Barrington 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the South Cambridgeshire district of

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, England. The village is about south-west of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, between Haslingfield and Shepreth.

History

The parish of Barrington is roughly a trapezium in shape and covers 2282 acres. The southern boundary follows the River Cam which separates it from the parishes of Shepreth, Foxton, and Harston and formed the ancient boundary of Wetherley

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

. Its northern boundary reaches the ancient Mare Way at its north-westernmost tip, a track that ran along the ridge of the White Hill, and now forms the A603. It borders Orwell to the west, Harlton to the north and Haslingfield to the east. Listed as ''Barentone'' 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 the name "Barrington" is believed to mean "farmstead of a man called Bara". The village has long been an important manufacturer of bricks and cement; there were already four brick-makers by the 1840s. The Prime family opened the Shepreth road brickworks by 1876 which changed hands several times over the 20th century as it grew in size. At the northern end of the village was the Cemex

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

works which closed in 2008. Barrington Hall was once the seat of the Bendyshe family; it was used for a while as offices (see Harlequin) but currently for hosting weddings and other events.

Church

The parish church of All Saints is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. It has a chancel, an aisled and clerestoried nave with north and south porches and side chapels, and a west tower. The chancel and nave date from the 13th century and perhaps incorporate parts of an older building at its western end. The tower was added later in the 13th century, though only reached its current height in the 16th century, and the chancel was extended in the 14th century. The tower contains six bells.

Village life

The village retains one public house, The Royal Oak, which is housed in a building that dates back to the 13th century. Former pubs in the village include The Boot, and The Catherine Wheel, both open by 1850, The Victoria and The Fountain both open by 1900, and The Butcher's Arms by 1937. All were closed before the end of the 1960s. The Barrington cement plant employed around 80 people and produced a million tonnes of concrete annually. After 90 years of production, it closed in 2008 and its chimney was demolished in 2018.

Notable residents

* Edmund Leach, social anthropologist * Elsie Widdowson, dietitian

References

External links

Barrington village website
* {{authority control Villages in Cambridgeshire Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire District