Kennett, Cambridgeshire
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Kennett 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 ...
at the very eastern tip of
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. Situated around north-east of Newmarket and north-west of Bury St Edmunds, it falls into the county of Suffolk.


History

The small parish of Kennett covers at the easternmost point of the spur of Cambridgeshire that stretches into Suffolk. Listed as ''Chenet'' 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 ...
of 1086, the village is named after the river Kennett, a tributary of the
River Lark The River Lark is a river in England that crosses the border between Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. It is a tributary of the River Great Ouse, and was extended when that river was re-routed as part of drainage improvements. It is thought to have ...
. The origin of the river's name is unclear, but it is of Celtic origin perhaps partially derived from ''cwm'' meaning "summit". The parish is roughly square in shape, and borders Suffolk to its east and south. The eastern border is largely made up of the meandering medieval course of the River Kennett, though the river has been straightened in sections since the border was defined. The border deviates to the east of the river for a kilometre or so, such that the land around Kennett Hall falls into the parish. The straight southern border with Suffolk follows 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 ...
. The relatively straight west and north borders are former field boundaries that separate it from Chippenham. The earliest parts of the parish church of St Nicholas date to the 12th century. The river was forded at the south-east of the parish in around 1161 (from which the village of Kentford takes its name) and was navigable until at least the early 14th century, leading eventually to King's Lynn. A 13th century ferry across the Kennett was known as Kentfayre, and the Newmarket to Bury St Edmunds road had a bridge over the river added in around 1600 on what became a busy
turnpike Turnpike often refers to: * A type of gate, another word for a turnstile * In the United States, a toll road Turnpike may also refer to: Roads United Kingdom * A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...
. Occasional flooding of the Kennett would damage the east of the parish, and a flood in 1968 destroyed the railway bridge at Kennett End. A pumping station was built just to the east of the church in 1977 to control flow. The railway reached the parish in 1854 and Kennett railway station was opened at the south-east of the parish. It closed to goods trains in 1965 and became unstaffed after 1967, though trains between
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 ...
and
Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...
still stop there, the only stop between Newmarket and Bury St Edmunds. The Newmarket by-pass opened in the early 1970s (now the A14) and runs alongside the railway at the south of the parish. The village's population increased from 90 in the 1790s to a peak of 208 in 1851 before dropping to around 160 by the end of the 19th century. Increasing to around 200 between 1930 and 1950 it remained steady at about 270 between 1961 and 1991. In 2001 it stood at 364. Kennett Hall, on the site which served as the manor house from the 12th century, was built in around 1870 by William Godfrey. The house has Neo-Palladian windows on the three-bayed south-west front. In 1958 it was divided into flats, and rented by members of the American armed forces.


Village life

The Bell Inn, the only pub in the parish, stands at the crossroads at Kennett End and dates from the 16th century. Village playing fields were opened to the east of Station Road in 1951 and are shared with Kentford in Suffolk. A former quarry at the north west of the parish was bought in 1991 for use as a centre for off-road activities, claiming to own the largest collection of privately owned military vehicles in the country.


References


External links


Village website
{{authority control Villages in Cambridgeshire Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire East Cambridgeshire District