Wilburton is a small village of just over 1,000 inhabitants, situated 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 is 6 miles south west of

Ely Ely or ELY may refer to: Places Ireland * Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely * Ely Place, Dublin, a street United Kingdom * Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England ** Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formal ...

. While nominally an agricultural village, many of the inhabitants work in

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 ...

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 ...

History

The Burystead manor house, Wilburton, Cambs - geograph

Wilburton is a parish of around 800 acres lying on the important medieval route from

Earith Earith is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Earith lies approximately east of Huntingdon. Earith is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being a historic county ...

Stretham Stretham Locally, the is a glottal stop: or even is a village and civil parish south-south-west of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, about by road from London. Its main attraction is Stretham Old Engine, a steam-powered pump used to drain th ...

, and extending south to the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the Wa ...

. As much of the land in the region is fenland, the village's position on the ridge between

and Haddenham at the southern end of the

Isle of Ely The Isle of Ely () is a historic region around the city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. Between 1889 and 1965, it formed an administrative county. Etymology Its name has been said to mean "island of eels", a reference to the creatures that ...

was important in its growth and success. Listed as ''Wilburhtun'' in 970 and ''Wilbertone'' 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 "Wilburton" means "Farmstead or village of a woman called Wilburh". The village contains a number of old buildings, and was described in the 19th century as "very neat and contains some excellent houses". These include the Burystead (the former manor house, built c.1600), one of the few surviving half-timbered houses in the region, and the Victoria Place row of cottages. For the last few hundred years, the Pell family were the prominent local landowners, sponsoring the

Ely and St Ives Railway The Ely and St Ives Railway was a railway company that opened a line between those places (in Cambridgeshire, England) in 1878. It was an extension of the privately promoted Ely, Haddenham & Sutton Railway that had opened in 1866. It was a standa ...

in the late 19th century.

Wilburton railway station Wilburton railway station was a station in Wilburton, Cambridgeshire on the Ely and St Ives Railway The Ely and St Ives Railway was a railway company that opened a line between those places (in Cambridgeshire, England) in 1878. It was an ext ...

, built in 1866, has been open for goods trains only since 1931.

Church

The parish church, dedicated to

St Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupation ...

consists of a chancel, north vestry and organ chamber, a nave, north chapel, south porch, and west tower. The chancel arch and tower date from the 13th century and the extensive rebuilding in the second half of the 15th century produced the chancel, vestry, nave, and porch. The organ chamber and north chapel were added in the late 19th century. The three-storey tower contains five bells, all dating from the 17th century.

Village life

Their village is home to an

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

manor house, a shop, and a garden centre. There is one public house, The King's Head. There is also a hall called St Peter's Hall that is used for events by the local community, such as school plays, wedding receptions, and after-school clubs. Adjoining St Peter's Hall is a social club. The village holds a fireworks display around

Guy Fawkes night Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Fireworks Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain, involving bonfires and fireworks displays. Its history begins with the ev ...

and two annual beer festivals. Wilburton is home to two amateur football teams, Wilburton Blades and Wilburton Albion. Wilburton Fc was formed in 2006 by two local residents after both previous teams folded. The club grew into having a first and reserve team with having over 50 players associated to the club. The club ran for over 6 years turning from bottom of the table to competing for the league and winning several Invitational cups and trophies during its 6-year history. Well known local football player William Ludbrooke made a big impact for the club scoring over 80 competitive goals and winning several awards along the way within the associated leagues. After enjoying several successes, the team also played at Carrow Rd, Norwich on 3 occasions and at MK Dons. In 2012 the club chairman and manager retired with the reserve manager leaving shortly after. Most of the first team players then moved over to Stretham with the club then coming to an end. However, opening in September 2018
Wilburton Football Academy
will offer training to children aged 4 to 6 to take part in matches with other teams from the county. It will be located at the main recreational ground.

Wilburton-Wallington Phase

The

Wilburton-Wallington Phase The Wilburton-Wallington Phase is the name given by archaeologists to a metalworking stage of the Bronze Age in Britain spanning the period between c. 1140 BC and c. 1020 BC. The Wilburton complex was present in the south of Britain and the Wall ...

is the name given by archaeologists to a metalworking stage of the Bronze Age in Britain spanning the period between c. 1140 BC and c. 1020 BC. The Wilburton complex was present in the south of Britain and the Wallington (Northumberland) complex in the north. Both are characterised by the introduction of copper-lead-tin alloys in bronze making and by the manufacture of leaf-shaped slashing swords, socketed spearheads secured to a shaft with a peg, horse-bits and socketed axes. It is paralleled by the Poldar industries in Scotland and the Roscommon industries in Ireland as well as being linked with the Urnfield A2-B1 in South Germany. It is preceded in Britain by the

Penard Period The Penard Period is a metalworking phase of the Bronze Age in Britain spanning the period c. 1275 BC to c. 1140 BC. It is named after the typesite of Penard in West Glamorgan, where a hoard of bronze tools from the period was found in 1827. T ...

, and followed by the Blackmoor Period.Needham, S., Bronk Ramsey, C., Coombs, D., Cartwright, C., and Pettitt, P., (1997) "An independent chronology for British Bronze Age metalwork: the results of the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Programme", Archaeological Journal, Volume 154, pp. 55–107.

References

External links