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Here you will find the complete contents of Cherry Hinton Memories Book One - if you haven't done so already, I would encourage you to take a brief look at the introduction page about these books first - which you can do by clicking the link here: Cherry Hinton Memory Books - Introduction
There are three books altogether and one separately written story - you can find the links to the other books and story by visiting the Cherry Hinton Memory Books Introduction page, mentioned above, or by searching the index (Categories) on the righthand side of this page or by using the search box on the right.
BOOK ONE
Book One “The Cherry Hinton Gang” Those Golden Years
Contains memories from: Mick Covill Bill Chapman Kay Smith Diana Lilley Ann Gentle Chris Kirch Gill Rapley Sue Gentle Ronnie Clark Tony Mason
Below you will find the full transcription of book one, copied as it is, with pictures of the handwritten stories to compare (and send me any corrections!). You can choose to read through it here or, for more detail, you can click on one of the names above to see their story individually and any extra pictures that I have added to illustrate their story.
Book 1 “The Cherry Hinton Gangs” Those Golden Years.
Mick Covill 4th Jan 2011
‘Yess’ .. I do hold Cherry-Hinton with a great love & fondest memories. I myself was not born in Cherry Hinton but was born and lived in Broad Street of East Road Cambridge, born in 14-Aug-39. Can only just remember the last part of the war air raid shelters and the Anderson shelter we had in the living room which we got under when the air raid sirens went off. My mum & dad moved to Cambridge when he got a job with Ralph Thompson as a painter. We then were offered a council house in either Trumpington or Cherry-Hinton but as the house in Fernlea Close were built by R. Thompson and the yard and offices were in Fernlea Close my mum & dad chose Cherry Hinton. We moved to Cherry Hinton when I was about 9 years old into number 6, the beginning of my life in Cherry Hinton. I always remember Bert Quinney’s shop just in the High Street. You used to go in like a dark cellar where they sold most things. They then had a house & shop front built at the front of Fernlea Close, where we used to do most of our shopping. Bert Quinney used to be the local Bookies runner, and my dad used to give me some money wrapped up tightly in paper & say take this up to Bert’s. Bert who used to call me Billy - don’t know why – used to slip the money under the counter. If dad won any money he would send me up to Bert’s & I would say “have you anything for dad”. Bert would say “I will have a look” and then produce another bit of paper wrapped around money and say “here you are Billy” and slyly pass it to me to take back home. Bert Quinney’s shop was always open from early morn to late at night, he was a good man, friendly and kind. One of my early introductions to Cherry Hinton was when Kenny Sutcliffe, who I did not really know, wanted to have a fight with me and my brother John. If I remember we declined and ran home. My sister Marie and I went to the Catholic School in Cambridge, so we knew Ron Clarke and his family, also the noble family and the boys Peter George and Paul who lived on the High Street. Their father George was the bone collector from all the butchers. I suppose my introduction to the friendship that Cherry Hinton was to offer me was passing my 11 plus exam and going to the Central Grammar School. Here I met and was in classes with John Anderson, who lived in the prefabs in Church End, and Ray Williams or chick to most people who lived in Queens Meadows. Also, Tony Short who lived also in Fernlea Close. I used to do a paper round which was run by Jim Chapman, Bill Chapman’s uncle, I did Pen Close, Shepherds Close, Fishers Lane and worst of all, Fulbourn Old Drift. The drift was not very nice as it was very dark and everybody had guard dogs, which were not that friendly. Jim Chapman ran the paper business from the back room in the Chequers Pub run by Tony Tabor’s mum and Jesse his dad. The years slowly passed and there are memories of all the new families moving into Cherry Hinton i.e. the Medow’s family, the O’Reiley’s - Paddy, Patric, Phillip, Brendon, Fergie – very poor families. I used to go scrumping walnuts with Paddy in Chalk’s farm off the High Street and finished up with stained hands which lasted weeks. There was Jimmy Davidson, Mick Williams, who I think went to the County School also moved in. When recalling names there was a great friends Peter Boland & Mick Boland, who lived down Mill End Road with sisters Margaret & Liz, also Stan Paine who lived in Rosemary Lane. While I drift from name to name let’s not forget the Youth Club which was held in the old Cherry Hinton Infant School by the Labour Party members an old record player playing the latest hit songs and then the skifle groups who and about, and then the Youth Club held at the Lower Netherhall School and also the dances held in the British Legion Hall, Fishers Lane, where all the latest budding groups played. At these events all us Cherry Hinton boys and girls danced the night away and if I remember correctly no alcohol. Flashes come back to me now of the Queen Edith’s school dances where the lads would sit in one corner of the room reading in Cambridge Blue, a paper with all local football results and pictures. Must not forget my friend J Poulter who I met at Central School and I introduced him to the Cherry Hinton way of life and am sure he then made many, many friends. Down the Red Lion pub, run by Norman and Joan, we played darts and bar billiards and on a Sunday morning we all played football which could last up to 2-3 hours and then we would go to the Red Lion for a drink. Norman would have loads of orange drinks lined up for us all which quenched our thirst. Must not forget Cherry Hinton great such as Brian Stevens, Peter Dean, John Bertram, Danny Buttress, Mick Scoett?, Matt Lindsay. I think ... could go on and on and write page after page. The pages I wrote may not have been of historic or exciting events but a small glimpse of some of the people I met from school to growing up and can say Cherry Hinton is in my blood. I love it, maybe I love the past more than the present because it has changed so much. However, I thank all those people and friends who made my life in Cherry Hinton such a wonderful life. Yours Mick Covill 
Bill Chapman’s Story Written 26/04/2011
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 used to be a cottage on the corner, opposite the Robin Hood (just outside the Spinney). An old man, Mr Clark lived there. In the Spinney, gypsies would often park and live there sometimes. At the junction of the Robin Hood there were no traffic lights as today, but a little slip road from Queen Edith’s Way to Cherry Hinton Road and then the other road went straight across to Cherry Hinton. There was a little triangle green in between where Mr Snowy Scott used to preach on a Sunday evening. Mr Scott used to grow his own tobacco. On the left hand side there was a big hole (where a bungalow is now), we used to sledge there (it was called Prior’s Field). Sheep were herded by the Creek Brothers from the Chalk Farm (off the High Street) to fields at the back of Fulbourn Road (near the water softener where the water company is now.) Next to the water softener there was a big barn where all of the wheat sheaves were gathered and stacked and threshed with a threshing machine. There used to be loads of rats and mice around there. There also used to be hare hunts that came through the village with all the hounds and then chase the hares at the back of Fulbourn Road. Taffy Lloyd (from Queens Meadows) was the local poacher. He would put snares out in Lime Kiln Quarry and you would see him coming home on his bike with rabbits across the cross bar. Percy Tabor was the nightwatchman at the chalk pits (where the caravan site is now). Luffy Tabor used to drive the steamroller through the village, and he was a great friend of my dad. Rarzo Tabor was the landlord of the Robin Hood. Dad, Luffy, Rocky Root and Tubby Anderson used to sing around the piano at Christmas at 56 Fulbourn Road (where we lived). There were two bakers: one in Fulbourn Road called Don Smith’s – the other one was in the High Street – Root’s Bakers. Then there was George Parish the butcher. Across the road there were two cottages next to the shop. 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 Cherryhinton because he helped run the football club. My mum and dad were good parents. Next to Love Lane (where the bank is now) there used to be a smallholding with chickens and ducks in a field. Next to that was Chalks Farm (roughly where Desmond Avenue is now). There was a big drive where they took cows across the High Street to the field opposite. There was a big pond in the field opposite (roughly where Colville Road is now). Further on opposite Fisher’s Lane there used to stand a big tank filled with water. On the corner of Fisher’s Lane, I used to go to Chapel with my sister Shirley. We would be dressed in our Sunday best. Next to the Chapel (towards the railway line) were a row of 4 cottages (only 2 now) and then a police house. This was occupied by Mr Laddington who was the village copper at the time. Mr Bartram was the crossing man who was in charge of opening the railway gates (he was the father of my friend John). Just over the railway was the green hut where we went to youth club and played table tennis. Neville Cullup was a very good table tennis player. The school next door in an old building which has now been pulled down. Tommy Bray was the headmaster and he lived in a house next door (next to the Green Hut). Just across the road was the Five Bells pub and Quinney’s store where I used to buy my sweets. B.C. 
Memories of Cherry Hinton from Kay Smith
I lived in Mill End Close until I was 17 years old. I think we were all very lucky to have lived in such a small safe community. In Mill End Close most of our parents were married just before the war and as was usual most of our mother’s either didn’t work or had part time jobs – unlike today. My parents bought the house when they married in 1939 and my mother’s 1st cousin bought the other half of the semi so I was fortunate as an only child to have 4 cousins next door, namely Cynthia, Charlie, Diana and David Lilley. Diana being 3 weeks younger than me, Chris and Lorna Ketch, Ann and Sue Gentle, John and Christine Cornell and John and Peter Hedge, all similar in age lived in this great little cul-de-sac. We all went to the village school together, walking safely through the village without parents coming with us. We had Miss Wilson in reception class – with orange juice, cod liver oil and malt. Plus, the small bottles of milk, which in winter we stood beside the large ‘turtle’ heaters to defrost the ice. We had Miss Rush in the second class and I remember her saying as we left the class that we had to leave the bead frames behind but take our fingers with us. I think it was on Friday mornings in assembly that we heard a record played but I only remember the Flight of the Bumble Bee and Finigal’s Cave. Perhaps they only had 2 records. I also remember Jeffrey Rheimen singing Greensleeves – he must have been good or brave! We had some sad momentous occasions when Mr Bray died and also when we were in Miss Dunnetts class someone came into class and whispered in her ear and she announced, “The King is Dead”. There was a great celebration on the Rec for the coronation and everyone dressed up in fancy dress. I was a black cat. I also remember watching the hunt leaving from Chalk’s Farm – an amazing sight. We used to go to Ling’s sweet shop opposite the school, and buy packets of crisps from Smith’s shop with the salt in the blue paper and hot bread from Root’s – all in the High Street. Our favourite play areas were the Spinney, catching sticklebacks in the brook – and falling in. I went to church on Sunday mornings and then to the Baptist Chapel for Sunday School afternoons. The vicar was Fatten Forrest who drove an amazing car and used to bring carrots to school for us to eat in a wheelbarrow. He always seemed very shy but was very kind to me. When I went to see him about getting married in the church but no longer lived in the parish he suggested I use a different address – so my marriage certificate gives Ann Gentle’s address and the Gentle’s very kindly let me get ready and leave the from their house. 
Cherry Hinton Childhood – Diana Lilley
As Kay has said, I also lived in Mill End Close, my parents bought the house in 1938 and my mother lived there until she died in 1995. They were truly very happy days, the whole of the Close very good friends – always helping one another out – I remember in the summer all the mums and dads loading up old prams with games and equipment and food, and we would walk over Lime Kiln Hill to the Beach Woods – We would spend the whole day there playing rounders, cricket etc. using the trees as our posts. The parents would light fires and perhaps cook sausages etc. on to eat. We used to have a great time, and then again walk home. We were always very safe having games in a very wide area, and never any fears hanging over us. Kay also mentioned memories of Junior School, many of which I can remember. One thing Kay did not mention that I remember, was when we heard our 11 plus results, we individually went into see Mr Farmer, as it was then, and told our results. From school we were taken to Coldham’s Common swimming pool in our final year to learn to swim whatever the temperature in an unheated pool. Thereafter I would spend many days there at the cost of One Penny for the whole of the day. Playing in Cherry Hinton and spending a lot of time in the Spinney. I remember walking to the Robin Hood corner and seeing the patients from Fulbourn Hospital out for a walk. They were all tied together and were resting on the wall outside the Robin Hood Public House, before walking back. I found this very frightening. I could have been no more than 10 when Kay and I decided we would cycle to Balsham, which was a fair way. On arriving at my great aunts who had a farm, and I loved to visit – apart from the outside loo – (a shed with a wooden seat – with a hole in it). She said “Does your mother know where you are”, well as we said “No, why, should she, we are quite safe” – to which she fed and watered us and sent us home. I went to Cherry Hinton Church with my brothers and sister on a Sunday and continued on to confirmation classes in the vicarage with Mrs Forest. The vicarage was a very large rambling house – we used to sit in one of the rooms for our class – and the ceiling was peeling off on to us. It always caused quite a laugh. Needless to say I did get confirmed in 1956 at St Pauls Church on Hills Road, and I did get married in Cherry Hinton Church in 1964. When we were old enough, I delivered papers for Mr Seal – both morning and evenings, before and after school daily and on a Saturday I worked for Mr Bird the greengrocer in the new shops in the High Street when Colville Road was developed. As mentioned previously in this book, I also had to deliver to Fulbourn Old Drift – a very dark and not a very nice place to be in the dark mornings and evenings, likewise, the caravan site on Bennett’s Farm, Mill End Road. I often had to get my dad to come with me. Coronation year 1952, Kay’s family were the first in the Close to have a television and I remember each family having a time slot in which to go around and watch the occasion. They also had a motorbike and side-car which I remember being taken in when I was 11 to fetch my first pet dog Mick, and I also married a Mick! There are many things in this book already that I recall – the cycling through either the Tins or the Snakey Path to the secondary school and later on to work. Quinney’s shop open 7 days a week – when mums ran out of something on a Sunday – he would sell it to us – and then wrap it in newspaper to disguise what we had. It was illegal to sell certain items on a Sunday years ago. We were extremely lucky to have had our childhood in Cherry Hinton – we were well cared for and looked after. Very happy days. Several of us have flown the nest, but we still keep in touch regularly, for lunch and a chat – Kay Smith, Chris Ketch – Ann Gentle, Gill Fordham and myself. We are friends for life. 
Cherry Hinton Memories Ann Gentle
I lived in Mill End Close with my parents and sister Sue – who is 3 years younger than me. We were a close-knit community only 22 houses in the Close, and all the children played together. I went to the village school and was in the same classes as Vic Phillips, they were happy days. I remember us giving Mr Reed? our class teacher the bumps on his birthday, he took it all in good sport, I remember going to Mr Ling’s shop and buying 1p OXO’s to eat as we could not buy sweets because of rationing. I still like them now. The summer holidays were great, we had the run of the village, going tiddler snatching in the brook, climbing trees on a ree?, many’s the time my dad would have to come and get me down as I got stuck up a tree. The Spinney was another favourite, my mum didn’t like me going up there but it did not stop me. My dad kept racing pigeons and Tony Tabour and many of the boys used to come and see them. Vic my dad went to Crystal Palace with your mum and doing the High Jump I think they went to the same school. 1927 was the years I think they would have been about 14 years old. The High Street was a lot different to what it is now, there were 2 farm cottages at the top of Mill End Close they belonged to Chalks Farm. The Jonson's lived in one of them. The farm was where the hunt used to go from, and we used to go and watch. In autumn we would scrump walnuts I have always liked them. opposite the farm there was a field with a pond. In the winter it would freeze over and we would skate on it. One day on the way to school I decided to have a go, the ice wasn't very thick and I fell in afraid to go home and tell my mum I sat in school all day in wet clothes. When I got home, someone had told mum she made me have a mustard bath to stop me catching cold. We used to go to parties in the Chequers pub they were great fun. I left Cherry Hinton in 1963 when I married J Holmes. We lived in Chesterton for many years and had two sons I now live in Landbeach. My son Kevin now lives in my home in Cherry Hinton having bought it when my mother died so the connexion still goes on as I come back home quite often. Ann Holmes 
Some of my memories of Cherry Hinton – Chris Ketch
