Chesterton is a suburb 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 town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, England. As of the 2021 UK census, the suburb had a population of 18,620 people.

History

Archaeological evidence indicates that the area that is now Chesterton has been inhabited since at least the Bronze Age. In

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

times Chesterton formed part of a larger

vill Vill is a term used in English, Welsh and Irish history to describe a basic rural land unit, roughly comparable to that of a parish, manor, village or tithing. Medieval developments The vill was the smallest territorial and administrative unit� ...

spanning the

River Cam The River Cam () is the main river flowing through Cambridge in eastern England. After leaving Cambridge, it flows north and east before joining the River Great Ouse to the south of Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely, at Pope's Corner. The total distanc ...

. The rest of the vill became the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

of Cambridge sometime after the 8th century, but Chesterton was excluded from the early borough. Chesterton was an

ancient 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 ...

. The parish included the village and adjoining rural areas generally to the north of it; at the western end of the parish it included Cambridge Castle. Chesterton was governed by its parish

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

and manorial courts in the same way as most rural areas until 1880, when the parish was made a

local government district Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

, governed by an elected local board. Such districts were reconstituted as urban districts under the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The act followed the reforms carried out at county leve ...

. Cambridge Borough Council made numerous attempts to annex Chesterton; on three occasions between 1897 and 1909 the electorate of Chesterton voted against it being absorbed into Cambridge. Chesterton Urban District was abolished in 1912. The more urban southern third of the parish, including the original village, was then absorbed into the borough of Cambridge, and the (then) more rural north of the parish was transferred to the neighbouring parish of Milton. The reduced

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 ...

of Chesterton continued to exist after 1912 covering just the parts of Chesterton which had been incorporated into Cambridge, but as an

urban 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 ...

it had no longer had a council of its own. The civil parish of Chesterton was abolished in 1923 when all the parishes in the borough of Cambridge were united into a single parish. In 1921, the last census before its abolition, Chesterton parish had a population of 11,611. The more rural parts of the old Chesterton parish which had been transferred to Milton in 1912 were brought into the borough of Cambridge in a subsequent boundary review in 1934, and were developed during the 20th century with the growing suburbs of Cambridge. A large housing association estate makes up part of the East Chesterton area.

Governance

Chesterton contains two electoral wards (West Chesterton and East Chesterton) in the city of Cambridge. The total population of both wards at the 2021 Census was 18,620, representing a rise of 2.7% in ten years since the 2011 Census. These are roughly the same as the area normally called Chesterton: specifically the land north of the

, east of Castle Hill and south of the

Arbury Arbury is a suburb and electoral ward in Cambridge, England. As of the 2021 UK census, the ward had a population of 9,883 people. History The area has been occupied since at least Roman times. In the 1950s, stone coffins from the 2nd century ...

and

King's Hedges King's Hedges is an electoral ward in Cambridge, England. As of the 2021 UK census, the ward had a population of 11,099 people. History Some open land to the north of Cambridge was known as ''Albrach'' from as early as the 13th century. In 155 ...

estates. City councillors for the East Chesterton ward are Gerri Bird, Alice Gilderdale and Baiju Thittala. City councillors for the West Chesterton ward are Sam Carling, Richard Swift and Rachel Wade. As county council divisions are different from city council wards, parts of the Chesterton area are covered by the Chesterton ward councillor Gerri Bird and Castle ward councillor Catherine Rae.

Transport

Buses run seven times an hour to Cambridge city centre and six times an hour to each of Milton and

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 ...

. Milton Road (the A1309 and A1134) is the major arterial road through Chesterton, linking the centre of Cambridge to the southwest with the A14 road to the northeast.

Cambridge North railway station Cambridge North railway station is a railway station located in northern Cambridge, immediately adjacent to the suburb of Chesterton, Cambridge, Chesterton, close to Cambridge Science Park. The station is on the Fen Line, which runs from Cambr ...

, built on the edge of East Chesterton, became operational in May 2017, something that had been campaigned for by numerous local politicians for decades.

Notable people

* Horace Gray (1874–1938), cricketer *

Leo Reid Leonard John Reid (14 January 1888 – 25 October 1938) was an English first-class cricketer. Reid was born at Chesterton in January 1888. He was educated at Aldenham School, before going up to Christ's College, Cambridge. He made his d ...

(1888–1938), cricketer *

Veronica Volkersz Veronica May Volkersz ( Innes; 1917–2000) was a British aviator and beauty queen. She flew for the RAF's Air Transport Auxiliary in the Second World War and was the first British woman to fly an operational jet fighter when she ferried a ...

(1917–2000) aviator, Air Transport Auxiliary pilot in the Second World War, first woman to fly an operational

jet fighter Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the air ...

Gallery

File:cmglee Cambridge St George church.jpg, Church of St George File:The Milton Arms - geograph.org.uk - 521263.jpg, The Milton Arms pub File:cmglee Cambridge North front night.jpg, Cambridge North railway station at night File:Chesterton War Memorial.JPG, Chesterton War Memorial File: Chesterton_Tpwer_Cambridge.jpg, Chesterton Tower

References

External links

Chesterton Community AssociationVIE Residents' Association
{{Authority control Populated places in Cambridgeshire Former civil parishes in Cambridgeshire Geography of Cambridge