The History of Cherry Hinton World War One Memorial Recreation Ground
On Sunday 10th November 2024 the newly installed information board detailing the history of the World War One War Memorial Recreation Ground was officially presented to the village as part of our Remembrance Day held at the Cherry Hinton War Memorial Recreation Ground, High Street.
*Ignore the blog date stamped above, I had to create a holding page for this history to be able to make a QR code to go onto the new information board, as such the date this page was created is time stamped but all information here was finally loaded on 10th & 11th November 2024.
Cherry Hinton Remembrance Day Celebrates History with New Information Board at WWI Memorial Recreation Ground
Cherry Hinton, Cambridge — November 10, 2024 As part of Cherry Hinton’s Remembrance Day observance, an information board detailing the history of the Cherry Hinton World War One War Memorial Recreation Ground was officially unveiled on Sunday, November 10, 2024. The new board, located at the entrance to the site on the High Street, serves to honour and inform the community about the rich heritage of this significant village landmark, which was originally purchased by the people of Cherry Hinton in 1919 as a lasting memorial to the fallen soldiers of the First World War. Today, this site is held in trust by Cambridge City Council and serves as a cherished community space. Since its establishment, the recreation ground has been a hub of activity and enjoyment, hosting events, sports, and gatherings for Cherry Hinton residents. Local clubs and societies, such as the Cherry Hinton Football Team who use the grounds regularly, and the site is a favourite location for village festivals, fetes, and recreational activities. The addition of playground equipment, a skate park, and the football pavilion has enhanced its role as a communal gathering space. Yet, as time passed, the ground’s role as a war memorial was largely forgotten, with only the plinth at the entrance recognised as the commemorative feature. The newly installed information board—produced through the efforts of Cllr Mark Ashton and local historian and landscape archaeologist Michelle Bullivant—highlights the entire site’s memorial significance, reminding the community of the profound legacy the site holds. Michelle Bullivant, who researched and documented the history of the recreation ground over the past year, has now presented an abridged version of this history on the new board, inviting visitors to reconnect with this important piece of the village’s past. Councillor Mark Ashton, who has independently maintained the war memorial plinth and its surrounding garden, championed the creation of this board to raise awareness about the site’s full memorial status. With Mark Ashton’s advocacy, Cambridge City Council supported the project by funding the board’s production and installation, ensuring that future generations will understand the site’s historical and cultural significance. “We hope this history will remind us of the sacrifices of those from our past and instil a renewed appreciation for this village site, which has been shaped and cherished by so many Cherry Hinton residents over the years,” said Michelle Bullivant. A full history of the site can be read below. The Cherry Hinton War Memorial Recreation Ground is only part of the village’s commemoration efforts. A separate history, currently being developed, will explore Cherry Hinton’s World War Two Memorial, symbolized by the cherry trees lining Cherry Hinton High Street, each one representing a Cherry Hinton soldier. The new information board is intended not only as a source of historical knowledge but as a symbol of respect and remembrance for those who sacrificed for their community and country. It serves as a reminder of the continued value of this communal site—a space that brings Cherry Hinton together, just as it was envisioned in the wake of World War One.
Below you can read the full history of the Cherry Hinton World War One Memorial Recreation Ground which I have written to accompany the information board.
As soon as I have finished uploading it below (It's a fair length!) I will add a link here so that if you would like a copy, you can download the PDF file to read at your leisure. 
Cherry Hinton High Street c.1921 Opposite the War Memorial Recreation Ground looking northwards. (Cambridgeshire Collection III 6-10 30288)
©Michelle Bullivant November 2024
www.michellebullivant.com
Contents
Introduction Location The Site Before It Became a Recreation Ground 1806 Gibraltar Close 1881 1901 1912 The Creation of the World War One Memorial Recreation Ground 1919 1921 1925 1927 1929 1930 1931 1933 1938 The Expansion of the Site 1949 1950 1953 1955 1985 Use of the Site Protection/ Future of the Site Acknowledgments
Introduction
The people of Cherry Hinton purchased a field in 1919 with the purpose of being a WWI memorial recreation ground. Today the site is held in trust by Cambridge City Council. The Cherry Hinton recreation ground has been used and enjoyed by the public for many years now, including by many of the Cherry Hinton clubs and societies like Cherry Hinton football team who have a pavilion on the site. Festivals and fetes have taken place on the recreation ground and many memories made. Over the years play equipment has been added and renewed, including a skate park. Somewhere along the way it became forgotten that the recreation ground is also a World War One war memorial and not just the plinth at the entrance to the site. This history was produced to accompany a new information board that has been made and installed (November 2024) at the entrance to the recreation ground and will remind and give a renewed appreciation of this village site which so many of the people from our past helped provide. A history of the Cherry Hinton World War Two War Memorial is being produced separately and will tell of how the cherry trees that line Cherry Hinton High Street are the World War Two War Memorial, each tree having represented a Cherry Hinton solider. 
Cherry Hinton World War One Memorial Recreation Ground information board with Roll of Honour. Installed November 2024. (M. Bullivant 2024).
Location
Cherry Hinton World War One Memorial Recreation Ground and memorial plinth is in the southern end of the village at Mill End. It lays immediately east of the High Street. There is a main front entrance from the High Street, a back gate entrance to Colville School on the northern side, and a passageway at the back of the recreation ground that leads to Leete Road. The WWI War Memorial plinth is outside the main front gates and fence of the recreation ground. 
Cherry Hinton, southeast of Cambridge City. Recreation Ground, east of Cherry Hinton Hall Park and east of the High Street. (Google 2024). Cherry Hinton War Memorial plinth (M. Bullivant 2024)
The Site Before It Became a Recreation Ground
Let’s have a look at what we can find out about the site before it became a WWI Memorial Recreation Ground. We do not have any drawn maps covering the site before the early 1800’s so it is difficult to find out very much about what the field was called, what the extent of it was or who owned it. The earliest drawn map that we have for Cherry Hinton is the 1806 pre-Inclosure map and the following 1806 Inclosure map which were drawn up for the purpose of dividing up the old open fields and land, laying out the new roads, drains, hedgerow and fences for the Inclosure of the parish of Cherry Hinton. Inclosure was a time of great change from the old medieval open field system to the new agricultural ways. If you’d like to know more about Enclosure/Inclosure (both terms used) you can read about it here: htttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/enclosure
1806
We can get some good clues from the 1806 pre-Inclosure map, shown below, as it represents a view of the site in 1806, and which probably hadn’t changed all that much over the preceding 50 years or longer. 
1806 Cherry Hinton pre-Inclosure map. (Cambridgeshire Archives K152/1p/7)
On the map we can see the field that was to become the recreation ground over one hundred years later in 1919. It is shown above as plot 135 Vicar of Wilbraham Mag. (Wilbraham Magna = Great Wilbraham, a village northeast of Cherry Hinton). On the site in the left corner is also a plot with a cottage on, numbered 136.
Within the Inclosure award book (a written document that lists all the plot numbers, landowners and occupiers etc.) and on the key on the Inclosure map, which lists the names and plot numbers, it is stated that the Vicar of Wilbraham owns both plots, along with 2 allotments on the Common in Cherry Hinton. Plot 136 is called a homestead and large field shown on the map above no. 135 is called Gibraltar Close. 
1806 Cherry Hinton Inclosure award map key, showing Gibraltar Close
When the recreation ground was first given, it was just this field, Gibraltar Close. Later on, once the recreation ground had been established, the site was extended to include land to the north and south.
In 1806, Pre-Enclosure, this extra land to the north had belonged to Benjamin Farrent, No. 138 Home Close (he also owned No. 137 Homestead – that later became the site of the Chequers Pub[1] – now Chequers Close). More land to north of that was owned by Edward Harlow, No. 139 Home Close (he also owned No. 140 Homestead, where today we can still see the thatched cottage). Further land on the south was also eventually taken in by the recreation ground and this had once belonged to John Green, No. 134 Home Close (No. 133 was a cottage and garden also belonging to John Green and today is the site of Applewood Cottage which still stands next to the Recreation Ground.) The rough overlay of the Pre-Enclosure Map and Modern aerial Google map below will give you a better idea of this. [1] A separate history of the Chequers Pub and site is forthcoming. 
Top = Cherry Hinton Thatched Cottage, bottom =Applewood Cottage – both of which are still standing on Cherry Hinton High Street today. 1806 Cherry Hinton pre-Inclosure map overlaid onto a modern satellite map. (Photographs © M. Bullivant 2024, Satellite Cherry Hinton Google Maps Accessed March 2024, 1806 Cherry Hinton pre-Inclosure map Cambridgeshire Archives K152/1p/7)
We have learnt that the main field, which was to form our recreation ground and WWI memorial, was once called Gibraltar Close. I do not know of anyone in the village that still calls it so today and it is certainly not something that has been mentioned in the many years of my gathering people’s memories and studying the history of the village. So where did this name come from?
