Buckden is a 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 ...
north of
St Neots
St NeotsPronunciation of the town name: Most commonly, but variations that ''saint'' is said as in most English non-georeferencing speech, the ''t'' is by a small minority of the British pronounced and higher traces of in the final syllable ...
and south-west of
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...
, England. It includes the hamlets of Stirtloe and Hardwick. It lies in
Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...
, a
non-metropolitan district
Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of Districts of England, local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''s ...
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 ...
and a
historic county, close to three transport routes of past and present: 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 ...
, along its eastern boundary, the
Great North Road that once crossed the village, but now bypasses it to the west, and the
East Coast Mainline
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great ...
along the eastern side of the Great Ouse valley in the neighbouring parish of
The Offords.
Features
In the centre of the village is
Buckden Towers
Buckden Towers, formerly known as Buckden Palace, is a medieval fortified house and bishop's palace in Buckden, Cambridgeshire, England. It is now a conference and retreat centre operated by the Claretian missionaries.
History
The 15th-cent ...
, once Buckden Palace, a residence of the bishops of Lincoln from the 12th to early 19th centuries. Several kings of England stayed there and
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine,
historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...
was held there in 1533 before being moved to
Kimbolton Castle
Kimbolton Castle is a country house in Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, England. It was the final home of King Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Originally a medieval castle but converted into a stately palace, it was the family seat of ...
in 1534.
Buckden prospered in the 18th and early 19th centuries from being just over north of London on the Great North Road, which was a busy
coaching
Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...
road at the time. The development of the railways in the mid-19th century led to a decline in the population, but it more than doubled in the second half of the 20th century.
History
Toponymy
Recorded 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 as ''Bugedene'',
Buckden has also been referred to as ''Buggeden'' (12–13th centuries), ''Bokeden'' (13th–14th centuries), ''Bukeden'' (13th–14th centuries), and ''
Bugden Bugden is an Anglo-Saxon surname originating in Huntingdonshire or West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of ...
'' (15th–18th centuries),
with the present spelling taking over in the 18th century. The name originates from Old English; "Bucge" is a personal name and "dene" an Old English word for valley. The name is still pronounced Bugden locally.
Roman
Evidence of Roman settlement was found in 1963–1964 at a quarry site to the east of the village. In 1981, signs of a Roman villa appeared close to the Towers. Excavations in 2006 to the north-east of the village revealed evidence of a Romano-British field system of the 1st–4th centuries CE.
Middle Ages
In 1961, excavations uncovered crucibles and crucible fragments that appear to have been used to manufacture white and yellow glass and to date from Anglo-Saxon times. The site of the find was to the north-east of Buckden village, in an area of the Great Ouse valley about to be mined for sand and gravel.
"Bugedene" was listed 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 ...
in the
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 ...
of Toseland, Huntingdonshire.
In 1086 there was a single manor at Buckden, whose annual rent of £20 paid to the lord of the manor in 1066 had fallen to £16.10s.
Domesday Book mentions 58 households at Buckden,
[ suggesting a population of 200–300. It states there were 19 ]ploughland
The carucate or carrucate ( or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms of tax assessment.
...
s there in 1086, with capacity for a further one.[ Apart from that, it had of meadows, of woodland and a ]water mill
A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production ...
.[ The total manor tax assessment was 20 ]guilders
Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' (" gold penny"). This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Rom ...
.[
By 1086 the village had a church and priest. The land was then owned by the ]Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.
The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...
, who may already have had a house there. He certainly had one when the Bishop held court by the mid–12th century. In 1227 Henry III granted the Bishop the right to a deer park at Buckden; by the time of a survey in 1647 this covered 425 acres and contained some 200 deer. By the late 17th century the deer were gone and the land enclosed as fields. The deer park lay to the west of the parish.
Buckden later had two manors. The larger was Buckden and the Members, whose lords were the bishops of Lincoln except in brief periods of the 14th, 16th and 17th centuries. The smaller, Buckden Brittains, was the home of the Briton (or Le Briton) family in the 13th century, but later changed hands many times. By the early 19th century, about were owned by the manor of Buckden and the Members and about by the manor of Buckden Brittains.
English kings who stayed at Buckden Palace were Henry III in 1248, Edward I
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...
in 1291 and Richard III
Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...
in 1483. Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
sent Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine,
historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...
to Buckden Palace after the annulment of their marriage (an issue known as the King's Great Matter), from July 1533 to May 1534. He and his fifth wife, Catherine Howard
Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542) was Queen of England from July 1540 until November 1541 as the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a first cousin to Anne Boleyn (the second ...
, stayed there in 1541. On Friday 18 June 1641, "hundreds of women and boys, armed with Daggers and Javelins, in a very tumultuous and riotous Manner" entered some land at Buckden owned by the Bishop of Lincoln and "turned in a great herd of cattle".
Georgian period
Buckden's site on the Great North Road made it a popular coaching stop in the 18th century. It had four coaching inn
The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of t ...
s. ''The Lion'' dates from the 15th century and was enlarged in the 18th. ''The George Inn'', with its courtyard and forge, was remodelled in the 18th century. ''The Vine'' dated from the first half of the 17th century and was rebuilt in the 18th to include stables and its own brewery. ''The Spread Eagle'', originating in the 17th century, was altered in the 18th; it had stabling and paddocks.[ A schedule of 1839 shows six express coaches heading north every day, to Boston, Leeds, Lincoln and York, and as many heading south to London.][ The presence of elegant Georgian houses in Church Street and the High Street (the former Great North Road) reflects the prosperity brought by its strategic position on the coaching route.
]
Victorian and modern times
In 1854, just 15 years later, Buckden was called "a quiet insignificant place compared to what it was in coaching times", with the advent of the railways. The population, having steadily risen from 869 in 1801 to a peak of 1,291 in 1841, fell to 995 by 1911.[
The open fields in Buckden were enclosed by Act of Parliament in 1813. In 1842 a girls' school was opened (a boys' school having existed for over a century) and a new school building built in 1871. A ]post mill
The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. Its defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single central vertical post. The vertical post is supported by four quarter bars. These ar ...
erected in 1830 worked until 1888, when an auxiliary steam engine was installed. The mill was demolished in 1893. Domesday mentions a water mill on the Great Ouse; this was rebuilt about 1850 and converted to steam power in the 1890s.[ It ran until 1965, and from then until the 1980s was used for crop storage. By 2015, it had been turned into housing.
In the second half of the 20th century, new housing estates in Buckden led to a marked increase in the population.
]
Governance
Buckden as a civil parish had an elected parish council of 15 members in 2020. The second tier of governance is Huntingdonshire District Council
Huntingdonshire District Council is the local authority for the district of Huntingdonshire in Cambridgeshire, England. The council is based in the town of Huntingdon. The district also includes the towns of Godmanchester, Ramsey, St Ives and ...
, a non-metropolitan district
Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of Districts of England, local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''s ...
of Cambridgeshire. The parish council is based at the village hall on Burberry Road, which was built in 1999.
Buckden is represented on Huntingdonshire District Council
Huntingdonshire District Council is the local authority for the district of Huntingdonshire in Cambridgeshire, England. The council is based in the town of Huntingdon. The district also includes the towns of Godmanchester, Ramsey, St Ives and ...
by one councillor for the Buckden district ward, which covers the civil parishes of Buckden, Diddington
Diddington is a small village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Diddington lies approximately south-west of Huntingdon, near to Buckden. Diddington is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridge ...
and Southoe and Midloe, and on Cambridgeshire County Council
Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council for non-metropolitan county of Cambridgeshire, England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county, which additionally includes the City o ...
by one councillor for the Buckden, Gransden and The Offords electoral division. It belongs to the parliamentary constituency of Huntingdon County
Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...
, held since 2015 by Jonathan Djanogly
Jonathan Simon Djanogly (born 3 June 1965) is a British politician and solicitor who served as Shadow Solicitor General for England and Wales from 2004 to 2010 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Courts and Legal Aid from 2010 to 2 ...
(Conservative).
Buckden was in the historic and administrative county
An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until 1973 in Northern Ireland, 2002 in the Republic of Ireland. They are now abolished, although most Northern ...
of Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...
until 1965. From then it was part of a new administrative county of Huntingdon and Peterborough
Huntingdon and Peterborough was a short-lived administrative county, administrative and Geographical counties of England, geographical county in East Anglia in the United Kingdom. It existed from 1965 to 1974, when it became part of Cambridgesh ...
. In 1974, after the Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...
, it became a part of Cambridgeshire.
Geography
Buckden
The village of Buckden lies about west of 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 ...
. Between the Great Ouse and Buckden there are a number of disused, flooded gravel quarries. The village lies on sloping ground on the western edge of the river valley. Just to the west is the A1 road, following the route of the Great North Road roughly north and south. Access from the A1 is via a roundabout at the southern edge of Buckden. The western half of the parish slopes gently with low hills.
Hamlets
The hamlet of Hardwick is joined to the north-west of Buckden village, but on the western side of the A1. There is a pedestrian subway under the A1 to connect it.
The hamlet of Stirtloe lies to the south of Buckden, separated from the village by of fields.
Geology
The village and parish lie on a bedrock of Oxford Clay Formation mudstone of blue-grey or olive-coloured clay formed some 156–165 million years ago in the Jurassic Period
The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the second and m ...
. The central area has river terrace
Fluvial terraces are elongated terraces that flank the sides of floodplains and fluvial valleys all over the world. They consist of a relatively level strip of land, called a "tread", separated from either an adjacent floodplain, other fluvial t ...
deposits of sand and gravel from the Quaternary period
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...
, formed up to 3 million years ago by rivers. On the eastern side there are superficial deposits of alluvium
Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...
(clay, silt, sand and gravel) from up to 2 million years ago in the Quaternary period. The land to the west of the parish is marked by Oadby Member Diamicton Diamicton (also diamict) (from Greek ''δια'' (dia-): through and ''μεικτός'' (meiktós): mixed) is a terrigenous sediment (a sediment resulting from dry-land erosion) that is unsorted to poorly sorted and contains particles ranging in siz ...
, again of the Quaternary period, with rocks formed under Ice Age conditions by glaciers scouring the land in the last 2 million years.[
On the western side of the parish, the soil is classed as lime-rich loam and clay with impeded drainage. The central part, where the village lies, has freely draining, slightly acid loamy soil. On the eastern side, the soil is similar, but base-rich and loamy.] The farmland in the parish is mainly arable, but with grassland notable in the Great Ouse valley.[ It lies between and above ordnance datum and covers an area of .
]
Location
The southern boundary of the parish follows the line of Diddington Brook and the eastern boundary follows the River Great Ouse.
Climate
The UK climate, defined like most of north-west Europe as temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...
and oceanic
Oceanic may refer to:
*Of or relating to the ocean
*Of or relating to Oceania
**Oceanic climate
**Oceanic languages
**Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)"
Places
* Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...
, or ''Cfb'' under the Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
system, makes Eastern areas such as East Anglia
East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included.
The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...
drier, cooler and less windy, with greater daily and seasonal temperature variations. Cambridgeshire has cool onshore coastal breezes further to the east, keeping it warm in summer and cold and frosty in winter.
The nearest Met Office
The Met Office, until November 2000 officially the Meteorological Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather and climate service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and ...
station to Buckden is at Monks Wood near Alconbury, north of Buckden. Average annual rainfall for the UK in 1981–2010 was , but Cambridgeshire is one of the driest counties with about half that amount. Regional weather forecasting
Weather forecasting or weather prediction is the application of science and technology forecasting, to predict the conditions of the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather info ...
and historical summaries are available from the UK Met Office
The Met Office, until November 2000 officially the Meteorological Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather and climate service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and ...
. Additional local weather stations report periodic figures to the internet such as Weather Underground
The Weather Underground was a far-left Marxist militant organization first active in 1969, founded on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan. Originally known as the Weathermen, or simply Weatherman, the group was organized as a f ...
, Inc.
Demography
The usual resident population of Buckden parish in the 2011 census was 2,805 – 48.1 per cent male and 51.9 per cent female.[ The population density was 576.6 per square mile (223 per km2). Of the 1,260 households, 28.0 per cent had one member and 68.4 per cent one family group, while 3.6 per cent were of other types. The census showed 27.7 per cent of households with one or more dependent children under the age of 18, and 30.6 per cent consisting of people all over the age of 65. The mean average number of persons per household was 2.4.
Of the usually resident population in 2011, 20.4 per cent were under the age of 18, 55.4 per cent between 18 and 65, and 24.2 per cent over the age of 65. The mean average age of residents was 44.1 years and the median age 47 years.
