Westley Waterless is a small 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 authorit ...
in
East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a 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 Northamptonshire to the ...
, England, 5 miles south west of
Newmarket.
History
The parish of Westley Waterless is long and thin covering 1150 acres between the ancient
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 ...
at its north west end (now the A1304), to the village of
Burrough Green
Burrough Green is a village and parish in Cambridgeshire, England. The population of the village at the 2011 census was 378. The soil is various; subsoil, clay and chalk. The chief crops are wheat, barley and roots. The area of the parish is ; t ...
at the south east. It is wedged between the parishes of Burrough Green to the north and east (with the border following Westley Bottom Road), from which it was apparently carved, and
Brinkley Brinkley may refer to:
People
* Brinkley (surname)
Places
* Brinkley, Arkansas, USA
* Brinkley, Nottinghamshire, England
* Brinkley, Cambridgeshire, England
Fictional places
* Brinkley Court The following is a list of recurring or notable fict ...
to the south. It has a short border with
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 ...
at its north west tip.
The site of the present village seems to have been occupied since the 10th century. A leaden vessel filled with tools dating from prior to the
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...
has been found. Thirteen inhabitants were recorded at the time of the Domesday Book. The population reached its peak of 214 in 1851.
[
Listed as ''Westle'' in around 1045, ''Weslai'' 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 ...
and ''Westle Waterles'' in 1285, the name "Westley" means "westerly wood or clearing", and the "waterless" comes from the Old English "water + leas" meaning "wet clearings".
Church
A church was recorded in the village in the 12th century. The oldest part of the present flint building, dedicated to St Mary, is the chancel dating from the 13th century. The chancel arch and three-bay nave date from the 14th century. The church formerly had a round west tower, the oldest part of the church until it fell in 1855.[
The church contains a notable early brass dating from 1324 commemorating Sir John de Creke and his first wife Alyne Clopton.Cambridgeshire Churches]
/ref>
Village life
The village no longer contains a pub. The one former pub was the Trace-horse, which opened in the early 20th century, and was renamed the White Horse by 1937, but had closed by 1976.[
]
See also
*Six Mile Bottom
Six Mile Bottom is a hamlet within the parish of Little Wilbraham, near Cambridge in England.
History
In the 1790s the only building at Six Mile Bottom was a paddock run by a stable keeper. In 1802, a sizeable country house was built nearby. Ea ...
References
External links
{{authority control
Villages in Cambridgeshire
Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire
East Cambridgeshire District