Place names can be very useful and interesting in giving us clues about the history of a site, they can be topographical, geographical, named after people or events and so on. There are no immediately obvious explanations as to why this field was called Gibraltar Close from just looking at it and knowing the geology and its layout. The most likely explanation is that of a commemorative name. Under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 Gibraltar was ceded to Britain. This treaty stated that the town, castle, defences and fortifications were to be held and enjoyed forever.[2] It could be that this field was named Gibraltar by way of commemoration of this event and if so, it would have been a sort of memorial from battles past. Which would be apt as it eventually became our WWI memorial. The answer lay in the records for Great Wilbraham, which show that in 1757 a bequest of £200 was made to Great Wilbraham from a lady called Joanna Clench (d.1736) which was used with matching funds from Queen Anne’s Bounty to buy 14 a. in Cherry Hinton and 2.5 acres in Shelford among other land for the vicarage of Great Wilbraham.[3] This gives us the likely date from which this field was purchased, and it is most likely that it was around this time the field was named Gibraltar Close, as it was under Queen Anne’s reign that Gibraltar was captured in 1704. You can read more about Queen Anne’s Bounty here: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2003-01/church-commissioners-for-england-research-into-historic-links-to-transatlantic-chattle-slavery-report.pdf As it appears that the field was given the commemorative name in honour of the capture of Gibraltar and the associated Queen Anne’s Bounty, it means that we do not know what the field was before the 1700’s. The site fell within the village settlement of Cherry Hinton and so was not really part of the larger open fields which surrounded the village before enclosure. It is quite likely that the Gibraltar Close field that we can see on the 1806 Enclosure maps was once two strips. If we look at the pre-enclosure map again, we can see the old medieval planned village tofts and crofts. The toft was the cottage, often with barns for animals and sometimes workshops for seasonal work, the croft was the long thin strip of land to accompany the toft which would have been used to grown vegetables and so on. These toft and crofts were laid out against the High Street and at the back would have been the ‘Back Lane’ which I have marked out for you on the map below. The Gibraltar Close Field looks like it would fit with the pattern here if it were divided in two to match the layout of the surrounding toft and crofts. If this was the case perhaps the whole set of the crofts in this little area were once all called ‘Home Close’ as the croft strips surrounding Gibraltar Close, which was probably named sometime in the early 1700’s, were still called Home Close in 1806. This would also mean that at some time there would have been another cottage on the separated plot, probably gone by the early 1700’s. There are clues to this being a possibility from the earthworks – lumps and bumps in the ground at the front of the present-day recreation ground at the spot which could represent the site of where the old cottage and any outbuildings would have stood. [2] Resolution 2070 of the XX General Assembly of the United Nations. [3] A F Wareham, A P M Wright, 'Great Wilbraham: Church', in A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 10, Cheveley, Flendish, Staine and Staploe Hundreds (North-Eastern Cambridgeshire)( London, 2002), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol10/pp314-317 
1806 Cherry Hinton pre-Inclosure map, with points of interest marked up.
There was still one of the toft buildings left from the southern strip of Gibraltar Close in 1806 which has gone today (marked red on the map above). You can also see some evidence in the ground of this site just inside the Rec from the toilet side entrance to the recreation ground. We will come back to this toft cottage shortly.
As an aside, you’ll see a ‘Butt Road’ and ‘Waste’ on the map above (today the back playing field of Colville School, back of the Cherry Hinton Village Leisure Centre and Southern edge of Cherry Hinton Library) and this would have referred to the ‘butts’ where, during the medieval period, mandatory archery practice would take place. The back row is an ancient footpath which can be traced south continuing over the Gog Magog Hills and forms the back eastern boundary of the Beech Woods – it also be traced northwards through Cherry Hinton and is quite likely a prehistoric boundary. Today a very old hedgerow wooded area at the back of the recreation ground, along with a passageway at the back of the houses that abut the site marks out this old routeway. You’ll see this old routeway in more maps as we travel along through this history. The subsequent 1806 Enclosure Map[4], below, that followed on immediately from the 1806 pre-enclosure map, shows little change at the site, other than Benjamin Farrant’s plots of 137 & 138 are now in the possession of James Gotobed. In 1806 the vicar of Great Wilbraham was John Stevenson (vicar from 1762 to his death aged 92, in 1829). [4] 1806 Cherry Hinton Inclosure map, Cambridgeshire Archives KCB/9/3 
Left: Cherry Hinton 1806 Inclosure Map. Right: Satellite view, showing extended line of the ‘back street’. (Google Maps Accessed March 2024.)
I have added an aerial map next to this picture to show you the line of the ancient back road that runs at the back of the recreation ground, you can trace it by following the field boundary line shown on the aerial picture. You can have a look on google maps satellite view or suchlike yourself and have a go at tracing this old routeway. You can walk along many parts of it as modern footpaths, such as the leading from the corner of Mallets Road and Leete Road through to Cambridge Road still respect the line of this old route. If you trace it north, Augers Road forms part of it where it again becomes a footpath running across Fishers Lane, past houses in Arran Close and beyond. This old route is parallel to the Tottenhoe Way, just east, which is the Cherry Hinton parish boundary. For more on the Tottenhoe Way see here: https://www.michellebullivant.com/cherryhintonhistory/the-totton-way-cherry-hinton#/
1886
The next maps that we have for Cherry Hinton after the enclosure maps of 1806 are the OS (Ordinance Survey) maps – 80 years later. The 1886 map[5] below shows the old routeway at the back of what is later to become the recreation ground, marked as a footpath on the map. We can see a line of cottages (marked in blue) coming off the High Street and running alongside the site, which we will see again soon, so take note of them for now. The site at this time would have still been known as the field called Gibraltar Close The old toft cottage that is no longer there today is also still shown as standing on this map (marked red - just by where the modern toilet block stands today). [5] Cambridgeshire Sheet XLVII.NE, Surveyed: 1886, Published: 1888 Size: map 31 x 46 cm 
Cherry Hinton OS map 1886
On the map above you can also see the plots either side of Gibraltar Close that were eventually added to the recreation ground much later. I have marked the southern boundary line of Gibraltar Close on the map above with a blue dot – you’ll see that the map shows this boundary as tree lined. Today this boundary no longer exists as the field next to it was eventually taken in as part of the modern recreation ground but when you walk along the grass today you can just make out a slight earthwork bank in the ground where this boundary would have once been.
1901 
Cherry Hinton 1901 OS map
The 1901 map[6] shows what was to become the recreation ground as we know it today, as several parcels of land. You can still clearly see the old routeway at the back shown as a footpath. The dot dashed line you can see on this map is a contour line. This is the last time that we see the old toft cottage (marked red on the map above) that stood in the southwest corner of Gibraltar Close as by the next OS map in 1925 it has gone. [6] Cambridgeshire Sheet XLVII.NE Revised: 1901, Published: 1904 Size: map 31 x 46 cm However, amazingly, we do have one photograph[7] that shows this old toft cottage. [7] Y.Cher.KO.24725 Cambridgeshire Collection.  Cherry Hinton High Street c.1911 looking south from where junction of Colville Road and High Street are today.
The photograph above is looking south down Cherry Hinton High Street from about where the mini roundabout is today, that marks the junction of the High Street and Colville Road. On the immediate left you can see the old toft thatched cottage which still stands today next to the library. After that you can see the run of late 1800s houses (built on the site of older toft cottages), the end one was the original Chequers Pub, you can just see the square pub sign on a wooden pole in the middle distance. Just behind that is a slither of the end of the old toft cottages that bound Gibraltar Close on the north side then, after that there is a wooden fence bounding Gibraltar Close…. then you will finally see the white gable end and thatched roof of what was the toft cottage that stood in the southwest corner of Gibraltar Close and which I’d previously marked red on the maps preceding.
Here it is zoomed in: 
Cherry Hinton c.1911 close up of the old toft cottage that once stood on what is now today the recreation ground.
1912
By 1912 Cherry Hinton had expanded dramatically with the building of the Rock estate and houses covering the area which is today Cherry Hinton Road up to Hills Road Cambridge. A significant part of the western side of Cherry Hinton parish was built upon. This land, which once was the moorland and heath covered by small springs and boggy land in places, had been drained and managed by the 1870’s. This allowed a large amount of new development to take place.
The first mention of a recreation ground within Cherry Hinton was in 1912 in the Cambridge Newspaper when:
“Mr I.G. Elworthy told a meeting at Morley School that he had been one of the first members of Cherry Hinton parish council in 1894. When he first came there were only 50 houses, but the district had developed enormously and the need for a recreation ground was very urgent. With the enormous increase of motor traffic, it became more and more dangerous for children to play in the streets. The Council should purchase a site between Cherry Hinton Road and Mill Road and in the meantime the Cattle Market field should be laid out as a temporary playground. It could be planted with trees like Christ’s Pieces and would preserve the beauty of the district.”[8] This, however, was a suggestion for a recreation ground more suited to what was then called ‘New Cherry Hinton’ between the western top end of Cherry Hinton Road and Mill Road. The site suggested at the Cattle Market appeared never to have gone ahead but eventually Coleridge Road Recreation Ground was created and which served this need.[9] [8] 07/06/1912 Cambridge News, Cambridge Cherry Hinton (village) Scrapbook 1897-1990 Mike Petty www.mikepetty.org.uk [9] A History of Cambridge Cattle Market and a history of Coleridge Recreation ground are forthcoming so will not be covered in detail here. 