Our Cherry Hinton is unrecognisable from the one of today. There was only one pavement along part of the High Street, small gas street lamps and Chalk’s Farm on both sides. I remember a bull being in the field in summer and skating on the pond in winter. Twice a year the sheep were herded through the High Street, no traffic calming then, thank goodness. I too was a Mill End Close girl, living there for 20 years with my parents and younger sister Lorna. The Millers, Janet, Roger and Sally, lived 2 doors away, Jackie and Danny Buttreas? across the road and Les, Win and their son Richard “Bonzo” King next door. As the girls have said before, it was a safe, happy environment in which to grow up in. Everyone’s parents respected each other, the mothers calling each other Mrs, not using forenames and all extremely hard working. School was a good experience then. Mrs Runnett getting us to chant times tables in the tin hut, Mrs North playing her piano accordion and being flung around by the boys who hated dancing. We often played marbles after school, rolling them down the High Street on the way home. In the winter we made long slides on the ice and formed an orderly queue for a “go”. It was also where I met Gill Fordham, my very good friend who came to live on the “new estate”. She is an adopted Mill End Close girl now. The wonderful Bernard Reed was the best teacher ever. How he remembers us all I will never know. Sports days were a great occasion. The MC used to be Mr Thompson, Susan and Caroline’s father. Margaret Boland was a terrific runner, I did beat her once but only once. I remember Billy Taylor rolling one of the Richardson boys along in a huge tyre in one of the races. Gill and I came third in the three legged race on our last sports day. We won a comb each and we got a big cheer when we collected our prize and it felt like an Olympic medal. 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. Church, Sunday School and Bible class was the plan for Sundays. We took a few pence for the collection but Lorna decided to pay a visit to Ling’s sweet shop sometimes and spent her collection money on sweets. Our mum found out when bubble gum stuck around her mouth. After Sunday morning service we would pick up an ice cream block from Quinney’s shop which he wrapped in newspaper. This was kept on the pantry floor as we had no fridges then. As teenagers we went to youth club in the school hall and the British Legion Hall in Fishers Lane where some good local bands played live. No alcohol or drugs then but we had a really great time without the need for either. Today, I live in Fulbourn where I see several old school friends. John Richardson works very hard in his woodyard at the bottom of my garden. Horace White is landlord of the Six Bells and lives near me. I also see Tony Mason around the village and Herbie and Marie Williams. All of them are still so friendly. Great memories of very happy days spent in Cherry Hinton. - Chris x 
A New Life in Cherry Hinton – Gill Rapley nee’ Fordham
I came to Cherry Hinton with my parents Bill and Chris and my sister Margaret in 1952. We moved into one of the new council houses in Leete Road on the Colville Road estate. As newcomers we were not welcomed by all the villagers, some obviously thought this influx of strangers would change the life of this small community and not for the better! I well remember the terror of standing in the playground on my first day at the primary school next to the level crossing and knowing absolutely no-one. That school with its coal fires, outside toilets and overflow class in the Green Hut was, it turned out, a wonderful place of learning with headmaster Mr Farmer, teachers Bernard Read and Miss’s Rush and Dunnett who enabled many of us to pass the 11+ and move on confidently to High School and Grammar Schools. 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. The Norman Cement Works along the Tins path was always fascinating with the huge cauldron of liquid cement constantly being fed by the chalk lorries from the pits in Lime Kiln Road. The Green Hut with Brownies, Guides, Cubs, Scout groups, youth club and table tennis club was our social centre. I learned to Jive there to Paul Anka, Everly Bros and Elvis and I also fell in love for the first time, all such bitter sweet memories. There were more pubs than shops when we first arrived but eventually Mr Seals newsagents, Mr Bowyers grocery shop and Mr Birds greengrocers augmented Bert Quinney’s and Lings sweet shop. The friends I made all those years ago thankfully remain my friends today – I see Chris, Kay, Di and Anne quite regularly and so many of “the boys” now spend their retirement on the allotments on the Black Land where Mary and I spend a great deal of our time. Cherry Hinton was a good place to move to in 1952 and it is still a good place to live in 2011 and I am thankful for it. – Gill 
Sue Gentle March 2012 Mill End Close
My sister Ann (Gentle) brought this notebook of reminiscences to show me. Reading them made me want to contribute so here goes! I have lived in the Pennine Hills almost twice as long as I lived in Cherry Hinton but my memories of my happy childhood are vivid. As others have mentioned we were so lucky to have had the freedom to roam, climb trees, make dens, go on long cycle rides. We would run home at lunch time then rush out to play again. Or sometimes we would take picnics which meant we were away from home for hours. This did not cause any parental concern as it would have me with my children. As already mentioned by Kay, Mill End Close was a new build just before the war and most of the houses were bought by young newly married couples. Because of this a lot of children were born there, including us. As a consequence, we were never short of playmates. One of my first memories was of the close being flooded and having fun paddling in the road with our shoes on. 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. I remember walking to school with Christine Cornell and her pet chicken Billy. When we reached the level crossing we told Billy to go home, and it duly did. One day I took my little doll to school – she was my pride and joy. On leaving school some boys in my sisters year (was it you?!) took the doll off me and when it was returned it had one leg missing. I cried all the way home. The leg went missing by the level crossing. Because I was so upset my dad went to look for it in the dark with Mr Bartrum the crossing keeper. He had a paraffin lamp. The leg wasn’t found but the next morning my doll had a wooden leg carved by my dear dad. It was even more special to me after that. 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. The latter by spending much time at Coldhams Lane swimming baths which I remember as always being cold. It didn’t bother us though. I loved school especially Mr Read’s class. His classroom was of a wooden construction that was separate from the rest of the school, it was near the railway line. One day, when I should have been paying attention, I counted the number of freight coaches there were passing by. I hadn’t realised Mr Read had stopped talking and was looking at me. When he asked me how many coaches there were (I still remember there were 23) I had to write out 23 times “the goods train engine was pulling 23 coaches”! We had a great time in Mr Read’s class doing project work. One project I was involved in was a study of the flora and fauna in the Brook. This was an excuse to have fun! He would allow us to go to the Brook in project time and we would come back invariably late and wet having paddled too deep or fallen in. Imagine a teacher giving pupils that freedom now! How fortunate we were. Our parents had modest lifestyles but they gave us a very rich and secure upbringing in Cherry Hinton – Sue (Gentle) March 2012 
Ronnie Clark 12-6-09
I remember in the 1950’s when Cherry Hinton had the best village football team in Cambridgeshire, and around the 1950’s when Cherry Hinton was a village, sadly no more. Farms up the High Street, Smiths bakers in Fulbourn Road. A piano playing all the old songs on a Saturday night in the Robin Hood. I remember the sheep being brought from Fulbourn Road down the High Street to Chalks Farm. Old Ken Baker riding side-saddle on the big Shire horse, chewing a bit of straw, delivering muck for the allotments behind Fulbourn Road. Those were the days. Walking to school from Fulbourn Road down what was classed as Long Walker (a path which ran from Fulbourn Road to Fishers Lane) before the council estate was built. And the other footpath which ran from between Fulbourn Road and the old Dutch barn over the hill to the Beech Woods. No longer there (but could be if the locals had it opened up). I remember Mr Ollie Chapman, 56 Fulbourn Road. He used to cut my hair for sixpence on a Sunday morning. If I did not keep still he would clip my ear. Oh those memeories. Catching rats and rabbits when they done the harvest, the foreman from Chalks Farm, Mr Dawson, could not catch us. I remember Bill Chapman, who I owe so much for what he did for me, and was one of those players along with Peter Dean, Brian Stevens who would be todays £50,000,000 football players who played with pride. I could go on and on. Always dreaming but the times have gone, two other men I must mention are Douglas Kitson, who was like a brother to me, sadly no longer with us, and Bill Taylor from the High Street who also I owe so much to. I was born in Fulbourn Road, no. 34. Nickname Nobby. Cherry Hinton, thanks for the memories. 
Tony Mason's Tale (born.1-12-41) June 2012
Lived at 10 Railway Street next door but one to Nev Cullup in a road where everyone knew everyone with a real community spirit. Kelly Ling a good friend of my sister Ann lived about halfway along the long row as did Marglin? Bird, Rodney Smith, Andrew Tabour and Richard Hallam? We had wonderful bonfire nights in those days with everyone mucking in building the bonfire and pooling our fireworks and potatoes for roasting later. Nev who still works in the village as a cobbler in his mid 70’s needs a medal for he was struck with TB as a child which severely disabled him but he was brilliant with his model aero engines and later so good at table tennis. My memories of Cherry Hinton are really happy ones as it was such a wonderful rural village in the 1940’s and 1950’s and just a fraction of its present size. There were no houses between Fishers Lane and Jane Elwoods old thatched hut still stands next to the library, there was just a lovely meadow with cattle and horses grazing amongst daisies and buttercups but in the winter it flooded in its lower part to form a small lake on which we would float an old tin bath using a slab of wood as a paddle and when frozen it was brilliant for slides. In summer if the cattle were not using the field, it was used for a rounders or cricket pitch by the chapel the quality of the pitch being questionable, but we did have David Shepherd (yes the England cricketer) play on it. He and Bob Jones used to help out at the chapel whilst they were at Cambridge University and on Sundays they would stay with Joyce and Stuart Hill in Fishers Lane (Sue and Jane Hill’s parents), poor Jane had a hole in her heart and went through much surgery as a child at Guys Hospital in London, I think it was the early days of heart surgery. There were just a few houses in Fishers Lane with a field on the left hand side where they held the village feast after the war and just beyond this field Prefabs were built to help house families of troops returning. At the bottom of Fishers Lane, which was quite short, were large fields stretching across towards Fulbourn Hospital where as a young one it was marvellous to watch the old binder making sheaves of corn which were stacked to dry before being pitchforked onto carts some horse drawn and some by an early tractor pulling them back to Chalks Farm which had a beautiful avenue of walnut trees roughly where the chemist and bookies are in the high street. It had a grand old farm house, surrounded by fields to the front going up the hill as far as the railway and very large barns built of chalk blocks and timber. Mr Chalk was the auctioneer, Grain? and Chalk, later to become Cheffins. He also had land to the south of Fulbourn Road where he grew corn and in winter moved his sheep well up the hill in compounds of bales, when they first came out, where the shepherd had his living van, dog with horse and cart so he could keep a close eye on the lambing as it progressed. Behind Chalks Farm was a winding part of Mill End Road where the road followed the shape of the brook which ran open in those days, not in pipes as now. There were fields and stables where the wealthy of the University had their beautiful big horses kept which later became a riding school. Further down Mill End Road was Arnolds Farm which again had tennis courts to the side of a large farmhouse with lots of corn haystacks in the farmyard. A steam engine would arrive in autumn/winter to power the thresher which sorted grain from the straw. This farm had an ex-prisoner of war Hans working on it, he was a friendly chap who used to let us ride on the trailers up to fields to the north of Fulbourn Old Drift and to those near the cement works north of the railway. It was great fun and mum would get one to take a bag with me to glean the loose ears of corn for the chickens and straw for my rabbits. Mr Fabb (Doreen’s father) had quite a lot of pigs in a large shed in a small field on Fulbourn Old Drift where I used to go with him at feed time and when he was ploughing it was great to hitch a ride on his old Fordson tractor which ran on paraffin. Next door to us in Railway Street lived Ray Coustons grandparents. Rays father used to come in a large van and sometimes we would go to the colleges to collect the vegetable cast offs which after he had sorted out the better veg at his Fishers Lane yard he would take the rest for his pigs that he kept in Church End somewhere near where Listers old building used to be. Dr Stracham lived in the big house in Church End used to give us school children a real treat in the autumn term by bringing a whole barrow load of apples into the playground. Another real treat in those days was the strawberry teas they used to do on sports days. We would all sit at great long tables with white tablecloths in the playground like a street party. Back in the High Street was Lings shop just above the railway line on the corner of Railway Street. I always remember queuing in a really long queue on a Tuesday evening when they first had ice cream delivered. Between Lings and the old 5 Bells was nurse Armanents? thatched cottage, she was the District Nurse. Between the 5 bells and the old Quinney’s shop (the one you went down steps into) at the rear was a sizable house with Battlements and vast gardens and tennis court which was where Pamplins the steam engine contractors used to live. It was a large business for its day with engines out all over East Anglia. Nev Cullup’s grandfather Jim Fisher was Foreman and many of the workers were housed along the row in Railway Street. Luffey Tabour from Cherry Hinton started as a teaboy/cook for a steam engine gang and later drove engines for most of his life. He told me he would often be in the Lowestoft area for 6 moths at a time. The last steam engine I remember commercially working in Cherry Hinton was when I was quite young in the field north-east diagonally across from the church. When Wimpeys built on it dad always said it should never have been allowed because the land was left to the church for a further graveyard. No wonder there’s no room in the churchyard to bury people now. As a child I used to play in Orchard Estate with Martin Capon?, Teddy Harding, Ronnie Heywood, Dickie Pilsworth, Horace White, Peter Crabb. We used to go fishing in the brook in summer but I always remember Horace leading us through the village to meet a bus at the Robin Hood on which was coming the greatest den builder from Fulbourn (Rocky Root) who needless to say, after waiting for several hours, never turned up. But when he eventually moved to Cherry Hinton to live proved to be a great guy who still tends his allotment by the brook even though he now lives in Landbeach and has proved to be the best roof carpenter I have ever known. Many lovely people moved into Cherry Hinton with the new houses being built all around and the village seemed to have the greatest football team of all time, Brian Stevens left wing (Swavesey always put 2 men on him but he still ran through the pair of them), Peter Dean, Mick Cornish, Bill Chapman, Ron Hagaty, Sam Bartrum, Brian Merry, Bill Taylor, Jimmy Nunn, Winkey Wells, Tom Watson, Pete Bland and many more good players. They seemed to win everything. Brian played for Cambridge United then Leicester City he was outstanding the Beckham of his day to us young ones. In my early days a tramp would knock our door and ask for his dirty old paint tin to be filled with tea, another similar sort of chap but cleaner would come on a bike with a stand that raised his wheel so he could pedal and drive a grinstone on which he would sharpen scissors, knives and shears. In Fulbourn Old Drift there was a small railway siding where a few railway trucks filled with coal would be backed onto for the local coal merchant to unlock by hand into sacks on his cart. Mr Doughty, who had a wooden leg, lived near the siding and worked for the railway trimming the wicks of oil lamps and filling them with paraffin for the railway signals. Doreen Tabour (nee Rowlings) who still lives in the row in Railway Street was relief railway gate lady. Mr Bartrum, John’s dad, was the resident gateman who lived in the old station house. The hunt in the old days which was quite a spectacle, normally left from Chalks Farm but on some occasions left from the Vicarage, the hounds I think came from Gingell? of Horningsea, they looked magnificent. Steven Bros Builders yard used to be next to Mr Bendalls old thatch which after a fire became the site of a garage but is now housing. The blacksmith shop, run by Kitch Gentle, opposite the Red Lion pub was the place to take glass accumulators to be charged for powering our radio as we did not have electricity, our lights were by gas or oil lamp. Upstairs at the back of the blacksmith shop was a beautiful picture with Springfield Farm on the edge of Cherry Hinton Road. There used to be another farm “Ventress” on the other side of Cherry Hinton Road just slightly along near the start of Cherry Hinton Hall, which again was burnt down for Harold Ridgeon (Sindals) to build more houses. At the top of Fishers Lane just on the High Street was Clintons big drying shed where washing was deposited for the village ladies to wash and iron for the University. Several houses in those days had washrooms in their back gardens just behind their house. It would contain a water filled copper heated by a fire below. Another large shed was at the back of the Steggles house in the High Street next to Joan and Bill Taylors house where tobacco would be dried. On the opposite side of the High Street was the Co-op Shop where later Freddy Reaverone? Was manager they had cables across the ceiling which took the money to the cashier, quite fascinating to watch as a child but the system seemed to hold up everyone because they had to wait for the cashier to process it and send it back the change in a little pot in a carriage zooming across the room against the ceiling – Hi Tek for its day I guess but slowed everyone down. In later days the Rec was enlarged to include where allotments used to be behind the Chequers Pub. There seemed to be a lovely croud of lads came to live in the village, Herbie Williams from Stotfold moved into Leete Road, John Anderson into the prefabs in Church End, he was a brilliant lad, he built such a good hi-fi system, I think he cast concrete into the base of a speaker cabinet he fabricated, the sound was so good that the whole prefab vibrated with the deep base notes. He was always up to something clever. I well remember the time when he made some metal tubes with a tiny hole for the fuse but with thread at the tube end which he would fill with chemicals from I think Jim Davidson which he would ask one to put a bolt at the end and gently tighten. It was nothing to see a massive branch blown off near trunk of a large tree with a horrendous bang as a test that it would work. Followed by PC Plod roaming the neighbourhood for the next few hours when we had to make ourselves scarce. But John’s father was very good at fobbing him off because PC Plod knew very well who had probably done it. I shall never forget the tremendous boom in the toilets (when they used to be underground) in the centre of Market Square) one Bonfire night, I’m sure it must have been heard halfway to Newmarket. I went with Herbie, Stan, John Poulter and others to learn to ride a motorbike at what was the old cattle market at the top of Cherry Hinton Road on Sunday mornings, it was a brilliant system where Hallens and Kings Harpes provided a bike for each of us to learn on off the road around the cattle market lane system. Needless to say we all got bikes which gave us the freedom to roam anywhere from there on. It was a wonderful time you could always tell when Stan was zooming through the village on his fanny barnet, it seemed the throttle only had one position. I remember Vics younger brother Gordon riding pillion on the back of mine whilst Vic was on the back of Stans, Gordon never realised he was going to fly as we took the railway gates going downhill at full throttle – happy days, we were the lucky generation, we had all the benefits of prewar tranquillity with orange juice, cod liver oil, chocolate and later milk at school each morning and in our teens, when most older lads would have to do 2 years in their National Service, which most thought was a waste of 2 years in their prime of life, even that was stopped just a year or two ahead of us. I think the last from the village who had to go were Sammy Bercham, who went into the RAF as did Paddy Reilly, what a smashing lad he was to come into the village with bros. Pat, Fergie and others in the family. Pete Noland I think was the last to go into the army, unless someone knows different. My dad Charlie was a bricklayer who worked until he was 74, quite a heavy job till that age, he would cycle all over as far as Girton but if he was working around town or nearer he would always cycle home at lunch times as well, people were really fit in those days with no cars to get about with. One of my fondest memories is of walking my son David, when he was little, to the cement works to watch the rotating machinery mulching the slurry to meet dad on his way home, David would sit on dads coat on his bikes handlebars with his feet in his basket, I think both of them were in heaven walking back through the Tins pathway. It was such simple things that gave such pleasure in those days, I can’t think of anywhere beter to have been brought up unless we were all living by the coast, maybe Bembridge I.O.W. (Isle of Wight) where Stan, Mick Colville and a group of us went for a holiday one year, before we had 4 chalets in a row at Skegness with a group of 16 of us another year with some of Vics United pals who joined the village lads at the Red Lion. We were a lucky generation. Tony Mason July 2012. 
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Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits (East Pit) November 2020
I thought I'd give you a little information about the War Ditches, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge, as I am publishing my book on the site soon and so little is publicly known about the history of the site.
Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits (East Pit) November 2020
Back in 2008 I was out for a walk with my sister and my daughter, we were climbing around in the local chalk pits, which were, back then, a bit wild and not really managed. Us locals would go there to walk, play and explore the massive open chalk pits, which made you feel like you were in some jurassic time slip. Many people in the area today still do not know of this amazing site and if they stumble across it they are amazed it is there.
Cherry Hinton Chalks Pits (East Pit) November 2020
Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits (East Pit) November 2020
Anyway, back in 2008 on our walk at the chalk pits, we were up on the cliff side (you can't go up on the cliffs anymore!), we were sitting in a small dip and as I poked about in the mud, hand fulls of amazing ancient pottery sherds started to come out. I was Parish Archaeological Warden at the time and knew the history of the area well. We were sitting on the edge of the cliff where chalk quarrying had made a massive deep area and cut away all that had been there previously (see pictures).  My sister sitting in the small dip, on top of the cliff, in Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits 2008 - filled with ancient pottery - part of the War Ditches rediscovered that afternoon.
In the late 1800's there had been reports of all kinds of things being discovered on the site and over the years various excavations had taken place alongside the ever encroaching quarrying - all manner of amazing well known antiquarians had been to and worked at the site over the years. The main discovery was that of the 'War Ditches' - a roughly circular ring ditch which was described as being an Iron Age Hill Fort, that had once dominated the top of Lime Kiln Hill - something like that of its neighbour of Wandlebury which is still preserved today, a couple of miles to the south west.
There had been various reports written about the site and the excavations that took place over the years and when the quarrying at the site had finished in the 1970's, the War Ditches was thought to have been finally and fully destroyed by the quarrying, it was written up in books and histories stating that fact. However, I was now armed with a bag full of beautiful pottery sherds dating from the late Iron Age, Romano-British and Roman periods. I knew the position of where the War Ditches had been and I also knew that where we had been sitting, in that small dip on the cliff side could only be one thing - an unknown remaining part of the War Ditches..... 
Me sitting at the small dip, on top of the cliff, in Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits 2008 - filled with ancient pottery - part of the War Ditches rediscovered that afternoon.
I quickly phoned my two friends and colleagues Mark Hinman & Richard Mortimer, both of who take an interest in the archaeology of this area, and told them what I had discovered and then drove the bag of pottery over to them for them to have a look. A lot of things happened fairly fast after that. Firstly, we found that the site was in the process of being acquired by Cambridgeshire Wildlife Trust from one of the Cambridge Colleges. Then it turned out that the chap involved with the Wildlife Trust and the acquisition of the site, lived close by. So Mark and I had an emergency meeting with him, at the top of Lime Kiln Hill where we explained what had been discovered. Mark moved quickly, explaining that a full and official archaeological excavation would be needed. Terms were negotiated between The Wildlife Trust, English Heritage and others and the business of the full archaeological excavation was taken on by Oxford Archaeology East (based in Bar Hill Cambridge, this company used to be Cambridgeshire County Council Archaeological Unit). Mark and I also approached Cambridge Antiquarian Society (of which we were both council members of at the time) to tell them of the discovery. Many of the past excavations at the site had been published by the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, since the 19th Century.
Archaeological Excavation at the War Ditches 2010. I am wearing the yellow viz vest and Richard Mortimer is standing behind me. The hole that I discovered was now opened up into what was a massive, ancient, ring ditch.
While negotiations and preparations for the archaeological excavation were taking place, I then had a phone call from the Cambridge Archaeology Office to tell me that two young boys who had been playing up at the chalk pits had found some human leg bones which had fallen out of the cliff, it wasn't clear which part of the chalk pits these bones were found - it could have been anywhere along the entire cliff. I was asked to pop down to the archaeology lab in Downing Street, Cambridge and collect the bones. A odd experience, which involved me collecting a pair of leg bones in a wooden box, which I then strapped into the front passenger seat of my car. I decided that the best thing was, that as Oxford Archaeology would be carrying out the main excavation on site, that I would deliver the legs to them to be processed by their finds department - even though they may not have fallen out of the actual War Ditches ring ditch itself, they still came from the same area.
An excavated section of the War Ditches - the bright natural chalk to the left and the ancient ditch fill behind the archaeologist. Cliff face to the right of the picture. 2010
In 2010, the full excavation began in the chalk pits - this was something new for everyone, not least because Cambridgeshire is not known for its high hills or mountains but this excavation was on top of a cliff, so the archaeologists had to be trained in cliff side excavation and safety. A large scale scaffolding unit had to be erected next to the cliff to allow us to access the site safely and training in harness wearing was required for some.
Archaeological excavation at the War Ditches 2010, Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits
Obviously there is so much I want to write about what was found and the whole history the site but for now, I just wanted you to know what had taken place at the chalk pits because so many people have no idea that this site is there or anything about what happened. I will publish the book later this year and you'll be able to find out all the details of what was found both during this excavation and in the past at the site.
At the end of the excavation in 2010, an open day was held in the chalk pits. The Cambridgeshire Wildlife Trust now owned the site and had called this large chalk pit 'East Pit'. The mayor, press and public were invited to come and see the site and find out what had been taking place. Here are some more pictures from that day and the excavations 2010.
Archaeological excavation of the War Ditches, East Pit. 2010
Archaeological excavation at the War Ditches, East Pit 2010
Open Day at East Pit, Cherry Hinton chalk pits 2010
Open Day at East Pit, Cherry Hinton chalk pits 2010
Open Day at East Pit, Cherry Hinton chalk pits 2010
Since the Wildlife Trust has taken over the site it has become a nature reserve and it is open to the public. There are also some display boards at the site for you to read.
As part of the excavation I was commissioned by English Heritage to write a report on the background and history of the site as part of the research into the site and subsequent write up of this new excavation. I took the opportunity to have a picture taken, to use for the cover of my report, with Mark and Richard, that mirrored a photograph of three of the antiquarians from the past, that had had a similar picture taken, it was a proud moment to be following in their footsteps. 
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Lime Tree Farm stood on the northern side of Cherry Hinton Road, more or less opposite where the Army Reserve Centre and BP garage are today, on the other side of the road, a little to the west of Cherry Hinton Hall. The Coe family lived there for over a hundred years, originally market gardeners, growing produce on the surrounding land and fields, by the 1950's a tea room and small shop had opened at the farmhouse run by Mrs Elsie Coe, eventually becoming a small independent shop run by her daughter-in-law Mrs Eileen Coe in the 1980's, after the market gardening had ceased. In the 1990's Mr Cyril Coe and Mrs Eileen Coe sold off the remaining farm surrounding the main house, where the modern Coe's Court was built. They then had a bungalow built on the site, facing Cherry Hinton Road, for themselves - the old house eventually being demolished, as the new development continued. Mr Cyril Coe died in 2006 and Mrs Eileen Coe died in 2009. This ended the Coe family line at the site of the what was Lime Tree Farm. The old pollarded lime trees along the front of the site still remain today, and many people who have lived in the area still remember visiting the little shop that was once so popular.
Location:
Lime Tree Farm was on the northern side of Cherry Hinton Road, to the west of Cherry Hinton Hall, laying outside of the built area of Cherry Hinton village. It lay at the southern aspect of Cherry Hinton, in the Mill End area.
How the site, of what was Lime Tree Farm, looks today, from Cherry Hinton Road. Pollarded Lime trees still line the front boundary.
We can look at what we know of this area, before Lime Tree Farm came in to existence but it would seem that we are looking at the creating of the site as a farm being in the mid 1800’s.
Before Enclosure took place in Cherry Hinton, in 1806 - which ended the old, medieval open field system and divided the land up into different parcels and shapes, with new landowners coming in, some roads altered and new ones laid out - the site where Lime Tree Farm stood would have been quite marshy here and there, as it lay on the lower, flat land, which until the mid-late 1800’s was not fully drained. It is unlikely that there was anything built on this site before Enclosure. Within the open field system, the site lay within one of the large open fields of Cherry Hinton, called Bridge Field. From the two older surveys that we have of the parish, prior to Enclosure there is no mention of a farm within Bridge Field. (Saxton survey 1592 & Tracey survey 1733). As is the case with the pre- Enclosure and Enclosure maps c.1806, there is no noting of any building upon the plot that was later to become Lime Tree Farm.
It is likely, that with the opportunities presented by the new divisions and alterations of the land around the parish, when Enclosure took place in 1806, that the land required for the farm was purchased and arranged around that time. Then, with all the new improvements, including the laying out of public drains and roadways, it gave the perfect situation for a new building site and positioning of a farm. Cherry Hinton Road had not existed before Enclosure - instead there was a route, slightly off course of the modern road now, called Long Drove, that only ran a short way from the Robin Hood crossroads into what are now the grounds of Cherry Hinton Hall, presumably because the fields beyond, towards Cambridge (Hill’s Road), were so prone to flooding. As we can see by what Vancouver wrote about this area of Cherry Hinton in 1794:
‘There is a moor of considerable extent lying between the highlands of Cherry Hinton and Barnwell on the north east and at Trumpington and Cambridge on the south west, which at this time is greatly annoyed by the stream which passes through the west end of Cherry Hinton. This moor is sacrificed to the constant height of water in this brook.’ At Enclosure, a plough was employed to drive a straight furrow all the way along from Fulbourn to what is now Hills Road, to create Cambridge Road - now called, Cherry Hinton Road. The main routes in to Cambridge, pre 1806, were over Lime Kiln Kiln to the Three Hills Way (that led into what is now known as Hills Road and then on into Cambridge) or down Daws Lane, an ancient route-way, now a footpath, laying behind Cherry Hinton Hall, along with other seasonal footpaths and route-ways that traversed through the centre and north of Cherry Hinton.
The earliest mention that I can find of the Coe family, living within Cherry Hinton, on the Parish records is dated 27th November 1782 when William, son of Richard & Mary Coe is born.
From the family tree research that I've just carried out on the Coe family, Richard Coe was born in 1756 and died in 1835 (79 years old). He was married to Mary (nee Witt) born 1752, died 1830 (aged 78). They had the following children:
William 1782-1783 - died aged c.1 year old, William 1788-1865 - died aged 77 years old, Matthew 1791-1870 - died aged 79 years old. 
The following articles appeared in the Cambridge newspaper relating to Richard Coe of Cherry Hinton, the same Richard Coe as mentioned above:
3rd November 1815 (Cherry Hinton Chronicle, E.Filby)
“On Monday past, Issac Henly and James Howe were committed to the County Gaol, by John C. Mortlock Esq., charged on the oath of Richard Coe of Cherry Hinton, with having on Saturday last broken open his dwelling-house, in the day-time, no person being therein, and feloniously stealing taking and carrying away various articles of wearing apparel and working tools, his property.”
March 3rd 1816 (Cherry Hinton Chronicle, E.Filby)
“Cambs Assizes: On Friday last the 15th. Isaac Henly and James Howe, for feloniously breaking open the house of Richard Coe, of Cherry Hinton, in October last, and stealing some wearing apparel and other articles besides, were each sentenced to be imprisoned six months, and to be privately whipped.”
We then find reference to William Coe, Richard's son in the newspaper article below, stating that he is an owner and occupiers of lands - in the parish. He is amongst the owner/occupiers who had larger areas of land in the parish to manage, indicating that William is in some form of farming.
6th Dec 1816 (Cambridge Chronicle, British Newspaper Archive -BNA)
By 1841, On the 1841 Census for Cherry Hinton, we can see that there are three separate Coe households:
Matthew Coe, aged 45, gardener, with his wife Mary aged 40 and their children; Barron aged 19, James Barro aged 17, Joseph aged 15, Sarah Ann aged 13, Jesse aged 11, Emily aged 9, Charles aged 7, George aged 5, Jane aged 3. William Coe, aged 26, gardener, with his wife Charlotte aged 26 and their children; Gabriel aged 7, Arthur aged 5, Walter aged 4, Sarah aged 2, n-k aged 3. William Coe, aged 50, gardener, no wife so presumably widowed, and his children; Charles aged 22, Frederic aged 20, Martha aged 15, Benjamin aged 13, Naomi aged 8, Issac aged 6.
So there is William senior, aged 50, mentioned in the previous newspaper report. William junior aged 26 above is his son. Matthew aged 45 above, is William seniors brother/William juniors uncle. They have all stated their occupation as 'gardeners', this shows that they were in the business of market gardening, and probably orchard managing by this date within the village. It is tempting to start wondering how many of their orchard trees were from the old cherry tree stock which had given Hinton its prefix of Cherry by the 1500's - it certainly leads to the thought that the village may have been a place of orchards for many generations of villagers. They could have started working the pre-existing orchards but of course, they may have started afresh.
In 1850, we then find Charles Coe occupying property in the village, in Mill End, almost opposite the Red Lion pub in Mill End Lane. The property has an orchard, this may or may not indicate the form of faming that the Coe family were to specialise and expand into, soon after with their own farm, with the creation of Lime Tree Farm. This is the Charles, mentioned on the 1841 census, aged 22, son of William Coe snr. This Charles would now be about 31 years old in 1850.
23rd March 1850 (Cambridge General Advertiser, BNA)
Interestingly, next door to the Red Lion pub in Mill End remains one of the very old cottages of Cherry Hinton and it is named 'Orchard House'. This may be because it had views to the orchards around it or just coincidental but it is still worth a consideration.
In trying to trace the branch of the family that went from gardeners in the village to owning Lime Tree Farm, it is worth looking at each of the family lines in the village, mentioned so far.
Richard Coe, the first Coe that we see in the village died in 1830 - before the census records began - leaving his surviving sons, William and Matthew, with their family branches in the village. I have been researching their tree and have the following information so far... Starting with the first son, William Coe: 
William Coe, 1788-1865 (died aged 87 years old), gardener, he first married Sarah ?-1822 (nee Pryke) in 1813 and after she had died he married, in 1825, Mary (nee Pryke) 1804-1837 (died 33 years old)- probably her sister.
His children with Sarah were: William 1814-1876 (died aged 62), married Charlotte (nee Missen) in 1834. They had several children including; Gabrielle, Arthur, Walter, Sarah, Mary, Ann, William, Jane and Frederick. They are shown as living on the High Street, next to the Red Lion pub on Mill End Cherry Hinton from 1851-1871 where William is listed as a gardener. The listings suggest that they are somewhere to the east of the Red Lion, where William's cousin Joseph (Matthew Coe's son) is living. This could be to the back area of the Red Lion on the High Street, where the post office area is today or on the other side of the road somewhere [edit: could be the cottages mentioned later in this article that lay opposite where the Post Office is today on the High Street - even possibly Apple Wood Cottage, which still remains today]. By 1881, William has died and his widow, Charlotte, is listed on the census as being a greengrocer, living in the next household from George Coe (Matthew Coe's son and her nephew) who was running Lime Tree Farm. So after William's death, Charlotte, along with her daughter Ann, goes to live and work, on or next to, the site that became Lime Tree Farm, on Cambridge Road (now Cherry Hinton Road). Charles 1818-1873 (died aged 55). Charles married Ann (nee Sizer). In 1851 he is listed as a gardener in Cherry Hinton. In 1861, again listed as a gardener, it is shown that he is living with his wife and children in Mill End Road - so as you can see this now tally's with the 1850 newspaper report shown above. By 1871, they are living in Russell Court, Cambridge, where he is still listed as a gardener. He had several children, including Elijah, Ann, Charles, William, Sarah and Jonah. Frederick 1821-1867 (died aged 46) - Frederick is shown working as a gardener at Hinton Cottage in Cambridge. In 1851 he then marries in 1855 Sarah (nee Beales) and they live in Cherry Hinton. In 1861 he is shown as a farmer/gardener employing 2 men and living, with his wife, on the Fulbourn Road to Cambridge. (* Cherry Hinton Road, as it is today, is referred to most often as Cambridge Road, also Fulbourn Road in the older census) They have 2 servants, one a farm servant and one a house maid. They do not have any children. [edit: if you scroll down to the 1883 map below, you'll see a building named Hinton Cottage, this is where Frederick and his family were living in 1851 until his death. It is just to the west of what became the Lime Tree Farm site and the next house along from Provident Cottage, occupied by Mrs Coe]. His children with Mary were: Martha 1825-1898 (died aged 74) - Martha married James Morley in 1853 and they both moved to 63 East Road in Cambridge, where they remained until their deaths. James was a shoe maker and Martha a Laundress. They have no children. Mary 1836-1868 (died aged 42). In 1844 Mary marries James Banyard, an agricultural labourer, they have several children and in 1851 are shown as living in Barron Lane (now gone) in Cherry Hinton. Benjamin 1828-1869 (died aged 41) Benjamin does not marry or have children - you can read more about Benjamin's tragic death below. Naomi 1833-1877 (died aged 44) - Naomi married Joseph Darley and agricultural labourer. In 1861 they are living in the High Street. Then her husband Joseph is listed as a widow in 1881, living in Fishers Lane. By 1891 he is living in the Almshouses (which are opposite the Red Lion pub in Mill End). They do not have children. Issac 1835-1855 (aged 18).
