Reach 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 ...

on the edge of the fenland in East Cambridgeshire, England at the north end of Devil's Dyke, about west of Burwell.

History

Reach was an important economic centre in early

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 ...

and

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

times. Goods were loaded at its common hythe (wharf) for transport into the fen waterway system from at least 1100. Reach was a significant producer of

clunch Clunch is a traditional building material of chalky limestone rock used mainly in eastern England and Normandy. Clunch distinguishes itself from archetypal forms of limestone by being softer in character when cut, and may resemble chalk in lowe ...

, a chalky stone; a new wood has been planted on the old clunch pits, where chalky cliffs are visible from early quarrying. Reach's use as a port continued until about 200 years ago. When the Anglo-Saxons built the Devil's Dyke around the 6th century, the northern end of the dyke split the settlement in two (East Reach and West Reach) until part of it was refilled to create the current fair green in the 18th century. East Reach has since vanished, filled in by arable land. In medieval times, Reach was a hamlet sitting on the border of the parishes of Burwell and Swaffham Prior. It was not until 1961 that it became a separate civil parish. The parish covers an area of . For ecclesiastical purposes it is part of the parish of 'Burwell with Reach'. Reach Lode, a Roman canal, still exists, and remains navigable. The village church, originally Holy Trinity School Church and latterly called St Etheldreda's, was built in 1860, on the site of the former chapel of St John. The ruined

perpendicular In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', � ...

arch of the old chapel is visible behind the new church. On village signs, the name of the village is spelled ''Reche''. The name itself derives from ''rece'' (meaning "strip of land").

Reach Fair

The village is the scene of the Reach Fair, one of England's oldest festivals. The Fair was originally held annually at Rogationtide (which replaced the pagan festival of May Day), and is now held every May Day Bank Holiday. Officially run by the

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 ...

Corporation, and opened annually by the Mayor of Cambridge, it has been an annual event for over 800 years since receiving its charter in 1201 from King John. Reach Fair was historically a grand regional occasion, hosting feasting and parades over three days. The Fair is held on the central fair green, and probably extended down further to Reach Lode in its earlier days. In 2001, on the 800th anniversary of the fair, a plaque commemorating the charter was unveiled on Hill Farm, one of the fair green's older buildings. A custom in the fair is for the mayor and other councillors to throw pennies into the crowd for the young people. Since 1201, the Bank Holiday Monday fair has been cancelled only four times, twice in the 17th century due to the English Civil WarCambridge News – SLIDESHOW: Thousands flock to Reach Fair
/ref> and twice again due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in 2020 and 2021.

Village life

The village is home to "The Dyke's End", a public house which was saved from closure by the villagers, and which was visited by

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

at that time. Primary school children attend Swaffham Prior primary school whilst secondary pupils usually go to Bottisham Village College.

References

External links

Reach Village – including Reach FairDyke's End Pub
{{authority control Reach Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire East Cambridgeshire District