1952 Spading's Map - showing the Cattle Market, Coleridge Road Recreation Ground & Cherry Hinton.
The 1952 map above shows the Cattle Market (left), Coleridge Road recreation ground (top left) and Cherry Hinton recreation ground (right).[10]
It showed the need in growing towns and villages for such allocated recreation spaces, especially with the advent of motorised vehicles and the new dangers that they posed to children playing in the streets. In times before the village green and the common lands would have been some of the main areas for roaming and playing and it is indeed why we sometimes see a modern playpark area on an old village green, more often then not though, playparks were placed within recreation grounds within a village, taken from an old allotment or field, allocated for the increasing need for such a space. It was during the Victorian period that we start to see such things as the 1859 Recreation Grounds Act, the 1860 Public Improvement Act and the 1906 Open Spaces Act. Even if the people of Cherry Hinton had been starting to look for a suitable site for a recreation ground within the old village, they hadn’t long before all else was taken over by World War One which began on 28th July 1914 and continued until 11th November 1918.[11] [10] Spalding’s Map of Cambridge 1952. Scale 1:10,560. National Library of Scotland. [11] A History of Cherry Hinton during WWI is forthcoming so will not be covered here in detail.
The Creation of the World War One Memorial Recreation Ground
1919 In May 1919 a newspaper article[12] appeared stating that some Glebe lands, belonging to the Benefice of Great Wilbraham were to be sold, this included a “Meadow and garden in Cherry Hinton parish known as “Gibraltar Close” for £250, fronting the main street in Cherry Hinton with a Mr William Saint[13] being listed as the tenant. Gibraltar Close was the field which was to become the recreation ground. [12] Reported 16th May 1919 Cambridge Independent Press, British Newspaper Archive. [13] You can see from the newspaper report that Mr Saint was also renting an arable field on what is now Queen Edith’s Way. 
8th May 1919 Gibraltar Close to be sold.
William Saint would have been renting (or perhaps subletting) the cottage and land, paying rents to support the vicar of Great Wilbraham but this was all ending, as after World War One things were changing.
In the Cambridge newspaper on 30th May 1919[14], It was announced that a public meeting had been held in Cherry Hinton School (the old school which stood on the High Street just past the railway line). At which it had been decided to accept a plan submitted by the Balsham Guild of Workers for a tablet to be placed in the church (St Andrew’s) in memory of those who had fallen in the first world war and the larger memorial scheme was to proceed, the plan for which was to acquire a piece of land in the village, known as Gibraltar Close, some 4 acres in extent which had already been purchased and was being held in trust. A house-to-house collection in the village yielded the sum of £77. Efforts had to be taken to raise the remainder of roughly £200 more to cover the expense of the land purchased.
[14] 30th May 1919 Cambridge Independent Press, British Newspaper Archive. 
30th May 1919 Cambridge Independent Press
Cherry Hinton School, High Street Cherry Hinton c.1940 (M Bullivant Archive)
You can still see the original World War One Wooden Tablet with Roll of Honour, made by the Balsham Guild of Workers, inside St Andrew’s Church on the eastern wall.
WWI tablet inside St Andrew’s Church Cherry Hinton (M Bullivant 2024)
We know from the previous advert, 8th May 1919, that the land was placed up for sale for £250. It had been Eliab Pamplin, a well-known Cherry Hinton man that had purchased the land and he had then placed it in trust.
Eliab George Pamplin c.1920 (M Bullivant Archive)
In 1919 The Ely Diocese sold the land to Eliab George Pamplin of Cherry Hinton, who had facilitated the purchase of this land in 1919 through the village efforts of fundraising.
The Pamplin family were very involved with Cherry Hinton life and both brother Eliab and Walter were members of the Parish committee, amongst other things. They ran a famous steam plough works at the north end of the village. Eliab’s actions were key to securing the land which was to become the war memorial recreation ground. [14] In the Cambridge newspaper 4th July 1919[15], we find the first published statement calling the land “War Memorial Recreation Ground”. The whole village was involved in various events to fundraise for this land, and this was an advert for a fete to be held on the 10th July 1919. [14] The History of the Pamplin Family is almost finished and is due January 2025 [15] 4th July 1919 Cambridge Independent Press, British Newspaper Archive. 
4th July 1919 First in print mention of the War Memorial Recreation Ground at Cherry Hinton.
As an aside, I thought that you might like to see these pictures, they are the only three pictures, different dates, of the Cherry Hinton band that I have been able to find so far.
In the Cambridge newspaper on the 11th July 1919 we find the report of that great fundraising fete held the previous day on the 10th July 1919, it is quite faded so I have added the transcription below:
“A very enjoyable fete, arranged by the Cherry Hinton War Memorial Committee, in aid of the War Memorial Recreation Ground Fund was held in the Vicarage Field, Cherry Hinton. The piece of Ground known as Gibraltar Close, situate in the centre of the village, has already been secured through the kindness of a local gentleman and a sum of £250 is required to pay for it. The Committee responsible for the arrangements are as follows: The Rev. Dr, H. A. Watson (vicar), Mrs E Tabor, Mrs Stubbings, Mrs E. Monk, Messrs. Archer, W. Manning, H. H. B. Grain, F. Monk and Challis, with Mrs. George Pamplin and Mr. F. W Crane as hon. secretaries, and Mrs Watson and Mrs Crane as organisers of entertainment. The fete was opened by Mrs. Walker, wife of the Rev. Dr. T. A. Walker, the former vicar, who was accorded a hearty vote of thanks, on the proposition of Mrs. Watson. A sale of fancy and useful articles made by members of the Ladies Working Party was held in one of the tents. In another teas to coupon holders were served by the following ladies, who kindly supplied the materials and looked after the tables: Mrs A. Doggett, Mrs Neal, Mrs Watson, Mrs Mansfield, Mrs Crane, Mrs Pratt, Mrs Smith, Mrs F. Doggett, Mrs G Pamplin, Mrs W Pamplin, Mrs Archdale, Mrs Scott, and Mrs Rain.
Teas for non-coupon holders were served in an adjoining tent by Mrs Challis, Mrs Cornell, Mrs Drane, and Mrs George. there was also a country produce stall, under the charge of Miss Scot. Other attractions included lighting portraiture by Mrs Murray, an exhibition of dancing on the Vicarage lawn by Miss E T Shillington Scales, a variety of guessing competitions, athletic sports, arranged by Messrs. F. Monk and Mansfield, and dancing from 8-9.30pm to the music of the Cherry Hinton Band, under Bandmaster Squires. In addition to the recreation ground, a roll of honour is to be placed in the Parish Church….The cost of this has already been collected.”[15] [15] 11th July 1919 Cambridge Daily News, British Newspaper Archive.
The newspaper report really does show just how many people of the village were involved in fund-raising and the supporting of the effort to purchase Gibraltar Close and turn it into a War Memorial Recreation Ground, many of the names you will see above are those of the parents, wives and families who lost loved ones and who’s surnames you will see on the Roll of Honour.
Fundraising continued at a good pace, a further Cambridge newspaper article announced that: “very attractive garden fete and sale of art work is being organised and will be held in the Vicarage Grounds on July 17th 1919. Gifts of all kinds are asked for by the committee.”[16] [16] 17th July 1919 Cambridge Independent, British Newspaper Archive.
c. 1921
The village fund-raising efforts were successful, and the field once called Gibraltar Close became the village ‘World War One Memorial Recreation Ground’. The photo below[17] is the earliest photograph we have that shows the entrance of the new war memorial recreation ground. [17] Cherry Hinton High Street c.1921 Opposite the War Memorial Recreation Ground looking northwards. (Cambridgeshire Collection III 6-10 30288) 
c.1921 Cherry Hinton High Street looking northwards the fence line on the right-hand side is the entrance to the War Memorial Recreation Ground.
Do you recall the line of old cottages which were marked blue on the previous 1886 map that I suggested to keep in mind? Here you can see them running from the High Street, back alongside the boundary of the now war memorial recreation ground. Eventually these old cottages burnt down and in time became the site of Neville Cullop’s bungalow, which we’ll come to again shortly.
What is lovely about the old photograph above is that if we zoom in on the picture, as shown below, we can see that there is what looks like a couple of notice boards. I wonder if one is the parish notice board and perhaps the other held the Roll of Honour, listing the names for the Cherry Hinton World War One Memorial. 
Close up of War Memorial Recreation Ground front fence, entrance and notice boards on the High Street.
1925
By the 1925 OS map[18] we can see the first layout of the recreation ground which was occupying the main field strip with allotment gardens to the northeast, which were later to form an extra part of the rec on the southern side of the footpath there, with Colville School taking in the northern section of the allotment gardens. Between the 1901 OS map and this 1925 OS map the toft cottage which had stood on a plot in the southeast corner of what was Gibraltar Close has gone. Was it pulled down and cleared away in the creation of the Recreation ground ? [18] Cambridgeshire XLVII.7 Revised: 1925, Published: 1927 Size: map 64.4 cm x 96.6 cm 
Cherry Hinton 1925 OS Map
In the middle of the south side of the rec was a square orchard plot and two other sections of land all of which were taken in later to form the recreation ground that we have today. The marked-out rectangle plot, centre north, within the site I haven’t any information about – perhaps it was a marked-out area for sport or suchlike?
1927 In 1927 Mr Pamplin conveyed the land to five trustees to use as a recreation ground. The recreation ground land remained in a trust. The conveyance of 1927 (Cherry Hinton Recreation Ground Trust 1927[19]) sets out the details of the trust and records the fact that the land was acquired by public subscription for a war memorial. [19] Was eventually passed over to Cambridge City Council, current whereabouts unknown.
1929
In January 1929 Eliab Pamplin passes away[20]. [20] 1st February 1929 Saffron Walden Weekly News, British Newspaper Archive. 
Eliab Pamplin’s Obituary 01 February 1929
In the report above it states: “…he recently made a gift of £100 to the Parish Council, with which it is proposed to extend the recreation ground.”
However, what had actually happened was that a year before Eliab had given the parish council £100 as a donation for being allowed to alter ‘Top Path’ which lay at the northern end of the High Street and ran through to Coldhams Lane. This path passed by the Pamplin Steam Works and the brothers wanted this altered. The parish council had accepted the donation, and the path alterations were made. But the £100 was still to be allocated for use.
On 26th March 1929 the annual Parish Council meeting was held in the school room where discussion took place as to what to do with the donated £100.[21]
At the annual parish meeting held in the schoolroom … “The chairman asked for propositions as to how the £100 given by Mr Pamplin for alteration of the Top Footpath should be allocated, he stated that the Parish Council had considered some and these suggestions are as follows- No 1. For a Village Hall 2. Additional Land for Recreation Ground provided being bought reasonable price After discussions Mr A Smith proposed, and Mr Olson seconded that a public memorial should be erected as the 3rd item. It was then proposed by Mr A. J. Smith and seconded by Mr A. H. Doggett that the vote should be taken by a show of hands. Mr J. N. Cornell and Mr. Arthur Root were appointed the two fillers? The Chairman then proceeded with the voting For No 1. For a Village Hall 47 2. Additional Land for Recreation Ground 0 3. For a Public Memorial 4” The Chairman then declared that the £100 would be allocated towards the erecting of a Village Hall. This was to be what became the Parish Room known more affectionately as The Cherry Hinton Green Hut, situated immediately northwest of the railway crossing on the High Street. The Green Hut was demolished in 2020, and the site is now a community garden. [21] Cherry Hinton Annual Parish Meeting held in the school room 26th March 1929, p196, KCB/9/1/3/1 Cambridge Archives. 
Cherry Hinton Parish Rooms (otherwise known as the Green Hut and/or the Tin Hut) M. Bullivant c.2002
1930/31
At the annual Parish Council meeting, on 28th March 1930, held in the schoolroom on the High Street the trust of the recreation ground was discussed due to the passing of Eliab Pamplin and because big changes were about to occur local administration and Cherry Hinton parish council. “Recreation Ground: A question in respect to the Recreation Ground being taken over by the Parish Council was asked. The Clerk reported that the Deeds were in the hands of the solicitors Messrs. Grain & Co [now Cheffins] and as there was difficulty in the wording of the Deed some could not be handed over to the council but it was thought that it might be vested in the Official Trustees of the Charity Commissioners and controlled by the Parish Council with a scheme to be agree by the Charity Commissioners.”[22] It was further discussed at the Annual Parish Meeting held in the schoolroom on 9th March 1931 “Recreation Ground: A question was asked in reference to the recreation ground of which the clerk stated that the form duly filled by the trustees and co. had been sent to the Ministry through layers Messrs. Grain & Co.”[23] [22] Cherry Hinton Annual Parish Council Meeting 28th March 1930, p202, KCB/9/1/3/1 Cambridge Archives. [23] Cherry Hinton Annual Parish Council Meeting 9th March 1931, p207, KCB/9/1/3/1 Cambridge Archives.
1933/34
In 1933 the trustees of the War Memorial Recreation Ground conveyed the land to Cherry Hinton Parish Council, and the following year it was transferred to Cambridge City Council as a result of Cambridge boundary changes which were extended in 1934, when Cherry Hinton ceased to have a Parish Council and became a Ward of Cambridge (Under the Great Britain Ministry of Health and Local Government Act 1929 – section 46, Cambridge extension order 1934, abolishing the parishes of Trumpington and Cherry Hinton). The conveyance and title deeds for the Memorial Recreation Ground are held by Cambridge City Council[24]. [24] However, at present they cannot be located.
1938
The 1938 OS map[25] below, shows that recreation ground still hadn’t been expanded to how we are used to it today. (The red line on the map is a contour line). [25] Cambridgeshire Sheet XLVII.NE Revised: 1938, Published: ca. 1945 Size: map 31 x 46 cm 
Cherry Hinton 1938 OS Map
This is the first map that shows the British Legion Hut Building on site - circled in blue. Being a War Memorial site, it made sense that there would be a British Legion meeting rooms/hut on site. Alongside the business of the British Legion, many a happy memory has been recalled by Cherry Hinton residents who remember parties, dancing and receptions taking place in this hut. You can see the hut in the picture below.[26]
[26]Cherry Hinton Memories Book Three: https://www.michellebullivant.com/cherryhintonhistory/cherry-hinton-memories-book-three#/ 1949 
Cherry Hinton World War One War Memorial Recreation Ground August 1949, looking northwest towards the High Street. Left to right: David Gifford, Margaret Coe, Gracie Tabor, Ann Sheppard, Dawn & Shirley Coulson, Michael Newman, Basil Simpkins.
“On the Recreation Ground then half the size it is now, as Bullard’s Brewery owned the Chequers and allotments behind it, there was Sid Hancock’s bungalow – the village cobbler. The old British Legion “Hut” as the locals called it was a long, mainly wooden structure built on raised concrete stilts, therefore small children could easily move underneath it. The Rec in those days had lots of bushes around it and small copses of trees more natural and evolved than the well organised and designed as today – but much more fun for children.” Unknown[27]
“Cherry Hinton was childhood heaven, we spent most of our time playing outside in the road, the Spinney, down the Rec” Maree Williams (nee Stevens Nov 2012)[28] [27] Cherry Hinton Memories Book Three: https://www.michellebullivant.com/cherryhintonhistory/cherry-hinton-memories-book-three#/ [28] As previous.
The map below[29] shows that extra land to the south is now part of the recreation ground. Again, note the old footpath – locally called ‘Long Walker’ at this time, at the back of the recreation ground.
[29] Cambridgeshire Sheet XLVII.NE Revised: 1950, Published: 1952 Size: map 31 x 46 cm 
Cherry Hinton 1950 OS Map
“I was born in Fisher’s Lane and then moved to Fulbourn Road when I was two months old. I went to school with my sister Shirley. We used to walk along a path which was called Long Walker, which started at Fulbourn Road and ran along the back of Cherry Hinton Rec where Colville Estate is now. How the High Street has changed! ……..There was another butchers opposite the rec (where the Building Society is now). Next to the Rec was Sid Hancock’s (the cobbler) shoe shop. Then the Chequer’s Pub run by the Tabors. Across the road from the Rec was Steven’s Building Yard where we used to keep the football marking machine. My dad (Olly) used to mark the football pitch. My dad was well known in Cherry Hinton because he helped run the football club.” Bill Chapman (26/04/2011)[30]
[30] Cherry Hinton Memories Book One: https://www.michellebullivant.com/cherryhintonhistory/cherry-hinton-memories-book-one#/
1953
“There was a great celebration on the Rec for the coronation and everyone dressed up in fancy dress. I was a black cat.” Kay Smith (2011)[31] [31] As previous. 
The northwest corner of the War Memorial Recreation Ground 1953.
