Thriplow () is a village in the civil parish of

Thriplow and Heathfield Thriplow () is a village in the civil parish of Thriplow and Heathfield, in Cambridgeshire, England, south of Cambridge. The village also gives its name to a former Cambridgeshire hundred. History The parish of Thriplow covers , roughly spa ...

, 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, south 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 ...

. The village also gives its name to a former Cambridgeshire hundred.

History

The parish of Thriplow covers , roughly spanning the land between the former London to Cambridge coaching road (now the B1368) and the Royston to Newmarket road (now the

A505 The A505 is an A-class road in England. It follows part of the route of the Icknield Way and the corresponding Icknield Way Path and runs from Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire to the A11 Abington Interchange North in Cambridgeshire. Route ...

). The presence of

tumuli A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...

in the south of the parish suggests an

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 ...

settlement; and a barrow to the east of the village contains 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 ...

burial. The village itself probably existed in Romano-British times (around AD 150). The

Icknield Way The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Background It is generally said to be, wi ...

to the south of the village was probably an important factor in the village's growth. Listed as ''Tripelan'' in around 1050 and ''Trepeslau'' 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 ...

, the name "Thriplow" means "Hill or tumulus of a man called Tryppa". Tryppa is believed to have been a Bronze Age chieftain who may be buried in the tumulus just south east of the church.Thriplow Website
/ref> In 1647 the

New Model Army The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Th ...

camped on Thriplow Heath (often referred to in contemporary accounts as "Triploe Heath") after its refusal to disband during its dispute with Parliament. Thirteen Thriplow residents are recorded to have perished in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and three in 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 opposin ...

. In recent times the hamlet of Heathfield has built up in the south east of the parish alongside the

Imperial War Museum Duxford Imperial War Museum Duxford is a branch of the Imperial War Museum near Duxford in Cambridgeshire, England. Britain's largest aviation museum, Duxford houses the museum's large exhibits, including nearly 200 aircraft, military vehicles, artill ...

, with most of the housing dating from the 2000s. Its population (around 600) is now larger than that of Thriplow village (around 440). On 1 April 2021 the civil parish was renamed "Thriplow and Heathfield".

Church

There has been a church in Thriplow since at least the 12th century. In 1284 the tithes of Thriplow Church were used to found Peterhouse College and the first recorded vicar, John de Hyndrayngham, was installed in 1299. The parish church of St George (dedicated to All Saints until the 19th century) dates from the late 13th century and consists of a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

with north

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

, north and south

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

s, a central tower with short spire, and a nave with south porch. The tower and spire date from the 14th century. The south porch was rebuilt by Gilbert Scott in 1877.

William Dowsing William Dowsing (1596–1668), also known as "Smasher Dowsing", was an English puritan, and was a particularly notable iconoclast at the time of the English Civil War.G. Goodwin, 'Dowsing, William (?1596-?1679), iconoclast', ''Dictionary of Natio ...

mutilated the church screen in 1644. The parish is now held with that of Fowlmere and no vicar has lived in Thriplow since 1936.

Village life

Thriplow has one public house, The Green Man, which has been open since the first half of the 19th century. As of 1 October 2012, The Green Man has been operated as a

limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by ...

and owned by local 71 shareholders. Former pubs include The Fox, on the east side of Church Street, open in the early 19th century; it burned down in 1919. The Red Lion at the north end of Middle Street burned down around 1941 with the site taken by the village hall in 1958. The village shop last operated as an independent commercial concern between 1997 and 2000. After that there were several failed attempts to continue the shop as a business, and the management was finally taken over by the Thriplow Village Shop Association in June–July 2007. The village has a recreation ground, a primary school, a village hall, a cricket ground and a Church. The smithy on the village green was still open in the early 1960s but was given to the village in 1964 as a museum. It opens twice a year when the

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

gives a demonstration of traditional skills. Thriplow also contains two

sites of special scientific interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

: Thriplow Meadows and Thriplow Peat Holes.Natural England - Sites of Special Scientific Interest
/ref>

The Thriplow Daffodil Weekend

This tradition started in 1969, to raise money for repairs to the church, and has run each year since (except for 2001 when the weekend was cancelled due to foot-and-mouth disease, and 2020/21 when it was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

). The event is organised by the Daffodil Weekend Trust and raises funds for a different charity each year, with the charity for 2014 being Home Start. There are numerous attractions during the weekend including heavy horses giving dray rides, children's entertainment, sheepdog working, open gardens and stalls. New for 2014 was a miniature steam railway on the Cricket Meadow, and over the last two years, the weekend has hosted a Taste of Thriplow.

References

External links