Papworth Everard is a village in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, 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 North ...

, England. It lies ten miles west 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 six miles south of

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

. Running through its centre is

Ermine Street Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London (''Londinium'') to Lincoln (''Lindum Colonia'') and York (''Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earningas'', ...

, the old North Road (now the A1198) and the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

highway that for centuries served as a major artery from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. A bypass now means that most traffic can avoid Ermine Street, and it is traffic-calmed within the village itself. Today, Papworth Everard is a large village with a thriving community, home to substantial light industry and local business. It was also the centre for the Papworth Trust, a charity that offers housing and training to the disabled (now based in Huntingdon) and formerly the

Royal Papworth Hospital Royal Papworth Hospital is a specialist heart and lung hospital, located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridgeshire, England. The Hospital is run by Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital is a world-leading cardioth ...

, renowned in the field of

cardiology Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart d ...

and now moved to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

History

Recent archaeological work in the area of the Papworth Business Park has shown that there was some Bronze Age activity in the area. In the Roman period when Ermine Street was built, in the first century AD, it is unlikely that there was as yet anything we would now recognise as a village there. However, the same archaeological work does show signs of Romano-British activity, as well as the road. Roman rule collapsed in Britain in 410 AD. It was at least another two or three centuries before a

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

leader, probably called 'Papa', established a small settlement about a quarter of a mile to the west of Ermine Street around the site of the present parish church. Indeed, Papworth means "the enclosure of Papa's people"; they were also involved in establishing

Papworth St Agnes Papworth St Agnes is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England. The population of the village is included in the civil parish of Graveley It has also been known as Papworth Magna, to distinguish it from the adjoining Papworth ...

and Papley Grove. Following the Norman conquest of 1066, the village and land of Papworth were granted by the new king to a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

knight, Everard De Beche, from whose name the second element of the village's name is derived. A moated area in the village is the remains of his castle.

Sport and recreation

Papworth Everard has a King George's Field in memorial to

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...

. Adjacent to the playing fields are a bowling green, a multi-use games area and a series of all-weather, floodlit tennis courts. The village also has an open-air paddling pool (usually open mid-July to September) in its well equipped children's play area. Papworth Blasters is the village's local

Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team. They play their home games at King George's Field. They have varying age ranges of teams, from under 7s to under 16s and a men's team. The village also has a running club, Papworth Runners, and a cycling club, Papworth Peloton. Papworth Everard also has an allotment association located to the South East of the village. It has just under 40 plots.

Local facilities and services

Papworth Everard is served by a variety of local services, primarily based in the central location of Pendrill Court, between Chequers Lane and Ermine Street. This area is adjacent to the playing fields and provides a central hub for the village. In addition to a combined pharmacy and doctors' surgery on Chequers Lane, the village centre contains a convenience store (incorporating a post office), veterinary surgery, chip shop, library, delicatessen and party business, and The Courtyard coffee shop and micro-pub. The village hall was fully refurbished and reopened in 2015, under the control of the Parish Council. Plans remain to develop the old print works in the village into a community facility but at present these remain hopeful rather than firm. The redeveloped social club (formerly The Conservatory) reopened in August 2015 but has since closed. At the edge of the village is an Indian restaurant, Shilpa's. Local news and information is published monthly in ''Papworth News and Views''.

Gallery

Image:Papworth Everard shield.jpg, Shield Image:Papworth Everard3.jpg, Road Image:Papworth hospital.jpg,

Papworth Hospital Royal Papworth Hospital is a specialist heart and lung hospital, located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridgeshire, England. The Hospital is run by Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital is a world-leading cardiot ...

Image:Papworth Kebab Van.jpg, Kebab van

Notes

References

Papworth Everard Parish CouncilPapworth Everard Community Discussion Forums'Papworth Everard', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Cambridgeshire, Volume 1, West Cambridgshire (London, 1968), pp. 196-198
ccessed 16 February 2016

External links

{{authority control Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire Villages in Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire District