Comberton

Comberton
Comberton village green and pond
Comberton Location within Cambridgeshire
Population	2,346 (2011 Census)[1]
OS grid reference	TL383563
District	South Cambridgeshire
Shire county	Cambridgeshire
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CAMBRIDGE
Postcode district	CB23
Dialling code	01223
Police	Cambridgeshire
Fire	Cambridgeshire
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	South Cambridgeshire
List of places UK England Cambridgeshire 52°11′15″N 0°01′27″E / 52.187613°N 0.024048°E / 52.187613; 0.024048

Comberton is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, just east of the Prime Meridian.

Archaeological finds, including a Neolithic polished stone axe (found to the south of the current village) and a Bronze Age barrow (to the north), suggest there has been a settlement here for thousands of years. A Roman villa was discovered in 1842.^[2]

The village was mentioned in Domesday Book of 1086 as Cumbertone, and therefore dates to at least the 11th century.^[3]

Some houses in the village date from the 14th century.

The hamlet of Green End was named after the landowner Sir Henry Green (d.1370), Chief Justice of the King's Bench 1361–1365. The current Manor House at Green End dates back to the late 16th century.

Comberton is about 5 miles (8.0 km) south-west of the city of Cambridge, and just 1⁄2-mile (0.80 km) east of the Prime Meridian, lying at a height above mean sea level of around 25 feet (7.6 m). The civil parish covers 1,954 acres (790.8 ha), and is part of the local government district of South Cambridgeshire. Nearby villages include Barton to the east and Toft to the west. Comberton is twinned with Le Vaudreuil, a village near Rouen, France.^[4]

The Greenwich Prime Meridian is marked by a Meridian Line stone plaque on the north side of the main road (B1046) between Comberton and the neighbouring village of Toft.

Comberton has a population of about 2,300,^[5][6] down from 2,400 in 2011.^[7] It contains two churches: the Church of England St Mary's, a Grade I listed^[8] Early English-style building dating from the 13th century,^[9] and a Baptist church dating from 1868.^[10]

It also a pub, The Three Horseshoes, shops, a post office, a recreation ground, a doctor's surgery, a dental surgery, and at the centre of the village, a village pond with resident ducks.

The village has an infant playgroup, the Meridian Primary School,^[11] Comberton Village College,^[12] and the Comberton Sixth Form.^[13] The latter two are part of the Cam Academy Trust.^[14]

Literary journalist and writer Lyn Irvine lived at Cross Farm, Comberton. A family home for Irvine and her husband mathematician Max Newman and their two sons, Edward (born 1935) and William, later a computer scientist (1939). Irvine wrote the nature writing novel Field With Geese (1960) at Cross Farm, in the small dovecote on the farm. Irvine considered Comberton and Cross Farm her home for the rest of her life, until her death in 1973.^{[citation needed]}

• List of places in Cambridgeshire

• Comberton Parish Council