In 2011, 70.2 per cent of Buckden residents were between the ages of 16 and 74 and found potentially economically active. Of these, 67.9 per cent held part-time, full-time or self-employed work, 30.0 per cent were economically inactive (retired, carers, long-term sick and disabled) and 2.0 per cent unemployed. The five main work sectors appear below:
In 2009, median household income across Cambridgeshire of £32,500 was exceeded by Buckden's £36,900.
The ]Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; ) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible fo ...
has placed the village of Buckden in the Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) called "Huntingdonshire 017C". This was ranked 23,371 out of 32,844 LSOAs in England against the index of multiple deprivation in 2015. It puts Buckden among the 30 per cent least deprived neighbourhoods in England. Much of the civil parish (but excluding the village itself) is in the Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) called "Huntingdonshire 017B", which in 2015, was ranked 29,569 out of 32,844 LSOAs in England against the index of multiple deprivation. This puts the rural part of the parish among the 10 per cent least deprived neighbourhoods in England.[
Buckden is ethnically homogenous. The 2011 census showed 93 per cent of residents born in the UK, 3 per cent in other EU countries and 4 per cent elsewhere in the world. Racially, 98.3 per cent of Buckden people called themselves ethnic white, 0.8 per cent cited mixed or multiple ethnic groups, and 0.6 per cent Asian or British Asian, with the rest in other groups. In the same census, 69.3 per cent called themselves as Christian, 23.2 per cent said they had no religious beliefs, 6.3 per cent did not specify a religion, and 1.1 per cent adhered to another religion (Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh or other).
]
Historical population
The population of the parish of Buckden as recorded in the UK censuses between 1801 and 1901 ranged between 869 and 1,209. The population of Buckden almost doubled in the 1960s.
Census: Buckden 1801–1971
Census Population: Buckden 1951, 1971, 1991
Census Population: Buckden 2001–2011
The population of Buckden district ward of, which includes the parishes of Diddington and of Southloe and Midloe, was 3,293 in the 2011 UK census.
Culture and community
In 1871, Buckden had 13 inns and public houses,[ but by 2015 only three remained: ''The George'', ''The Vine'' and ''The Lion Hotel''. The ''Spread Eagle'', which closed in 2003, is now a private house. All four former coaching inns are Grade II listed buildings. Buckden has some shops, including supermarkets, a post office, a pharmacy and clothiers, and over 100 private businesses based there.
Buckden Marina, built in 1963, is next to the Great Ouse; originally with some 150 berths but now 240, over an area of . In 2001, Lafarge Aggregates and Buckden Marina Co. was joint winner of the Cooper–Heyman Cup, awarded by the Quarry Products Association, for restoring a quarry as a water-recreation complex and wildlife area.
The first issue the monthly community magazine ''Buckden Roundabout'' appeared in September 1979. A charitable trust set up in 1958 manages the village hall and the adjacent recreation ground of some , with four tennis courts, a children's play area, cricket and football pitches and a bowls green. There are clubs for cricket, association football club, and bowls club (founded in 1929). The village hall was expanded in the early 21st century as Buckden Millennium Village Hall. It includes a library.
]
Transport
Buckden is close to the A1 main road, and its primary connection to it is a roundabout at the south end of the village. Until 1962 the Great North Road ran through Buckden, but the construction of the A1 in 1962 relieved the traffic pressure. The B661 road runs west from the roundabout, giving access to Grafham Water
Grafham Water is an biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) north of Perry, Huntingdonshire. It was designated an SSSI in 1986. It is a reservoir with a circumference of about , is deep at maximum, and is the eighth largest rese ...
, Great Staughton
Great Staughton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Great Staughton lies approximately south-west of Huntingdon. Great Staughton is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as ...
and Kimbolton. A minor road runs east to Buckden Marina and Offord Cluny. The B1514 road leads north-east to Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...
through Brampton
Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...
, branching from the A1 a short distance north of Buckden.
Buckden lent its name to two railway stations, both outside the parish. To the north, a line from Kettering to Huntingdon was built in 1866 and a station called Buckden opened. Services ran between Kettering and Cambridge from 1882 until 1959, after which the line was dismantled. Another station, in the neighbouring village of Offord Cluny on the Great Northern Main Line, was called Offord and Buckden. It opened in 1851 and was extended in 1898, but closed by 1959.[ Today's nearest station is away at ]Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...
