West Wickham 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 ...

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

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, 10 miles south-east 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 ...

on the 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 ...

. In 2011 it had a population of 423.

History

The parish of West Wickham and Streetly End is approximately rectangular and covers an area of 2,931 acres. Its straight southern border follows the ancient track of Wool Street that divide it from the parishes of Linton and

Horseheath Horseheath is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, situated a few miles south-east of Cambridge, between Linton and Haverhill, on the A1307 road. It was known to the Romans, and it had for a while a fine house in a great park, but both are n ...

. Field boundaries separate it from West Wratting to the north, and

Balsham Balsham is a rural village and civil parish in the county of Cambridgeshire, England, which has much expanded since the 1960s and is now one of several bedroom community, dormitory settlements of Cambridge. The village is south east of the cen ...

to the west. Its eastern boundary follows the border with

. At the time of 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 1086, the parish contained three settlements: Wickham at the centre, plus the hamlets of Enhale (now Yen Hall) and Streetly (now Streetly End). Streetly End still has a number of houses, but Yen Hall consisted only of a farmhouse by the 18th century. By the 14th century a hamlet had appeared at "Bovetoun", and still exists as Burton End. The village was known as Wickham until the 14th century, at which time the prefix "West" was added, presumably to distinguish it from the Wickhams in Suffolk (now known as

Wickham Market Wickham Market is a large village and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in the River Deben valley, Suffolk, England, within the Suffolk Coastal heritage area. It is on the A12 road (Great Britain), A12 trunk ro ...

and Wickham Skeith). The name "Wickham" means "homestead associated with a ''vicus'', an earlier Romano-British settlement".

Church

The village was listed as having a church in 1200, but nothing survives of the building from that time. The present parish church, dedicated to

Saint Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

consists of a chancel, nave with north chapel and south porch, and west tower. The oldest part of the church appears to be the tower, which may date from the 13th century. The nave and chancel were built in the 14th century.

Village life

The village has little in the way of amenities. It has a village hall and recreation ground, which is used for sports, leisure activities and events by local residents and clubs. A post office also operates once a week from the village hall. It had one public house, the White Horse, that opened in the early 19th century but has closed in recent years. Former pubs included the White Hart at Burton End, certainly open by the mid-18th century but closed by 1933, and the Chequers at Streetly End, which opened in the early 19th century. The Chequers closed after a fire destroyed its thatched roof in 1985.Chequers Public House
British Listed Buildings A National school replaced a Sunday School in the village in 1878. After 1937 older children attended Linton Village College, and the school closed in 1971 with primary children instead attending

References

External links

West Wickham Village Website
{{authority control Villages in Cambridgeshire Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire District