge built-up area. In 2011 the parish had a populat ...

* Chesterton

References

{{reflist

External links

Orchard Park planning document
at South Cambridgeshire District Council
Orchard Park Community website
Geography of Cambridge Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire Buildings and structures in Cambridgeshire Buildings and structures under construction in the United Kingdom