FEN DITTON
Fen Dittion lies 4 km. (2½ miles) north-east
of Cambridge on the east bank of the river
Cam. (fn. 12) Its name, tun by the ditch, is derived
from its position beside the northern section of
the Fleam Dyke which runs for 3 km. (1½ miles)
through the southern half of the parish. (fn. 13) The
parish is an irregular V-shape, bordered by the
river Cam to the west of the V, and by the fenland formerly drained by Quy water to the east.
As the boundary between Fen Ditton and
Horningsea was only fixed in 1412, (fn. 14) substantial
proportions of both parishes probably formed a
single unit during the Early Middle Ages.
Between 1412 and 1934 Fen Ditton's boundaries
remained relatively stable, with the parish comprising 1,915 a. (774 ha.). In 1934, however, 441
a. (178 ha.) in the south-western portion of the
parish, the Fen Ditton Fields housing estate,
was transferred to the city of Cambridge, forming part of Abbey ward in the late 20th century. (fn. 15)
The new south-western parish boundary of Fen
Ditton was marked by the railway line. In 1952,
1974 and 1984 there were further minor boundary changes, and since 1984 Fen Ditton parish
has comprised 1,414 a. (572 ha.). (fn. 16)
The parish stands at an elevation of 6 m. (20 ft.)
above sea level, except for the causeway which
follows the line of the Fleam Dyke, with a maximum elevation of 13.5 m. (40 ft.) above sea level.
The land lies mainly on the Lower Chalk, with
deposits of gault in the north-west and alluvium
and river gravels along the banks of the river
Cam; river gravels are also found south of the
Fleam Dyke, and a narrow band of peat marks
the parish boundary in the east.
The Fleam Dyke, the north-western portion
of which lies entirely within Fen Ditton parish,
cannot be more precisely dated on archaeological
grounds than to between the Iron Age and the
Anglo-Saxon period. If it was constructed at the
same time as the Devil's Ditch, to which its
other southern section ran parallel, then the
range of dates narrows to c. 350-650 A.D. (fn. 17) It
has been suggested that the Dyke was not connected in purpose with the series of ancient
ditches which cut across the route of the
Icknield way, and that it was intended to defend
the peninsula of relatively high land, which runs
northwards as far as Horningsea village. (fn. 18)
Because the Dyke runs through the middle of
the southern section of the parish, it is possible
that it was built after Fen Ditton's southern and
eastern boundaries were set out, perhaps
pointing to a later rather than an earlier date. (fn. 19)
Undrained fenland lay on the parish's eastern
and western margins until the early modern
period. Whatloe fen and Boulm ground lay in
the west of the parish, adjacent to the river
Cam, (fn. 20) while the eastern portion comprised
Low, High, and Rough fens. In 1672 joint action
by the lords of Fen Ditton and Stow cum Quy
brought about the drainage of the 100-a. block
of land allotted to the earl of Bedford and the
Adventurers in 1637. (fn. 21) Water was extracted by
windmills, and the run-off was via White Lake
stream. In 1703 Rough fen, in the north-eastern
tip of the parish, was ordered 'to be laid and
kept in several'. (fn. 22) Further drainage initiatives,
undertaken by the Bedford Level Corporation
and later by the Swaffham Fen Drainage
Commissioners, were partly completed between
1705 and 1723, using windmills; by 1723
Whatloe fen had also been drained and inclosed,
subsequently forming Ditton and Long Reach
meadows. (fn. 23) In the early 19th century pump
engines and a watercourse, which ran for
6,000 m. as far as Reach lode, drained the fenland in Fen Ditton, Horningsea, and Stow parishes. (fn. 24) In the late 1950s a sewerage system was
installed at Green End Lane, and in 1981 antipollution devices were installed to eliminate
unpleasant odours. (fn. 25)
Until the early 20th century the parish's
inhabitants depended for external communications upon access to the river Cam. In the
Middle Ages and the early modern period
wharves at Fen Ditton and Horningsea provided
landing stages for goods sold at Stourbridge
fair. (fn. 26) There was a large wharf at the west end
of Fen Ditton's High Street, and there may have
been another further north at the end of Green
End Lane. In the 12th and 13th centuries the
wharves at Fen Ditton and Horningsea were
used to import a range of produce. (fn. 27) John
Hotham, bishop of Ely, commissioned William
Jour of Fen Ditton to convey corn and victuals
in Jour's ship, the Annot. (fn. 28) William Muschet,
merchant, money-lender, and lord of the Fen
Ditton manor of Mochettes, sold wool for King
Edward III at Antwerp in 1339. (fn. 29) After the late
14th century, seaborne commerce associated
with Fen Ditton and its inhabitants began to
decline. The Fen Ditton docks and the
Horningsea pier survived until 1845, but following the opening of the London-Cambridge railway line, they no longer served a commercial
purpose and were closed. In the late 19th and
20th centuries the stretch of the river Cam running through both parishes was used for leisure
pursuits. Between 1965 and 1969 the bishop of
Ely included Fen Ditton and Horningsea parishes on his annual eight-day river progress. (fn. 30)
Fen Ditton c. 1790
A road, which already existed in 1412, passed
northwards, west of Fen Ditton Hall and the
church through Green End to Horningsea, serving the wharves along the river. (fn. 31) By the 17th
century it had been diverted to the east side of
the Hall and church. (fn. 32) It was known as Ditton
Lane in the 19th century, and since c. 1951 the
southern part of its route was marked by Ditton
Walk and Wadloes footpath. (fn. 33)
In the 18th century a road was constructed on
slightly higher ground, linking Horningsea, Fen
Ditton, and Cambridge, and was subsequently
known as Horningsea Road. (fn. 34) From 1804 it
served as the principal route connecting Fen
Ditton and Horningsea, and from the 1870s
linked them to Waterbeach. (fn. 35) The road to Quy
mill, by 1821 known as High Ditch Road, follows the course of the Fleam Dyke. (fn. 36) The western end of the route forms the village High
Street, from which Church Street leads into
Green End Lane.