, where regular services run south to London and north to Peterborough and beyond.
On weekdays and Saturdays there is an hourly bus service between Huntingdon and St Neots that stops in Buckden, at the Green. The operator is Whippet, route 66.[Whippet Bus Route 66, at https://www.whippetbus.co.uk/times/66/]
The Ouse Valley Way
The Ouse Valley Way is a footpath in England, following the River Great Ouse from its source near Syresham in Northamptonshire to its mouth in The Wash near King's Lynn. The path begins outside the King's Head pub in Syresham and ends on t ...
is a footpath that follows the River Great Ouse from its source near Syresham
Syresham is a village and civil parish in the English district of West Northamptonshire. The civil parish population at the 2011 census was 855. It is near Brackley town and close to Silverstone Circuit. It is surrounded by villages and haml ...
in Northamptonshire to its mouth in The Wash
The Wash is a shallow natural rectangular bay and multiple estuary on the east coast of England in the United Kingdom. It is an inlet of the North Sea and is the largest multiple estuary system in the UK, as well as being the largest natural ba ...
near King's Lynn
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...
.
Landmarks
Buckden Towers
Buckden Towers, formerly known as Buckden Palace, is a medieval fortified house and bishop's palace in Buckden, Cambridgeshire, England. It is now a conference and retreat centre operated by the Claretian missionaries.
History
The 15th-cent ...
(or Buckden Palace) was a former residence of the Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.
The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...
, whose medieval diocese reached almost to London. A house was built by the mid-12th century, where the Bishop held court, but it burnt down in 1291 and was rebuilt. Further rebuilding and extension took place in the 15th century, including a new red-brick tower[ of a similar design to ]Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire
Tattershall Castle is a castle in Tattershall, Lincolnshire, England. Since 1925 it has been in the care of the National Trust.
History
Tattershall Castle has its origins in either a stone castle or a fortified manor house, built by Robert d ...
, although that of Buckden has only four storeys. Buckden Palace accommodated Catherine of Aragon for a short time before she was moved to Kimbolton Castle
Kimbolton Castle is a country house in Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, England. It was the final home of King Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Originally a medieval castle but converted into a stately palace, it was the family seat of ...
. The palace was neglected in the earlier 17th century. A survey in 1647 included a Great Chamber, chapel, brick tower and gatehouse, all enclosed by a moat. The grounds had at least four fishponds and the park about 200 deer.[
Huntingdonshire, with Buckden Palace, was transferred from the Diocese of Lincoln to that of Ely in 1837. Several parts were demolished in the 19th century and many that remained were used by the local vicar and a school. In 1848 the palace was described as a "venerable structure".] It passed into private ownership in 1870 and was renamed Buckden Towers. The Victorian house currently on the site dates from 1872.
Between 1914 and 1919 Buckden Towers was used as a Red Cross hospital and in the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
as a home for evacuees from the London blitz. After the war Buckden Towers was passed to the Roman Catholic church and in 1956 to Claretian
The Claretians, officially named the Congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary (; abbreviated CMF), is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men headquartered in Rome. It was f ...
missionaries, who carried out restoration and built a Catholic church for the village.
The site of the original palace is designated an ancient monument and Victorian Buckden Towers as a Grade II listed building; the Inner Gatehouse, Curtain Wall and Towers of the earlier Buckden Palace are all Grade I listed buildings. Apart from these and the former coaching inns, the parish has more than 60 other listed buildings, mainly round Buckden Towers. Much of the centre round Buckden Towers, along the High Street and Church Street, has been designated a Conservation Area by Huntingdonshire District Council.[
To the east, in the ]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 ...
valley, are several small lakes where gravel pits used to be. The enclosure map of 1813 shows the position of one and another appears on an Ordnance Survey map of 1926. Not until the 1960s did large-scale gravel and sand extraction take place, needed for two major local construction projects: the dual carriageway of the A1 and the dam at Graham Water.[ In 1986 the pits covered . Buckden Marina was built in a small disused gravel pit close to the Great Ouse.