In 1860, we find reference to Frederick Coe, mentioned above, who is working the land on Lime Kiln Hill, this could have been general arable farming or even orchard farming but it could be that he was running a lime pit or chalk extraction enterprise as these pits were on Lime Kiln Hill and very popular at this time.
5th May 1860 (Cambridge Independent Press, BNA)
However, we now know that Frederick was listed as a gardener at this time (1860/1861), so managing the orchards which were on Lime Kiln Hill at the time is most likely.
Then in 1869, comes the tragic news of the death of his brother Benjamin Coe:
20th November 1869 (Cambridge Independent Press, BNA)
It is worth noting that on the 1861 census, prior to Benjamin's death, he was also listed as a gardener and no mention at that point of him working at the lime pits, which puts me back to wondering if he and his brother Frederick did indeed manage or own one themselves. However, although Benjamin is found dead in one of the lime pits, it was not an accident whilst at work, as it states he was 'reliving nature' on a Saturday night, not that he worked at the lime pits.
Ultimately this brings an end to William Coe's family line for being the ones running what was to become Lime Tree Farm on Cherry Hinton Road. To find out which Coe line did manage the farm, we must now turn to his brother Matthew Coe, to see what happened with his branch of the family.
The question is, with so many of them being listed as gardeners - how many of them were actually working on Lime Tree Farm whilst living in the village - it is certainly a family occupation. How many of them held orchards or market gardens elsewhere or independently?
The second son, Matthew Coe:
Matthew Coe, 1791-1870 (died 79 years old), gardener, he married Mary (nee Barron) in 1820. In 1841 Matthew is listed as a gardener in Cherry Hinton but then in 1851 we find Matthew is listed as living on Cambridge Road (now Cherry Hinton Road) and that he is a gardener of 9 acres! Add to this that the next property along on the census is Park Gate House - which is the lodge house to Cherry Hinton Hall, which was next to Lime Tree Farm - now means that we have our first clear piece of evidence that the site of Lime Tree Farm was in existence by 1851 and in the occupation of Matthew Coe! (*The farm may have been called something else or just Coe's farm, or could have been named Lime Tree Farm from the start but the earliest documentary evidence of the name Lime Tree Farm, the I have so far, isn't seen until 1901).
Matthew's children with Mary were: Barron 1822-1865 (aged 43). Barron married, in 1843, Maria (nee Rowell) and had several children including: Maria, Mary Ann, Jesse, Matthew, Barron and James. In 1851, they were living on Ely Road in Chesterton, Cambridge, where Barron was listed as being a gardener. By 1861, Barron and his family have moved back to Cherry Hinton and are living on the High Street where he is still listed as a gardener. James Barron 1821-1913 (92 years old). James married, in 1860, Mary Ann Darby. Mary is a laundress. They had several children including Alfred, Daniel (who was also a gardener), Naomi, Lilly, Florence and George. They lived on Fishers Lane for most of their married life, where James is listed as a market gardener, before retiring to their son Alfred's house in Romsey, Cambridge. Joseph 1826-1898 (aged 72) marries Susan (nee Fuller) and they have several children including: Harry, Issac, Levi, Rebecca, Joseph, Matilda and Josiah. In 1851 Joseph is a publican and gardener living and running the Red Lion pub in Mill End, Cherry Hinton. 1861 he is just listed as publican, no longer gardener and is still running the Red Lion pub in Mill End. By 1871 they are living on the High Street and he is a bricklayers labourer, in 1881, still living on the High Street, he is working as a railway labourer. They end up, by 1891, living at Cyprus Place, Cambridge, where he is then listed as a bricklayers labourer. Sarah 1827-1912 (aged 85) married James Smethers in 1849. They have several children including; Matthew, Emily, John, James, Fanny and William. Her husband James is an Iron Founder. In 1851 the are living in Cherry Hinton in Grove Cottage on Ford Way (which I believe to be Daws Lane, through my other research). In 1861 they have moved to Shoreditch, London and then on to Liverpool Street, London. After James dies, Sarah remarries Robert Blinco, who is a Shepherd. They live in Swaffham Bulbeck, where Sarah remains until her death. Jesse 1830-1909 (aged 79) married, in 1852, Delilah Cornwall. They have several children including; Eliza Ann, Arthur Cornwell and George. By 1881, they are living in Hay Street, Fulbourn where Jessie is working as a railway plate layer. By 1891 they had moved to Marmora Road, Cambridge where Jessie continued to work on the railways. Emily 1832-1903 (aged 71) married Charles Short, a stone mason and they have several children. They move a lot presumably to do with her husbands job. They go from Hawkhurst, Kent in 1861 to 6, Liverpool Street in London in 1871, then on to Cheetham, Manchester by 1891, before ending up in Bootham, York. Charles 1833-1913 (aged 80) married Elizabeth and in 1861 they were living in Fisher's Lane, Cherry Hinton, where he was listed as a gardeners labourer. By 1871 they had moved to Teversham High Street, where he was still listed as a gardener. They had several children, including: Alfred, Ellen, Herbert, Zellah, Bertha, Mary Ann, Jane and Charles. By 1881 they were living in Bull's Row, Cambridge and Charles had become a railway labourer. From 1891 until his death in 1911 Charles lived at 36 Cockburn Street, where he was a railway labourer until 1901 when he lists as a bricklaying labourer. George 1837-1919 (aged 92) - George married Elizabeth Mary and they had several children including: Jesse, Herbert Matthew and Lizzie Grace. George was the son which took on the farm (site of Lime Tree Farm) on Cambridge Road, from his father Matthew. In 1871 he is listed as living on Cambridge Road (now Cherry Hinton Road) as a Market Gardener and Farmer, farming 15 acres with 3 farmers employed. He is still there in 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911 with his wife and all at the same place, with the sons Jesse and Herbert listed as Market Gardeners too. See more on George in the below sections. It always starts to get more challenging when they name their children after other family members :) Jane 1838-1849 (aged 11). Ann 1841-1841.
I hope some of you are still with me on this... I write out as I go, to get my notes and research somewhat organised, discovering things along the way and trying to make sure I get some sort of coherent order for myself should I come back to do more delving at some point. With any luck it will be of some interest to you readers out there too.
To recap so far:
Richard Coe comes to Cherry Hinton (no records found yet of his being born here) he marries Mary Witt, a Cherry Hinton girl. They settled down in Cherry Hinton and have three children. William, their first child dies as a baby. They go on to have at least two more children - William and Matthew. Richard's son William marries twice and has several children, some stay in the village others move away and some die young. William is listed as a gardener. Richard's other son Matthew, also listed as a gardener, marries Mary Barron and has several children, again some stay in the village and some move away but his son Matthew is the first known occupier of the site that was to become Lime Tree Farm from at least 1851. Matthew's son George then takes over the running of the farm as a market gardener and lives there, until his death in 1919.
Market Gardening was a style of farming fruit and vegetable produce, sometimes also flowers, as apposed to general agricultural or dairy farming. you can read a little about it here: History of Market Gardening.
The produce was sold direct to customers, markets and restaurants. With the creation of Cambridge Road (now Cherry Hinton Road) after Enclosure in the early 1800's, the positioning of a Market Garden Farm on this road would have been most convenient to access, not only the Cambridge town market and retailers, but also Cambridge train station (and for a short while Cherry Hinton train station, when it was open) to carry produce to the London markets and retailers.
We will now start looking at Matthew's son, George Coe 1837-1919, to see what becomes of Lime Tree Farm and who next takes it over. Along the way, still including a few local articles about the Cherry Hinton branches of the Coe family.
This next newspaper entry in 1878, refers to Matthew's son George Coe....well... hmm :)
6th April 1878 (Cambridge Independent Press, BNA)
As stated previously, George Coe married Elizabeth Mary Veil and they had three children, Jesse, Herbert Matthew and Lizzie Grace. George was the son which took on Lime Tree Farm from his father Matthew. Of George's children, it is Jesse and Herbert who are still living at the farm and listed as Market Gardeners in 1911.