The railway line linking Cambridge to
Fordham, opened in 1884, ran through both the
western and eastern sections of the irregular Vshape of Fen Ditton parish, and through the
intervening portion of Horningsea parish. (fn. 37)
Inhabitants of both parishes could either use the
Fen Ditton halt to the south of the village, where
the line crossed Horningsea Road, or the railway
station at Quy. Passenger traffic ceased in 1961,
and the line itself was closed in 1963. In 1971
the old hump-backed railway bridge and its
raised embankment, over which Wadloes Road
had crossed the line, were demolished. (fn. 38)
The population in 1086 was recorded under
Horningsea. (fn. 39) There were c. 120 landholders in
1279, and 55 households in the late 16th and
mid 17th centuries. (fn. 40) The population stood at
337 in 1801, 528 in 1831, and 668 in 1881. (fn. 41)
After remaining static for two decades it rose
again to 759 in 1911, and from 460 in 1921 to
619 in 1931, excluding the Fen Ditton Fields
housing estates. After the transfer of the southwestern portion of the parish to Cambridge in
1934, the population of the remainder rose from
632 in 1951 to 674 in 1961, but fell to 647 in
1981, before rising marginally to 657 in 1991.
Fen Ditton village originally lay in the northwest of the parish, stretching along the river
northwards from Fen Ditton Hall. (fn. 42) North of
the Hall stand the church, the Old Rectory, and
a probable 16th-century guildhall. (fn. 43) On Green
End Lane three large rectangular plots perhaps
mark the site of medieval houses. (fn. 44) In the later
Middle Ages the shape of the village changed,
extending eastwards to form the present High
Street. (fn. 45) A new row of houses was built there
shortly before 1412. (fn. 46)
The earliest surviving houses in the village
date mostly from the 17th century: Mulberry
House, Home Farm, Manor Farm, and Flendish
House. By 1700 the village extended for 750 m.
east of the church, beyond the intersection with
Horningsea Road. (fn. 47)
There was much new building in the early
19th century on the High Street and Horningsea
Road, and the number of houses increased from
49 in 1801 to 114 in 1831. (fn. 48) Between 1831 and
1891 another 35 houses were erected in the
parish. (fn. 49) In the late 1890s the limits of settlement in the village were marked by the Plough
inn at the end of Green End Lane, by Home
Farm at the eastern end of the High Street, and
by Fen Ditton Hall at the southern end of the
village. New houses were built between 1895
and 1925 along Green End Lane. (fn. 50)
In the 1920s settlement at Little Fen Ditton,
north of the village, on the Horningsea Road
was established, but no further building was
allowed along that road between Fen Ditton and
Horningsea villages thereafter. Between the
1930s and 1960s new building was concentrated
in the Fen Ditton Fields housing estate, with no
substantial developments in Fen Ditton village.
In the 1950s along Green End Lane there was
some infilling. Large detached houses were
built, one in the style of a Spanish ranch.
By the early 1970s, however, Fen Ditton
Fields could not accommodate much further
building, and developers turned their attention
to Fen Ditton village. Partly as a result of resistance by the parish's inhabitants in 1972-3 and
1977, plans for large-scale housing estates
providing up to 1,000 homes were rejected.
Smaller-scale proposals were also defeated on
several occasions during the 1970s and the early
1980s. In 1987 the conversion of the old yard at
Home Farm, on the southern side of the High
Street, provided flats and two-bedroom terraced
houses suitable for professional people who
worked in the city of Cambridge. Poplar Hall
Farm at the north-eastern corner of the village
was built in the late 18th century and remodelled
in the late 19th. (fn. 51) In 2000 new proposals for
large housing estates in the parish had not
passed beyond the planning stage.
In 1991 a third of the 278 dwellings in the
parish were detached houses, a third were semidetached houses, and a third comprised terraced
houses and flats. (fn. 52) In the 1980s and 1990s whitecollar workers, employed in the city and the
newly emerging science parks, made up a larger
proportion of the parish's population than
during the 1970s.
In 1669 a building at a former paper mill was
being used as an inn, and in 1686 the inns in the
village had 18 guest beds and stabling for 32
horses. (fn. 53) The Papermills inn, so called in 1775,
may have been the same as the Globe on
Newmarket Road, which was licensed under
that name in 1764, (fn. 54) and survived until c. 1933. (fn. 55)
The Plough inn near the river at Green End
Lane was probably the house recorded in 1669, (fn. 56)
which was used for village meetings and court
sessions in the 18th century. (fn. 57) It was a popular
resort for people from Cambridge and was
enlarged in 1876. (fn. 58) Other inns in 1760 were the
King's Head on the corner of Church Street,
and the Sluice at the north-west end of the
parish, probably called the Pike and Eel in the
mid 19th century. In 1861 the Ancient
Shepherds and the Blue Lion stood on the High
Street, and the Harvestmen on Green End
Lane. (fn. 59) In 1951 the Blue Lion was rebuilt, and
the village still had four public houses in 2000. (fn. 60)
In the 1890s Thomas Stearn, who pioneered
the use of modern photographic techniques,
photographed the river and boat races from Fen
Ditton's river banks. (fn. 61) In 1995 his photographic
studio at Grassy corner was rebuilt and restored
to its 1892 state. The rectory paddock was used
for watching the Cambridge May boat races in
the late 19th century. (fn. 62) A ferry crossed the river
at the Plough during May week in the late 1940s
and 1950s until it sank in 1961. (fn. 63) Long reach
was an important viewing point for the races in
the late 20th century. In 1984 villagers began a
campaign to build a sports pavilion, which was
completed in 1988. (fn. 64) The inhabitants of Fen
Ditton, often supported by heritage pressure
groups, mounted campaigns to retain the rural
environment of Fen Ditton in the late 20th century, when the village with its river views and
pubs attracted visitors not only from the city
and county of Cambridge, but also from further
afield. (fn. 65)
Fen Ditton Fields.
Fen Ditton meadows
separated the village from the Fen Ditton Fields
housing estates, which lay within the parish until
1934. (fn. 66) Most of the land within the quadrilateral
bordered by the former railway line on its northern and western sides, and by Cherry Hinton
brook on its southern side, was purchased by
the city council between 1918 and 1925. (fn. 67)
Newmarket Road runs through the middle of
the quadrilateral east-west, and Wadloes Road
forms the north-south axis. (fn. 68) The first council
housing was erected between 1918 and 1939 in
the quadrilateral's north-west quadrant, primarily along Ditton Walk. The population there
increased from 321 to 437 between 1921 and
1931. In 1948 there were 564 houses on the
estate, and by 1951 numbers had doubled to
1,153. This was achieved by filling in the entire
north-western quadrant, and by laying out
houses around the suburban 'ring-roads' in the
north-east and south-east quadrants. Between
1951 and 1955 a further 441 houses were built,
the new developments being concentrated along
Eskin and Keynes Roads, immediately to the
south of Dudley Road in the north-east quadrant, and along Rawlyn and Stansfield roads and
Rayson Way in the south-west quadrant. By
1955 there were 1,594 houses on the estate.
There followed a brief lull, with only 74 houses
being built between 1955 and 1960. In the early
1960s, however, 295 new houses were built, primarily along Howard Close and Wadloes Road.
By 1967 there were 2,007 houses in the Fen
Ditton Fields housing estates. Open spaces for
recreation, such as that at the centre of Dudley
Road, created a sense of spaciousness.
The original character of the estate has been
retained in the late 20th century, with relatively
little infilling. In the 1980s and 1990s new private housing developments were built east of
Fen Ditton Lane and north of the city's cemetery on the Newmarket Road, with a large
number of starter homes. In 1998 Abbey ward,
which included the Fen Ditton Fields, had a
population of 6,790. (fn. 69)
In 1895 labourers dug trial pits in a field
adjacent to Newmarket Road and Fen Ditton
Lane to test whether the site would make a suitable cemetery. (fn. 70) In 1903 the Cambridge borough
cemetery opened there, occupying a 25-a. site.
It was provided with a mortuary chapel and a
house for the superintendent. (fn. 71) From the 1980s
it was the only cemetery within the city's boundaries which was still open for new burials.
Fen Ditton Fieds Development c.1900-51
Transferred to cambrige in 1938