This is a picture of one of the weirs at Cherry Hinton Hall. There are four weirs within the water course which is know as Hinton Brook. Hinton Brook flows from Spring Head at the Robin Hood Junction on the High Street of Cherry Hinton.
The weirs were put in place in the mid 1800's by John Okes, in conjunction with Cambridge University and Town Water Works Company, to help the flow of water through the grounds of the newly built Cherry Hinton Hall.
John Okes was a surgeon at Addenbrookes Hospital and had Cherry Hinton Hall built in 1835.
There is now a great new group 'Friends of Cherry Hinton Hall'
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Spring Head is the natural spring pool that breaks forth at the base of the Gog Magog Hills. It was one of the original reasons for the siting of the village of Cherry Hinton and is still, today, the village pond. Spring Head is also known locally as Giant's Grave and there are still superstitions about the site, which are closely connected to the tales of giants once living in the area and on the Gog Magog Hills. Sprind Head feeds the Hinton Brook which flows on through Cherry Hinton and Cambridge to join with the river Cam.
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The Cherry Hinton chalk pits are on Lime Kiln Hill at the western most spur of the Gog Magog Hills. The top of this hill comands impressive views across the town of Cambridge and beyond and as such has been an important site of settlement and defence since prehistoric times, an iron age fort known as the War Ditches was discovered on the site in the late 19th century. The quarrying and industrial use of the site has gone on from at least Roman times due to the high quality chalk and clunch (superior chalk). Cherry Hinton clunch was used, during medieval times, in buildings such as Ely Cathedral and the Cambridge Colleges. Quarrying and lime burning at the site continued at the site well into the 20th century.
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