]
Education
In 1661 a parish charity school
Charity schools, sometimes called blue coat schools, or simply the Blue School, were significant in the history of education in England. They were built and maintained in various parishes by the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants to ...
was founded in Buckden for boys. It still existed when in 1842 a National School for girls was founded in part of the Bishop's Palace. A new school building opened in 1871 to house the girls' school. The two schools merged in 1941.[ A new infant school opened in 1966; much was rebuilt after a fire in 1978. A primary school was built in 1972.][ Buckden Church of England Primary School became an Academy in 2010 and operates independently of the local authority; 248 students were on the roll in 2014–2015.] The Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...
report on an inspection in 2015 rated the overall effectiveness of the school as outstanding.[ Buckden is in the secondary education catchment area of ]Hinchingbrooke School
Hinchingbrooke School is a large comprehensive secondary school situated on the outskirts of Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, historically in Huntingdonshire. Originally all of the surrounding land—including what is now Huntingdon Town—compris ...
.
Places of worship
The Anglican church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin is a grade I
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, H ...
listed building consisting of a chancel with organ chamber and vestry, a nave, a west tower, north and south aisles and a porch. It was listed 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, but nothing of that date remains. The church contains some 13th-century features, but it was much enlarged and rebuilt in the 15th. The buttresses to the north were added in the 17th century. Restoration ensued in 1840, 1860 and 1884. The west tower has an embattled parapet topped by an octagonal spire that Lewis described as "elegant".[ There were five bells in the tower][ until 1997, when the bell frame and old bells were renewed and an extra bell installed. An extension, the Living Stones Room opened in 2011, includes a meeting room, kitchen and toilets. In 2006 Buckden and the Offords became a single benefice within the deanery of St Neots in the diocese of Ely.
A small Methodist chapel was built about 1838; a larger chapel built in 1876 remains in use.][ The Catholic church built by the Claretians was dedicated to St Hugh of Lincoln in 1959. It is in the Diocese of East Anglia.][ A nonconformist chapel existed between about 1840 and 1862. After renovation, it re-opened in 1905 as a joint Baptist and Congregational chapel.][ it remained in use for worship until 1984, when it was converted first for commercial use and in 2006 as a private residence.][
]
Notable people
*Hugh of Lincoln
Hugh of Lincoln ( – 16 November 1200), also known as Hugh of Avalon, was a Burgundian-born Carthusian monk, bishop of Lincoln in the Kingdom of England, and Catholic saint. His feast is observed by Catholics on 16 November and by Anglica ...
(c. 1135–1200), Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.
The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...
, builder of first wooden palace at Buckden
*Robert Grosseteste
Robert Grosseteste ( ; ; 8 or 9 October 1253), also known as Robert Greathead or Robert of Lincoln, was an Kingdom of England, English statesman, scholasticism, scholastic philosopher, theologian, scientist and Bishop of Lincoln. He was born of ...
(c. 1175–1253), scholastic philosopher
Scholasticism was a medieval European philosophical movement or methodology that was the predominant education in Europe from about 1100 to 1700. It is known for employing logically precise analyses and reconciling classical philosophy and C ...
, statesman and Bishop of Lincoln, died at Buckden.
*Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine,
historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...
(1485–1536), divorced queen of Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
, was confined at Buckden Towers in July 1533 – May 1534.
* Thomas Barlow (1608/9–1691), religious writer and Bishop of Lincoln, died at Buckden.
*Thomas Pepys (1634–1664), a tailor and younger brother of Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys ( ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tories (British political party), Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament (England), Member of Parliament, but is most r ...
, sold a house in Stirtloe, part of Buckden, in 1661/62.
* Richard Reynolds (1674–1743), bishop of Lincoln active against the Walpole ministry in the House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
, was buried in Buckden church.
*Edward Mann Langley
Edward Mann Langley (22 January 1851 – 9 June 1933) was a British mathematician, author of mathematical textbooks and founder of the Mathematical Gazette. He created the mathematical problem known as Langley’s Adventitious Angles.
Biograp ...
(1851–1933), mathematician, was born in Buckden.
* John Leslie Green (1888–1916), born in Buckden, was awarded the Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...
, for valour ending with his own death at the Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...
on 1 July 1916.
*Lionel Powys-Maurice
Lionel Selwyn Powys-Maurice was an English cricketer active from 1922 to 1923 who played for Northamptonshire (Northants). He was born in Brighton on 7 May 1899 and died in Buckden, Huntingdonshire on 8 January 1991. He changed his name to Lione ...
