Fordham is a village in rural

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. Fordham is part of the East Cambridgeshire district. It is four miles north of Newmarket, as well as being close to the settlements of Soham, Burwell, Isleham, Mildenhall and Chippenham.

History

The parish of Fordham covers in an irregular shape. Its southern border is the county border with

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

and most of its south-eastern border with Snailwell follows the path of the River Snail. It also borders Chippenham and Isleham to the east, Soham to the north, and Burwell to the west, as well as having a short boundary with Wicken at its western tip. In 1953 the civil parish was merged with that of Landwade, a tiny parish of only , although Landwade and its ecclesiastical parish are both in Suffolk. The parish has been occupied for several thousand years; weapons and tools in both flint and metal have been found from the Early

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

and

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

, as well as pottery and burials. Wall plaster and tiles have been found from the Roman era, indicating that villas may have been sited near to Biggin and Block Farms in the 2nd to 4th centuries A.D. In the Middle Ages the village was home to Fordham Priory, a Gilbertine priory and cell to Sempringham Priory, that was founded in the reign of Henry III in the 13th century by Robert de Fordham. Fordham Abbey, a Grade II listed Georgian manor house was built on the site of the Priory in the eighteenth century. Fordham had a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

serving as a junction the Cambridge to Mildenhall railway and the Ipswich to Ely line that opened to the west of the village in 1879. The station finally closed in 1966. Though spelled ''Fordeham'' 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 village's spelling has remained unchanged since the 10th century. The name "Fordham" means "homestead or enclosure by a ford". Fordham War Memorial commemorates the village's dead from the two world wars. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and originally featured a bronze statue of St George by Sir George Frampton. The memorial was destroyed and the bronze stolen in 1991 and the community raised funds to rebuild it and replace the bronze with a fibreglass replica. It is a Grade II

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 ...

Church

The parish church has been dedicated to St Peter since around 1850, prior to which it had been dedicated to St Mary since at least the 14th century. The present building consists of a chancel with side chapels and a two-storeyed north chapel, an aisled and clerestoried nave with south porch and west tower. It is a Grade I listed building. The earliest parts of the building date from the 12th century, and stonework suggest that by 1200 it was already its present size. The majority of the current structure date from an extensive rebuild in the 13th century. The church is noted for its fine 14th-century north chapel, unusual in having an upper floor and undercroft.

Village life

The village has a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

-controlled Primary School which feeds into Soham Village College. Fordham has a pub, The Chequers which was open by 1760. The Greyhound, which opened in the 1990s, converted into a restaurant called The White Pheasant. Other former pubs include the Green Dragon (previously known as The Bull) on the Market Street green, which was also open by 1760 and closed by the 1960s. The Crown pub became an Indian Restaurant in 2021, which was destroyed by a fire on 14 August 2023. Fordham Community Archive has been set up to record the history of Fordham in the form of photographs, documents and written and oral memories. The group was formed in August 2007 and holds community events.

Environment

Fordham Woods nature reserve is located south of the village.

Other details

A Ham class minesweeper '' HMS Fordham'' is named after the village. Fordham is the birthplace of operatic bass-baritone Darren Jeffery. In 2007, villager Tracey Barnard was a contestant on Channel 4's '' Big Brother''.

References

External links

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