The 1953 photograph[32] above shows another view on the rec showing the first British Legion hut. The line of thatched cottages that you saw earlier running alongside the recreation ground have now gone, and in their place is the Chequers Pub 2nd incarnation. There was a 3rd Chequers pub which some of you will remember but that too has gone now and is the site of Chequers Close. Behind it and behind the British Legion hut, in this picture, is a bungalow – the old shoemakers bungalow – within another 20 years or so both these buildings are gone and a new bungalow is built on the site, which was Neville Cullup’s home, he also sold shoes – the plot had retained a good long portion of original medieval croft land, where geese and chickens could still be seen, until recently. Just this past year (2024) the bungalow has been demolished and new houses built all along the plot, upon what was one of the last remaining medieval croft plots. But that is all for another history – and will come under the forthcoming history of the Chequers Pub.
[32] Foster 1953 Cherry Hinton Recreation Ground, Cambridgeshire Collection y.cherK53 19443
“Opposite the Parish Room (Green Hut) in 1956 Lings shop was bought by Ted and Audrey Cunningham with their young daughter Sally. They introduced me to their niece Janet then 16 who I married in 1959. That same year I bought the bungalow and show repair business from Sid Hancock after working for him for 7 years. I continued the business until April 2013.” Neville Cullop (2014)[33]
[34] Cherry Hinton Memories Book Three: https://www.michellebullivant.com/cherryhintonhistory/cherry-hinton-memories-book-three#/ c.1953 
Cherry Hinton Recreation Ground c.1953
The c.1953 photograph[35] above shows the playground equipment and is a view looking towards the northeast corner of the recreation ground - towards the Colville Road / Leete Road houses which were still being built. Various play equipment has changed over the years but all remain within the same area of the recreation ground.
[35] Cherry Hinton Women’s Institute village history/prize-winning scrapbook C.44.3 Cambridgeshire Collection.
“We used to watch the Cherries [football] on the Rec and in the mid 50’s they won the premier division of the Cambs league and I recall seeing such people as Brian Stevens, Peter Dean, Billy Chapman in the team. I remember Mr Rust the hairdresser as one of the driving forces … When I was 16 dad encouraged me to join Cherry Hinton Football Club and I can remember dear old Bunny Tabor finding it difficult to keep up to date with play acting as a linesman. I was lucky enough to achieve first team recognition and a small amount of success was forthcoming. Most of the players came from Cherry Hinton such as Trevor Chapman, Tony Tabor, Paul Ritson, Barry Witt, Mick Colville, and the rest I just cannot remember.
Cherry Hinton Football Team c.1958 Fishers Lane.
A lot of my early years was football orientated and I can remember in the school holidays spending virtually all my spare time playing football on the Rec.
The only other activity on the Rec or near the Rec scrumping in the apple trees in the orchard which backed onto the Rec and we were only caught on one occasion and my god whoever hit us, hit us hard with a very large stick.”. Stuart Nunn 04/02/2014)[36] [36] Cherry Hinton Memories Book Three: https://www.michellebullivant.com/cherryhintonhistory/cherry-hinton-memories-book-three#/
“Around the village I remember playing on the Rec. with Tony & Brian Tabor, Peter & Michael Boland, John & Peter Hedge, John Cornell, Chris Gifford, Brian Grey, Billy Taylor & others. There was a track at the top of the Rec. for riding bikes between the trees. Ray Causton had the best bike. Billy Taylor would take his air pistol & rifle up there and if we were lucky he let us have a go.” Basil Simpkins (Nov 2014)[37]
“Summer holidays were long and the best ever. Groups of us would disappear all day in the Spinney, on the Rec or the Beech Woods. Sometimes we would club together to buy a hot loaf from Roots the bakers to eat on the Rec. If it was wet we would play Monopoly in Di Lilly’s dad’s shed, for hours on end.” Chris Ketch (c.2011)[38] [37] As previous. [38]Cherry Hinton Memories Book One: https://www.michellebullivant.com/cherryhintonhistory/cherry-hinton-memories-book-one#/
1955
In 1955 building plans[39] were submitted for a public convenience to be built on the recreation ground – these were on the site of the conveniences that still stand today. Stevens Bros of Cherry Hinton were involved in the original building works. [39] Building bylaw plan and approval for new public convenience, Cherry Hinton Recreation Ground, Cambridgeshire Archives KCB/2/SE/3/9/21214 
1955 Cherry Hinton Recreation Ground Public Convenience Plans
The plans above show the toilet block to be built on the righthand side (where they still are today) and also show the site of the British Legion hut on the left.
Cherry Hinton Recreation Ground Toilet Block. (M. Bullivant 2024)
By the September of the same year, the British Legion hut was closed and the building put up for sale.[40]
[40] Cambridge Daily News - Saturday 10 September 1955. 
The British Legion hut had moved from the war memorial recreation ground to its new site in Fishers Lane and was in full operation there by 1957. This building was then demolished in 2016, and is now the site of Poppy Close houses, in Fisher’s Lane. There is currently no new Cherry Hinton British Legion meeting place to replace this lost village facility.
“The Rec was another source of fun. Crawling under the British Legion Hut just behind the cobblers bungalow, especially when the dances were being held. We would watch our hero’s playing football during the winter and cricket during the summer. I never thought that I would receive a telephone call in 1962 from Joe Denny asking me to cycle to the Abbey Stadium as three of the first team forwards were either injured or unavailable to play against Girton in the Creake Shield Final. A dream first half saw me scoring the first and third goal in a 6-2 win, followed by my first beer back at the Chequers Pub with the men. My dad was so proud but it put me off beer for life!!.....Behind the trees at the far end of the rec was a very large corn field where we would run through trying to find the skylarks nests, to no avail.
Who can remember the time during the forties when the army put on a show on the rec with all their equipment/guns etc and letting off canisters of “smoke screen” for us youngest to get lost in.” Kenneth Gifford (Kenny, 2/04/2020)[41] “As teenagers we had a great time in dear old Cherry Hinton, the Rec being a favourite meeting place. The village had the usual celebrations at the Queen’s coronation, I Particularly remember the football match on the Rec – girls versus boys. I believe the girls won although we had a distinct advantage – the boys had their hands tied behind their backs! My good friend Joyce Elliot was a major player in our team and gave no quarter!!” June Kathleen Stevens (nee Buffett c.2009)[42] “School holidays were spent in the Spinney, on the Rec, blackberrying on the Roman Road and exploring the Beechwoods. There were huge steam rollers in Pamplins Yard and Mr Fabbs equally huge pigs to feed in Fulbourn Old Drift.” Gill Rapley (nee Fordham c.2012)[43] “The year before I started school Peter Hedge (who was one year older than me) broke his arm so was off school. He and I went up the Rec to play on the swings (yes, with a broken arm!) Whilst there a hunt passed by heading for what was then the fields beyond. We were so frightened by the noise the dogs made – we swang as high as we could to escape them. Now when I hear a lot of dogs barking I think of this…..We loved to climb trees at the top of the Rec. How pleased I was with myself when I managed to get from tree one to tree seven without touching the ground. My sister got stuck up one of these trees and had to stay there until our dad came home to rescue her. I thought her a bit of a sissy!.....We learnt to do things on our own like riding a bike and swimming. The former by getting on by a bench seat on the Rec and by falling off when wanting to stop.” Sue Gentle (2012)[44] [41] Cherry Hinton Memories Book Three: https://www.michellebullivant.com/cherryhintonhistory/cherry-hinton-memories-book-three#/ [42] Cherry Hinton Memories Book Two: https://www.michellebullivant.com/cherryhintonhistory/cherry-hinton-memories-book-two#/ [43] Cherry Hinton Memories Book One: https://www.michellebullivant.com/cherryhintonhistory/cherry-hinton-memories-book-one#/ [44] As previous.
1960’s
“I played football from the age of 14 for the village football team (The Cherries) from the 60’s right through to the late 70’s till I was in my 30’s. We had 4 teams at the time I started in the youth team. I remember playing Cambridge City Youth in the Cup on the Rec on the first pitch they roped it off, there was about 600 there and we won 3. 0. I did finished in the First Team, when I first started playing we got changed in the Unicorn. What days there were, I loved it and would do it all over again if I could. I could go on and on. Anyway I will never forget great peachy life.” Pat Clarke (03/09/2012)[45]
[45] As previous.
1985
In 1985 there had been plans to build a community centre on the Recreation ground but by Nov 1985 these plans were scrapped with the efforts and campaigning of John Woodhouse and others – instead a new community centre was built by the Cherry Hinton library, on Colville Road which was opened by Princess Diana in 1989. Today it is the Cherry Hinton Village Leisure Centre run by Better enterprise.
Use of the Site
The recreation ground has been used and enjoyed for many years now, including by many of the Cherry Hinton clubs and societies like our brilliant Cherry Hinton football team who have a pavilion on the site[46]. Festivals and fetes have taken place on the recreation ground and many memories made. Over the years play equipment has been added and renewed including a skate park. Somewhere along the way it became forgotten that the whole recreation ground is also a war memorial and that it accompanies the memorial plinth at the entrance to the site. [46] There have been so many football matches played on the recreation ground that I have not included coverage of them here but instead challenge someone else to produce a much-needed history of football in Cherry Hinton. In addition I am not added all of the details about the long running Cherry Hinton Festival here either, although for many years held on the recreation ground the festival has even earlier beginnings and I am writing a separate history about that.
Protection/ Future of the Site
Cherry Hinton War Memorial at the front of the recreation ground (M. Bullivant 2019)
The War memorial plinth states:
WAR MEMORIAL/ RECREATION GROUND/ IN HONOUR OF THOSE/ WHO SACRIFICED THEIR/ LIVES FOR OUR COUNTRY DEDICATED BY THE/ CHERRY HINTON BRANCH OF/ THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION/ 1995 In loving and grateful memory of the people from this parish who laid down their lives. 1914-1918
Cllr Mark Ashton with some volunteers has been independently looking after the war memorial plinth and surrounding garden area, keeping it clean and tidy – he asked if I would get details together to make an information board that could be put inside the entrance to the recreation ground to let people know that it is the whole of the site that is a war memorial and not just the plinth at the front, as we both knew that hardly anyone today knew this fact.
I decided it was about time that a proper history of the recreation ground was carried out, and I have over the last year been researching and writing the history of the site – the abridged version of which you can now read on the newly installed information board which has been installed just inside the main entrance to the Cherry Hinton World War One Memorial Recreation Ground. There has been no funding to do this, but with Cllr Ashton’s help the council agreed to fund the making and installing of the information board on site. Our hope is that this history will remind us and give a renewed appreciation of this village site which so many of the people from our past helped provide. The recreation ground has been used and enjoyed for many years now, by many of the Cherry Hinton clubs and societies including our brilliant Cherry Hinton football team who have a pavilion on the site. Festivals and fetes have taken place on the recreation ground and many memories made. Somewhere along the way it became forgotten that the whole rec is also a war memorial and not just the plinth at the entrance to the rec. This board will help remind us and give a renewed appreciation of this village site which so many of the people from our past helped provide. After all – here is what it is all about really. 
I hope that you enjoyed this history. It is quite understandable that we don't go about calling the site "Cherry Hinton World War One Memorial Recreation Ground" and that over time, probably quite quickly, the whole site simply got called "the rec". By having this history written up it helps preserve the history of this lovely site and we can feel a bit more confident that this information will not be lost whilst being able to still refer to the site as "the rec" :)
M. Bullivant November 2024 I've still a few little extras to add into the history above and will do so shortly.
You will be able to download a free PDF copy of the full 'History of Cherry Hinton World War One Memorial Recreation Ground' here shortly.
Please feel free to get in touch if you would like to add anything to this story or if you have any further information. If you'd like to support my work and the archive, why not buy me a virtual coffee or make a one-off donation at PayPal, I'd be really grateful and it will help keep me going! Just click on either of the buttons below :)
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I thought that I would share with you this history of Cherry Hinton Hall, which I have been working on, for some years on and off, this latest version, given below, is based the one that I placed in the appendix of the Cherry Hinton Hall Management Plan, which I wrote for Cambridge City Council in 2019. It was used as part of the application for a Green Flag for Cherry Hinton Hall, which was a successful application with a Green Flag being awarded for the park (I will place a separate blog post about this on here shortly).
Cherry Hinton Hall getting awarded its Green Flag 2019
I am the official historian for Cherry Hinton Hall and grew up just down the road from "the Hall" as many of us called it. I went to the playgroup in the Hall building and to the clinic, again within the Hall building, for my childhood jabs. I also spent many hours playing on the park, at the duck ponds and within the grounds.
I am writing a book about the site which will give the full history, in more detail, and I will let you know when this will be available (I've been saying this for years, I know!). For now, here is a pretty decent length overview for you to have a look at.
Cherry Hinton Hall is a former Victorian country house and grounds. It was built, and the grounds laid out, in the late 1830’s by John Okes, a Cambridge surgeon, as his family home. Previous to the site being developed for this use, the area it was to be built upon, was part of the medieval open field system of the village of Cherry Hinton. There are very few surviving maps of this area before 1806. We can see the pre-Enclosure map and the Parliamentary Enclosure maps of 1806. These both show the dramatic transition from the medieval open field system, upon which, the village agricultural system used to function, to the changes to agriculture and the landscape, brought about by the Parliamentary Enclosure Acts. Through which process, the opportunity was provided to wealthy investors to purchase large parcels of land, which in this case, resulted in the land for the site of Cherry Hinton Hall to be acquired. From the time the Hall and Park were constructed and laid out, the site has remained relatively intact with its transition from a Victorian, family country home to its present form, as a multifunctioning, well managed public park.
The pre-Enclosure map shows that the area in which Cherry Hinton Hall was to be built, was within one of the 6 remaining open fields of the parish, these fields formed the medieval, agricultural, open field system of the village of Cherry Hinton. The site lay within the field, to the south west of the village, called ‘Bridge Field’ and through that field, the Hinton Brook flowed from the south-eastern side of the site. From the pre-Enclosure map, we can also see that there was a building called ‘Pecks Homestead’, which would have stood just south-west of where the present-day Hall building now stands. Within the ‘lake’ area by the waterways, at the north west of the site, there once stood several other buildings, which at the time of Enclosure, were in the occupation of Robert Rickards, who was the common herdsman of the village. These buildings are thought to be that of much older buildings, likely watermills and their associated dwellings, which have stood on the site since at least the 13th century[1].
[1] Cherry Hinton Hall 2004 Historical Research & Excavation Report, Bullivant & Clarke 2004
The 1806 Pre-Enclosure map of Bridge Field, Cherry Hinton. Showing the area that was to become the site for Cherry Hinton Hall & its parks and gardens. The red dot, added, shows where the future building of the Hall would stand. The blue lines show the water course and what was to become the ‘lake’ area of Cherry Hinton Hall.
Courtesy of Cambridgeshire Archives & M.Bullivant
We can also see the waterways of the site from the pre-Enclosure map above. The square, water-enclosed island in the south west corner, may have been a medieval, moated manor site and is currently thought (M. Bullivant) to have been the site of Netherhall Manor, which was one of the 4 known but now gone, manors of Cherry Hinton[2].
[2] Cherry Hinton Hall 2004 Historical Research & Excavation Report, Bullivant & Clarke 2004
The Hinton Brook, which runs through the site, was an important tributary of the River Cam, where it joined its destination at Stourbridge Common in Cambridge. The Brook broke forth as a series of fresh water springs at the north-west base of the Gog Magog Hills and formed a spring pool, known locally as Spring Head (also known as Giant’s Grave). The Spring Head was no doubt a major factor in the siting of the village. From the Spring Head, the chalk lined, fresh water brook, flowed in a north-westerly direction, where it entered Bridge Field, to be manipulated for early industrial purpose, before flowing on north-westerly to eventually join the River Cam.
Courtesy Cambridgeshire Collection
Cherry Hinton Spring Head (aka Giants Grave) c.1910
Once the Parliamentary Enclosure had taken place, in 1806 in Cherry Hinton, much of the land ownership and use changed dramatically. The old, large, open fields and those systems of agriculture were gone. The land was divided up and sold into smaller parcels and new owners took over. Robert Rickards, the common herdsman living in Bridge Field, for example, was given notice to quit the property and land in 1814 and had to leave his home. These changes ultimately led to the purchasing of the land in Bridge Field and surrounding parcels of land by Mr John Okes, who planned and executed the building of Cherry Hinton Hall and the layout of its grounds. This new development work included clearing the old buildings that stood within the lake area of the site and once occupied by Robert Rickards and clearing the site of Pecks Homestead, all in preparation for the building of the Hall and park design, which began in 1831.
Courtesy of Cambridgeshire Archives.
The 1806 Enclosure map of Cherry Hinton, showing what was Bridge Field.
John Okes had returned from the army in India and joined his father, Thomas Verny Okes, a well-known surgeon, at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, to work as a surgeon at the hospital himself. At this time Addenbrooke’s Hospital was on the Trumpington Road site, within the town of Cambridge. Cherry Hinton Hall was completed by 1839 and John Okes had laid out his ‘miniature park and gardens’ around the Hall building. The site was just 3 miles from the Cambridge town and the Old Addenbrooke’s Hospital. It provided a perfect family home for John, his wife Mary and their children, an escape from the busy town, which lay just within the bounds of the countryside.
Courtesy M Bullivant
Plan of Cherry Hinton Hall c.1960 , shows the various additions (shown in light tone) to the original form (shown in heavy tone). The additions include the billiard room to the north-west side and various minor additions to the rear. You will see that there was once a staircase added, within the main entrance porch, which is no longer there today.
Cherry Hinton Hall was built in the Gothic Revival style. It was placed centrally within the grounds. Built in Gault brick with stone dressing, with stone and slate covered roofs. The chimneystacks have separate octagonal shafts with oversailing brick capping. The glazing was lead-traced lozenge-shaped panes. The coach-house and stables were built just to the north west of the main building and the small Lodge was built in the same style as the house, to the south-west of the main Hall building, by the entrance gates and entrance to the driveway. The Lodge originally had its own length of garden, which ran to the eastern side of the property. The park and gardens were laid out with meadow and pasture, along with formal garden areas at the very front of the building, a kitchen garden to the rear of the property and features such as the orchard that lay within the lake area upon the place where Robert Rickards had once lived.
John Okes had the water course, flowing through his land, enlarged at one point to make an small ornamental lake and stocked the stream with trout and had a pike pond made. He also spent a considerable amount of money in planting the grounds. He had four weirs built along the watercourse to help control the water and a special deal was agreed with Cambridge University and Town Waterworks Company (CUTWC), of which John Okes’ brother Richard Okes was a Director, to supply a specific gallonage of water to the lake and stream at Cherry Hinton Hall, as the CUTWC had also acquired land in Cherry Hinton, specifically bought to begin taking advantage of the natural spring water that flowed out the chalk hills just to the south-east. This eventually resulted in the action of building reservoirs on top of Lime Kiln Hill, close by Cherry Hinton Hall and would have a drastic effect on the flow of water into the site, so specific plans were made and the design and control of the waterway running through the hall was managed in order to please both parties.
Courtesy of the Cambridgeshire Collection
Front-piece of the Cambridge University and Town Waterworks Act 1871.
Courtesy of the Cambridge Water Company
Cambridge University and Town Waterworks Company waterworks map.
© M. Bullivant
The lake area of Cherry Hinton Hall (the duck pond and early paddling area) showing the Hinton Brook flowing through towards us, and showing one of the four weirs that John Okes had built during the Victorian period.
The planting of the varied selection of important trees adds to the historical value of the park. A combination of natural countrified meadows and paddocks with a mixture of formal gardens. From the sale particulars of the site in 1870, it can be seen that the grounds included a loose avenue from the gate lodge to the Hall, with the driveway forming a turning area on the Hall’s south side, outside of the front door entrance. Other parkland features included a kitchen garden, lawn and flower parterres, shrubberies and a fernery, two orchards, ornamental pleasure grounds, park-like paddocks, stream and fish pond, fine lawn, beautifully timbered and belted by fine plantations all set within about 35 acres.
John Okes died in 1870 and Cherry Hinton Hall and grounds were placed on the market for sale. The layout of the site, as he had intended it, can be seen from the sale map and particulars of the site. The sweeping driveway which ran from the south west of the site and curved round to the north east to meet at the front door of the hall was laid out when the grounds were planned, and remains, in its original position to this day.
Courtesy of the Cambridgeshire Collection
Cherry Hinton Hall sale map, 1870. This map shows the detail of the grounds and features therein.
Courtesy of the Cambridgeshire Collection
The sale advert for Cherry Hinton Hall 1870.
Following the death of John Okes, the site was sold to Cambridge University and Town Waterworks Company (CUTWC) for the sum of £5000, who went on rent the property and its grounds to private tenants. Cherry Hinton Hall remained in private occupation for around the next 60 years. During this time various people lived at the Hall.
The first tenant after the death of John Okes was Charles Balls. Charles Balls had started out life working as a shoemaker and then went on to become a Mayor of Cambridge and later a Director of The Cambridge University & Town Waterworks Company. He, his wife and four of his daughters lived at the Hall. His wife Eliza died in 1876 and Charles and his daughters remained at the Hall until 1888, when they moved back into Cambridge Town Centre.
Courtesy Cambridge City Council
Charles Balls (1810-1892) Read more here:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/181126309/charles-balls#source 
O.S map of 1886
The O.S map of 1886 shows the park with its water ways, planting, buildings and curved driveway. At this time, the Lodge can be seen with its plot of garden running to the east of the Lodge building.
Robert Moffatt, a General manager of a bank in Cambridge, and his family lived at the Hall for a few years until Major Richard Thomas Lyons, a retired military surgeon, took over the tenancy for another couple of years until c.1900. Cherry Hinton Hall was then unoccupied for a short while until 1902 when Sir William Phene Neal and his wife moved in.
Sir William Phene Neal and his wife, Lady Eleanor Vise c.1902
Sir William Phene Neal who lived with his wife, Lady Eleanor Vise, at Cherry Hinton Hall, created the Cherry Hinton Hall Dairy Farm within the grounds. He went on to become the Lord Mayor of London in 1930 and local stories tell of remembering him being driven in a beautiful horse drawn carriage down the drive, from the park grounds and onwards to Cambridge train station, where he would travel to and from London. Last occupier of the Hall before its sale in the 1930’s was Lt. Col. Brocklehurst Phillips O.B.E.
Cherry Hinton Hall in 1910, showing the drive return and front garden planting.
Ownership remained with The CUTWC and as such the Cambridge University Trinity Estates to which CUTWC was held, until 1937 when Cambridge City Council purchased the whole site, Hall and grounds and the site remains in their ownership today. This particular period was one where nationally the move to acquire and ornament public open spaces was prevalent. Cambridge City Council purchased the Hall and the grounds in May 1937, for £13000.00, and it remains in their ownership today. In November 1937, a conveyance document with covenant was drawn up which laid out the conditions of the purchase. The covenant stated that the site “shall be reserved as a public open space under the Cambridge and District Planning Scheme”.
Original Deed of covenant, 1937 and Below: The transcription of this section
Some of the parkland was lost in the sale of the site to Cambridge City Council. A large portion, to the west of the site, was sold off to a Mr Ridgeon (now a well-known Cambridge building firm, Rigeons) and subsequently houses were built along this strip, along with the creation of a new road called Walpole Road.
Cherry Hinton Hall c.1930 OS map, showing the planning position for Walpole Road, across the western side of the grounds. Note the Lodge garden is gone by this date and the driveway finishes at the Hall in a circular sweep.
For the first couple of years in the Councils ownership Cherry Hinton Hall becomes a Youth Hostel. With the outbreak of WWII, the Hall was used a fire depot and a training centre. It then became a home for young evacuees from London.
After Second World War Cherry Hinton Hall was used as an orphanage and by 1944 the Hall was host to a nursery school from 1944-1988.
Courtesy Cambridgeshire Collection
The Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Cambridge, originally published by HMSO in 1959 contains the following entry for the Hall:
“Cherry Hinton Hall, nearly 3⁄4 m. S.W. of the parish church, of two storeys with cellars, has gault brick walls with stone dressings and slate-covered roofs. It was built for John Okes and the title to the property begins with the purchase of plots of land in 1834 (University Library, Map Room: sale advertisement, 1870). Scratched on the roof-lead is the date 1839, to which the house would approximate on stylistic grounds. Late in the same century a billiard room was added on the W. Since 1948 it has been converted into a day-nursery and clinic involving alterations and additions inside and out. The coach-house and stabling standing nearby to the N.W. have been drastically remodelled to provide living-quarters. The Lodge some 210 yds. to the S.W. is contemporary with the house. Cherry Hinton Hall is a large and rather bald building of the first half of the 19th century in the late Tudor style. The elevations generally have moulded strings at first-floor sill and eaves levels, tall parapet- walls carried up in gablets with moulded copings and apex-finials and stone-mullioned windows of one, two and three square-headed lights with labels; the ground-floor windows are transomed. The S. front is asymmetrical on plan and in height, the porch and the E. part being slightly higher than the rest westward. The doorway has continuously moulded jambs and four-centred head. The rectangular bay-window towards the W. end is an early addition. On the N. side is a four-light transomed window lighting the original staircase; to the kitchen is another of five lights on the W. side. The lights in several windows have been cut down for doorways and french-windows, others retain the original glazing of lozenge-shaped quarries. The chimneystacks have separate octagonal shafts with oversailing brick cappings. Inside, the staircase in the entrance-hall is a modern insertion involving the blocking of the four- centred archways in the N. and W. walls. The principal rooms have doorways with architraves and six-panel doors all with roll-mouldings; another period allusion is the heavy moulding of the plaster cornices. The E. part of the house retains two original fireplace surrounds of gray polished stone, with moulded jambs and four- centred arches, sunk spandrels and moulded shelves; they are flanked, one by pilaster-like responds with roll-moulded angles and moulded caps, the other by octagonal projections with trefoil-headed sunk panels in the faces. The main staircase has close moulded strings, grip handrails, square panelled newels and pierced strap work balustrading of gilded woodwork. The back staircase has cut strings, a turned newel and slender square balusters. The Lodge, of one storey, with gault brick walls with stone dressings and tile-covered roofs, of uniform character with the house, has been much enlarged. It has large gables, and a smaller gable to the porch, all with moulded stone copings rising from corbelled kneelers. The windows have stone mullions and the tall chimney-stacks octagonal shafts.”
The grounds of the Hall were opened up to the general public as a public park in 1960. The Lodge building was rented out to a park steward who was responsible for opening and closing the gates and other duties (the park ceased to have a steward by the 1990’s and the lodge building continues to be rented out privately by the City Council.) Before long, there was the addition of a car park to the south west corner of the site, just inside of the front gates, along with the addition of a public convenience. This public park development of the site included providing a healthily stocked duck pond and a bird sanctuary to the eastern area of the site within the waterways. The paddocks at the north-west of the site were turned into a games field and the site began to take shape in its new role for the pleasure of the public. This development also, in turn, enabled protection and preservation of the wide variety of mature parkland trees and features.
Within the Hall building the children’s nursey continued, and there was a health clinic and offices from the 1960’s until the 1980’s.
In 1965 the first Cambridge Folk Festival was held, set within the grounds of Cherry Hinton Hall. The Folk Festival has been held annually, at the site, at the start of August, ever since and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014. It has grown to become one of the premier music events in Europe and one of the longest running and most famous folk festivals in the world. As a result, Cherry Hinton Hall is known world-wide and loved by many thousands of people, who over the years have attended the site.
By the mid 1970’s a paddling area was provided within the Hinton Brook, just north of the duck pond and a play area, with playpark equipment, was in use to the west of the site, where the playpark area has remained since.
c. 1979, Playpark equipment in the Hall grounds, close to where the present-day playpark is now situated. The photographs show a see-saw, a roundabout and a climbing frame. You can also see a bench, showing that public park furniture was being provided by this time (©M.Bullivant)
During this time Cambridge City Council continued to use the Hall building for office space and the rear of building was used for the City Council’s storage and horticultural use, for which they built glasshouses and a developed a nursey/propagation centre to provide bedding plants for council planning schemes.
c.1995 - The council propagation centre and planting nursey (now demolished) at back in the Hall building, which would have once been the site of the Victorian kitchen garden. (©M.Bullivant)
By the 1980’s the site was in full use as a public park and had developed a reputation of a lovely place to visit. There were regular outdoor performances by brass bands and families used the site for picnics. Cherry Hinton Hall became a firm favourite with dog walkers and duck feeders across the city and beyond. By 1988 the Hall building was then rented by the council to Eastern Arts, an arts development company, who additionally provided some art for the grounds of the Hall for the public to enjoy. There was also a fenced-off special bird sanctuary, to the east of the site, on the island beyond the lake and more wildfowl were introduced to the site.
c. 1984, Playpark equipment in the Hall grounds, close to where the present-day playpark is now situated. The photographs show a new roundabout and ‘rocking’ horses. (©M.Bullivant)
In 1987, a refreshment kiosk was opened on the west side of the building, this was only in service for a short time.
Aerial Photograph of Cherry Hinton Hall 1987 showing the site. (Courtesy of Cambridge University Committee for Aerial Photography).
During the 1990’s the playpark was further refurbished, with distinct toddler play areas and older children areas. A major new paddling pool area was constructed, which consists of two pools, one for general use and one for toddlers.
The newly built paddling pool, c.1995 with playpark in the background. (© M.Bullivant)
This wall was one of two original entrance walls, either side of the front door to the Hall building. This western wall, shown, was removed in the late 1990’s to make adaptions, in the form of a sloped pathway, so that the hall was wheelchair accessible, as previously, at the front of the entrance walls, were several steps. (© M.Bullivant)
In the 2000’s, tennis courts were added to the site, just immediate north to the playpark area and exercise equipment was also added. The bird sanctuary had closed by this time and some tree art was made from trees that had been retired. Further play area improvements were made with the addition of an accessible, disabled play equipment.
When I first started my research into the history of the Hall, back in 1998, I was amazed to learn that the buildings were not even grade listed. So I set about finding out how one goes about such a thing and I was successful in getting the Hall and buildings listed. If I can do it, so can you - always have a check if you think a building should be listed and now a days you can do the whole process online. I know it can be a mixed bag in some respects because of restrictions that then get placed on a building but I really did think it worth getting the Hall listed, to protect it for us all as it is a public park and we locals love it.
Courtesy Cambridge Evening News
Cherry Hinton Hall is a Grade II listed building and was added to the Statutory List on 19 September 2002, along with the Lodge, gate piers and the gates at the drive entrance. The list description is provided below:
“667/0/10138 Cherry Hinton Hall 19-SEP-02 Grade II
Small country house, now training centre. 1839. For John Okes. Gault brick with stone dressings and parapeted slate roofs. Ornamental brick stacks, some with multiple flues. Tudor style with coped gables with finials. 2 storeys, attic and cellar. Entrance front is a 6-window range in all at first floor of 2-light casements with hood-moulds (single-light 2nd from left). To centre right is a projecting gable with a panelled door with Tudor-arched surround and casements to side walls and over. On the front to both sides of this projection are 2-light stone mullion and transom windows, one to right and two to left, some with leaded lights. On far left a gabled projection with large square bay to ground floor. Two gabled ranges further to left, one single-storey, the other 2- storey. Front to right has 2- and 3-light casements over taller similar mullion and transom windows with a canted bay to right. Rear has various wings and C20 extensions. A large leaded mullion and transom window lights the main staircase. INTERIOR. Entrance hall has arched screen and carved stone fireplace. Staircase hall has open well staircase with pierced fretwork balustrade. Other reception rooms have similar stone and marble fireplaces. Simpler fireplaces on first floor. Cornices and panelled reveals in some rooms. Service stairs with stick balustrade. Service wings have mainly C20 character. Cherry Hinton Hall is a well-detailed house of the period which retains many exterior and interior features. It forms a group with The Lodge and gate piers and gates at the drive entrance.”
In 2004 I ran a community archaeological investigation. A 'dig' around a small area of the site was carried out, within the lake are in order to establish the whereabouts of a lost medieval watermill site. The work was designed to include participation from the children of one of the local secondary schools and the end result was 2 different interpretation boards for the park along with public information leaflets, a better understanding of some of the archaeological history of the site and the discovery of one of the original medieval mill stones, who now makes an unusual seating feature by the Hinton Brook and information board. The site, as a whole, remains rich in archaeological remains and potential for future excavation and investigation.
I will do a separate blog post on here about this - 'The Lost Watermills of Cherry Hinton"
Photographs from the 2004 excavations at the Cherry Hinton Hall, Lost Watermills Excavation. Top Left: Children getting hands-on experience. Top Right: Capping stones of an old culvert discovered. Middle Left: View inside the culvert, which proved to be from the medieval watermill workings. Middle Right: A Victorian metal fruit tree tag, from John Okes’ orchards.
Bottom left, unveiling of the new information board by the lakes, about the findings and the lost watermills of Cherry Hinton. Bottom right, the new board by the lakes and the original medieval mill stone that I found on site during the project, now placed as a seat for all to enjoy. (© M.Bullivant)
After the departure of Eastern Arts, the Hall building has been leased to The Cambridge International School, since 2008, who remain the tenant of the building today. The school have just completed a major redesign and refurbishment of the main Hall buildings, at their own expense, including the building of a new all-purpose Hall, named The Okes Hall, at the rear of the main Hall. The Council continues to use an enclosed area to the rear of the main Hall building for storage and other council use, including a service area for when the annual Cambridge Folk Festival takes place.
With the design of the Master Plan for Cherry Hinton Hall in 2009 by Cambridge City Council and its subsequent implementation over the last 9 years, along with the formation of The Friends of Cherry Hinton Hall in 2009, it is clear that people still care and are passionate about this special place and that whilst utilising the site, it should be preserved and protected.
In the 21st century, the park remains an important amenity for visitors, students, and local residents, being an important green space between Cambridge town and Cherry Hinton, giving the village of Cherry Hinton some much needed distinction and preventing it being swallowed up to become an indistinct suburb of Cambridge City, whilst at the same time being within easy reach of the City and Cambridge Train station. The park is also in close proximity to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, a major employer in Cambridge providing, not just green relief for the staff, but also the visitors to the hospital. In addition, the Cambridge Silicon Valley and technology park is only a few minutes’ walk away from the park, the site proving a popular lunchtime space for its workers. The proximity of several schools to the site means that the grounds are put to good use for educational purposes and the site remains an important tool, for positive development of future generations.
So, there you go, that hopefully gives you a good general feel for the main points in the growth and development of the site and a bit more about its history. I have no-end to add to this which I have already written down, from much more detail about John Okes, who built the Hall and his family, to more in-depth details of happenings at the Hall and grounds over the years, including many written memories from many people, old photographs and voice recordings. I will bring you all these in due course :)
If you'd like to support the work that I do, why not buy me a virtual coffee, I'd be really grateful and it will help keep me going! Just click on the green button below :)  Cherry Hinton Hall c.1979. Michelle Bullivant playing on the play park in the grounds of Cherry Hinton Hall.
The play park has changed many times since I was little but is still in the same area of the Hall. I never knew that I'd grow up to become the official historian for Cherry Hinton Hall! |