(1899–1991), a county cricketer with Northants
Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordsh ...
, died in Buckden.
* Chris Morris (born 1962 in Buckden), is a comedian and director known for black humour.
Public services
Anglian Water supplies the village water
Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...
and sewage
Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewerage, sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged fro ...
services from its Huntingdon South Public Water Supply zone (FW41). The water quality
Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...
was rated excellent in 2015. In the same report, the hardness
In materials science, hardness (antonym: softness) is a measure of the resistance to plastic deformation, such as an indentation (over an area) or a scratch (linear), induced mechanically either by Pressing (metalworking), pressing or abrasion ...
was reported as 301 mg/L of calcium carbonate, placing it in the very hard range. The nearest reservoir, Grafham Water
Grafham Water is an biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) north of Perry, Huntingdonshire. It was designated an SSSI in 1986. It is a reservoir with a circumference of about , is deep at maximum, and is the eighth largest rese ...
, is west of the village.
The distribution network operator
A distribution network operator (DNO), also known as a distribution system operator (DSO), is the operator of the electric power distribution system which delivers electricity to most end users. Each country may have many local distribution netwo ...
for electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
is UK Power Networks
UK Power Networks (UKPN) is a distribution network operator for electricity covering South East England, the East of England and London. It manages three licensed distribution networks (Eastern Power Networks, South Eastern Power Networks and Lo ...
. There are three gas-fuelled power stations nearby: at Peterborough, Corby and at Little Barford near St Neots. The nearest, Little Barford Power Station
Little Barford Power Station is a combined cycle gas turbine power station in the village of Little Barford in Bedfordshire, England. It lies just south of the A428 St Neots bypass and east of the Wyboston Leisure Park. The River Great Ouse r ...
, is from Buckden; it uses combined cycle
A combined cycle power plant is an assembly of heat engines that work in tandem from the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical energy. On land, when used to make electricity the most common type is called a combined cycle gas turb ...
gas turbines (CCGT) and can generate 740 MW of electricity. There are two renewable-energy generation sites nearby. The landfill site at Station Farm on the Buckden Road uses landfill waste gas to generate a maximum of 1.9 MW of electricity. away at Cotton Farm near Graveley, onshore wind turbines generate a maximum of 20 MW of electricity.
Huntingdonshire District Council is part of the Recycling in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (RECAP) Partnership, which was granted Beacon status
Beacon Status was a progressive educational initiative that the United Kingdom implemented based on the idea that organizational learning could be advanced through a competitive process of identifying successful organizations and recruiting the ...
for waste and recycling in 2006–2007. In 2014–2015 the council was just short of a target of recycling or composting 55 per cent of all local household waste.
National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...
s (NHS) for the village are administered by NHS East of England
NHS East of England was a strategic health authority of the National Health Service in England. It operated in the East of England region, which is coterminous with the local government office region. The authority closed on 31 March 2013 as par ...
. The nearest hospital is Hinchingbrooke, which is from Buckden and has a range of specialities, including Accident and Emergency
An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pat ...
. Further afield is Addenbrooke's Hospital
Addenbrooke's Hospital is a large teaching hospital and research centre in 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 to ...
south-east and Papworth Hospital
Royal Papworth Hospital is a specialist heart and lung hospital, located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridgeshire, England. The Hospital is run by Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
The hospital is a world-leading cardio ...
south-east of the village. There is a GP surgery in the village.
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority is responsible for providing fire and rescue services to a region that includes Buckden. Its headquarters are in Brampton; the nearest 24-hour fire station is in Huntingdon.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary provides law enforcement in the county. The nearest police station is in Huntingdon. In the 12 months from December 2014 to November 2015, 117 street crime
Street crime is a loose term for any criminal offense in a public place. According to London's Metropolitan Police Force, "Robbery, often called 'mugging', and thefts from victims in the street where their property is snatched and the victim is no ...
s were reported within a radius of Church Street, Buckden – an average of just under 10 per month. The most frequent crime was anti-social behaviour. A Neighbourhood Watch Scheme has operated since before 1998.
References
External links
Buckden parish council
{{authority control
Villages in Cambridgeshire
Huntingdonshire
Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire