Hardwick, Cambridgeshire
Encyclopedia
Hardwick is a village in the county of Cambridgeshire
, England
with a large housing estate located about 6 miles (9.7 km) west of the city of Cambridge
and immediately south of the A428
Cambridge-St Neots
road. It is about 4 miles (6.4 km) east of the newly developed village of Cambourne. The Village is nearly on the Greenwich Meridian. The northern border of the village is St Neots Road, now largely bypassed by the A428, with no houses or property on the north side of the road. In the 2001 census, the population was 2630 in 946 households.
Historically, the village of Hardwick is hundreds of years old and consisted of a few houses and farmland around St Mary's Church, on what is now the southern edge of the village. It has expanded greatly over the last forty years, mainly due to an estate of hundreds of houses built on the orchard land to the north of the original village, with the roads taking the names of the displaced trees (e.g. Ellison, Bramley, Limes, Pippin, Quince, Worcester...).
Although significant building ceased, a number of new houses have been built over the years all over the village - wherever developers were able to acquire any plots of land; these are often the once large gardens of the earliest estate houses.
The village has mains gas, sewage and water for most residents, though some not on the main estate are not on mains gas. There are two sites with the original water pumps, one near the church and the other quite central in the village just off Pump Lane.
The village's bakery was sited next to a row of houses just to the east of the pub at the end closest to the church, and the only remnant is the shell of the building which has become a garage.
The Blue Lion, the only pub in the village, lies on Main Street. The Sports and Social Club is based next to the football and cricket pitches in the centre of the village.
Hardwick Community Primary School is the local pre- and primary school for children in the village. Children of secondary school age usually go on to attend Comberton Village College, located in Comberton
, southwest of Hardwick.
The village shop and post office are also on Cambridge Road. A beauticians nearby took over the site, after significant refurbishment, of another village shop which had failed and lain empty for some years. The Madingley telephone exchange (area code 01954) is on the corner of Cambridge Road and St. Neots Road, providing voice and ADSL-Max services to the village and surrounding areas. NTL/Virgin abandoned plans to fit cable TV in 1990 (?) when their initial expansion plans ran out of cash, although they do have communication trunks running along St. Neots Road.
There are a number of local businesses based on St Neots Road, in Newton House and Broadway House. In November 2006 part of Newton House burned down, destroying a takeaway food outlet and a Turkish restaurant, the rest of the building has been left unoccupied pending reconstruction work. Broadway house provide homes to several businesses. The adjacent property is the Conservative Party headquarters for Cambridgeshire. Further west on St Neots Road a pet shop, a car repair/maintenance garage, an agricultural machinery merchant and a furniture store can be found.
In 2006 to 2007 the A428 was improved with a new section of dual carriageway, replacing the section of single, past Cambourne to Caxton Gibbett. Around the same time the postcode was changed from CB3 to CB23 for this sector.
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
with a large housing estate located about 6 miles (9.7 km) west of the city of Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
and immediately south of the A428
A428 road
The A428 road is a major road in central and eastern England. It connects the cities of Coventry and Cambridge by way of the county towns of Northampton and Bedford.-Coventry - Northampton:...
Cambridge-St Neots
St Neots
St Neots is a town and civil parish with a population of 26,356 people. It lies on the River Great Ouse in Huntingdonshire District, approximately north of central London, and is the largest town in Cambridgeshire . The town is named after the Cornish monk St...
road. It is about 4 miles (6.4 km) east of the newly developed village of Cambourne. The Village is nearly on the Greenwich Meridian. The northern border of the village is St Neots Road, now largely bypassed by the A428, with no houses or property on the north side of the road. In the 2001 census, the population was 2630 in 946 households.
Historically, the village of Hardwick is hundreds of years old and consisted of a few houses and farmland around St Mary's Church, on what is now the southern edge of the village. It has expanded greatly over the last forty years, mainly due to an estate of hundreds of houses built on the orchard land to the north of the original village, with the roads taking the names of the displaced trees (e.g. Ellison, Bramley, Limes, Pippin, Quince, Worcester...).
Although significant building ceased, a number of new houses have been built over the years all over the village - wherever developers were able to acquire any plots of land; these are often the once large gardens of the earliest estate houses.
The village has mains gas, sewage and water for most residents, though some not on the main estate are not on mains gas. There are two sites with the original water pumps, one near the church and the other quite central in the village just off Pump Lane.
The village's bakery was sited next to a row of houses just to the east of the pub at the end closest to the church, and the only remnant is the shell of the building which has become a garage.
The Blue Lion, the only pub in the village, lies on Main Street. The Sports and Social Club is based next to the football and cricket pitches in the centre of the village.
Hardwick Community Primary School is the local pre- and primary school for children in the village. Children of secondary school age usually go on to attend Comberton Village College, located in Comberton
Comberton
Comberton is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, just east of the Prime Meridian.-History:Archaeological finds, including a Neolithic polished stone axe and a Bronze Age barrow , suggest there has been a settlement here for thousands of years. A Roman villa was discovered...
, southwest of Hardwick.
The village shop and post office are also on Cambridge Road. A beauticians nearby took over the site, after significant refurbishment, of another village shop which had failed and lain empty for some years. The Madingley telephone exchange (area code 01954) is on the corner of Cambridge Road and St. Neots Road, providing voice and ADSL-Max services to the village and surrounding areas. NTL/Virgin abandoned plans to fit cable TV in 1990 (?) when their initial expansion plans ran out of cash, although they do have communication trunks running along St. Neots Road.
There are a number of local businesses based on St Neots Road, in Newton House and Broadway House. In November 2006 part of Newton House burned down, destroying a takeaway food outlet and a Turkish restaurant, the rest of the building has been left unoccupied pending reconstruction work. Broadway house provide homes to several businesses. The adjacent property is the Conservative Party headquarters for Cambridgeshire. Further west on St Neots Road a pet shop, a car repair/maintenance garage, an agricultural machinery merchant and a furniture store can be found.
In 2006 to 2007 the A428 was improved with a new section of dual carriageway, replacing the section of single, past Cambourne to Caxton Gibbett. Around the same time the postcode was changed from CB3 to CB23 for this sector.
External links
- St. Mary's Anglican Church - of historic interest as it dates back to the 15th century - see Druidic Churches - Hardwick
- Hardwick Village Website
- Hardwick Evangelical Church
- Google Maps
- Madingley Exchange Information at SamKnows
- Hardwick Community Primary School