The daughter, Lilly Grace marries first Jack Bass who dies in WWI 16 Aug 1918 in France and Flanders. A good while later, she remarries to Walter Kester and they go on to live in Hills Road, Cambridge. We'll look at Jesse and Herbert Matthew next to see which one takes on the farm, after George's death. But before that, a bit of a catch up on other Cherry Hinton based Coe family news to bring us up to date to Jesse and Herbert.
In 1880, we find a newspaper article describing the robbery of fowls from Mr George Coe's premises (Lime Tree Farm).
October 16th 1880 (Cambridge Independent Press, BNP)
The earliest map, showing the site of Lime Tree Farm, that I currently have, is from some sale particulars of land that is being sold, in Cherry Hinton, by the trustees under the will of John Okes, Esq. - John Okes was the owner of Cherry Hinton Hall, the Hall was built in the 1830's, after John Okes had taken advantage of the land sales post Enclosure. He died in 1871 and most of his land then went into the hands of Cambridge University and Town Waterworks Company (which his brother Richard Okes was part of). John Okes had previously purchased the land needed for the building and laying out of Cherry Hinton Hall, along with a good amount of other plots within the parish. (I will do a separate blog on John Okes and Cherry Hinton Hall, I am also writing the History of Cherry Hinton Hall which will be published in book form shortly.) After his death, many of these plots were put up for sale, as you can see from the map below, on the coloured and numbered lots. The advantage to this is that we now have a good picture of the Lime Tree Farm site.
Sale map of land in Cherry Hinton, 1883. (Cambridge University Library, maps.PSQ.x.18.36)
Below, I have placed the same map again, with some annotations, so it is easier to see what and where we are talking about. The area circled in red is in the Coe family land and property. At this point, 1883, you can see the site of what is to be called Lime Tree Farm. The earliest reference that I have found, naming the site Lime Tree Farm is on the 1901 OS map. I've marked the Coe farm buildings in red. In 1883, we can see that there are three buildings on the northern side of Cherry Hinton Road and one on the southern side. Bearing in mind the purpose for which this map was produced - to show sale plots, always be cautious and remember that not all detail is always shown. However, that said, this map does give a fairly good picture and we can clearly see the extent of the Coe's nurseries and orchards at this point, marked on the map by name and the tree pattern.
If you look at the building on the southern side of the road, marked Mr George Coe. You will see that the trees within this plot are marked as being much more uniform in their layout to those across the road. This would suggest to me that this is a more recent plot or orchard trees, than that of those over the road. It is a deliberately laid out orchard, where as trees on the northern plots are a little more scattered. As for the 4 buildings in total, this is interesting because, as many of us locals may remember, from the time Mr & Mrs Coe (Cyril & Eileen) had their shop at Lime Tree Farm, there was one house and some barns out the back. So this begs the question, which one of these buildings remained as the main Coe family house, the one many of us had been in to buy things from, in living memory. We can not be totally sure which of these four building shown were occupied as dwellings by the Coe family or which may have been farm workers cottages or even which may have been large barns. We can see that there is a building named Providence Cottage and marked as though Mrs Coe owns/lives there. Next to that, abutting the main road is another building unnamed and then follows a third building marked Mr Coe. The main nursery, which became Lime Tree Farm lays out the back of these buildings. Over the road, we have the more formal orchard lay out belonging to Mr George Coe and an unnamed building. (Edit: now known that Fredrick Coe lived with his family, from at least 1851 to his death in 1867, at Hinton Cottage, the next house along to the left from Provident Cottage, shown below. Hinton Cottage stood between Laundry Lane and Derwent Close, on Cherry Hinton Road, where there are now a set of 20th century houses). 
Sale map of land in Cherry Hinton, 1883. (Cambridge University Library, maps.PSQ.x.18.36)
Remember that Matthew Coe had been first on this site, on the northern side of Cherry Hinton Road, from at least 1851. Matthew Coe dies in 1870, leaving his son George managing the whole operation. So when we look at this map in 1883, what we are seeing is a site managed by George Coe.
Take note of the the two lots, 5 & 6, which are to be sold and which I have marked in yellow. We will come back to those shortly. First of all, I'd like to just place those 4 buildings, which I have marked in red above, on a modern map to see which one became the Lime Tree Farm house that many of us knew before it was pulled down about 15 years or so, ago. 
Very rough little check of the 1883 map overlaid with a 1970's OS and then marked up to give rough estimates of where the 4 buildings on the 1883 map had once stood.
I have marked the same red buildings that I marked on the 1883 map above, again marked in red on the overlaid 1970's OS map (blue buildings are some of the 1970's buildings) to see roughly where they once stood.
Providence Cottage, which was shown as in occupation of Mrs Coe in 1883, top left of the picture, was demolished when the Derwent Close estate was built c.1960's. any remains are now beneath the road and in the gardens of the houses that now stand there. 
Once the site of Providence Cottage.
The next red building along, moving right on the picture, is again beneath more housing. Now Coe's Court.
Coe's Court, where the second red building stood (barns):
The top right red building, which was marked Mr Coe on the 1883 map, has the building, probably extended and altered somewhat, which us locals knew as Mr & Mrs Coe's shop/Lime Tree Farm.
The 3rd red building, the one that became the Lime Tree Farm house that many of us locals still remember, stood between the two aerials in the picture above (between the new Coe's court houses and the bungalow on the right).
The 4th red building shown on the southern side of Cherry Hinton Road on the 1883 map and marked next to the orchard plot George Coe, became the site of the old transport depo by the 1960's and is today the Army/TA Centre.
So it appears that it is the top right red building, on the 1883 map, that remained the longest and became the main house. 
The site that once was Hinton Cottage, as shown on the 1883 map
The next thing I'd like to do is have a quick look at the 1881 census for Cherry Hinton again, to see if we can now place who was living where, out of these 4 buildings and if they were all dwelling houses.
There is no one living in the building on the southern side of the road - suggesting that it was some kind of large barn perhaps. There are three Coe households on the 1881 census, which we can tentatively say correspond to the three buildings. The first building of Providence Cottage has Fredrick Coe - engine driver, with his wife Mary and their children Frederick, Mable, Alice and Arthur. (*Note that this is not the Frederick who had lived in Hinton Cottage because he died childless in 1867. This is Frederick who's mother is mention next). Next along we have Charlotte Coe (widow) greengrocer, with her daughter Ann and grandchildren Nellie and William Reynolds. - although I'll note here now, that I think that it is quite probably that these two listed households of Fredrick and Charlotte's may well have all been within Providence Cottage and that the second red building along, unnamed were barns or such like (not least because I remember playing in those barns when I was young.) Then on the 1881 census, in the third red building on the northern side of Cherry Hinton Road, to the right on the maps above, marked 'Mr Coe' on the 1883 map, was George Coe, market gardener aged 45 with James Shyles, agricultural labourer and servant. This building being the most likely candidate for the original farm house that George's father, Matthew had occupied.
So back to that sale map of 1883 - do you recall the yellow lined plots 5 & 6 that I said we'd come back to? Have a quick peep at them again and then look at the map below from 1885.
Firstly, here are the two lot descriptions given with the 1883 sale map, for lot 5 & 6.
Sale particulars of land in Cherry Hinton, 1883. (Cambridge University Library, maps.PSQ.x.18.36)
The later OS map of 1885 shows us the site of Lime Tree Farm and the extent of its land and orchards at this date. You will be able to see on the annotated version beneath, that George Coe purchased lots 5 & 6 and even another plot beyond those in a separate sale and turned them all into orchards, as demonstrated by the uniform pattern of trees on the map.
Cherry Hinton, 1885, Ordinance Survey Map
Annotated Cherry Hinton, 1885, Ordinance Survey Map
Lot 6 is today where the BP garage is (* as explained in a later blog about Cherry Hinton Hall, the western end of the Hall grounds were sold off in the late 1800's and the Walpole Road estate was eventually built on that patch).
Lot 5 became the Glenmere Close estate. The orchard area to the right, which Coe also purchased (or potentially just rented) became part of Netherhall Lower School front playing field (I can remember playing hockey on that field!). This plot is now under the houses of the Bosworth Road estate.
The black dotted line that I have placed on the map above shows, where today, the passageway that leads from Cherry Hinton Road to the gates of what was Netherhall Lower School, now the Queen Emma School, still remains. Many of us locals will remember going through that passage to either get to school or the Netherhall Youth Club building that once stood on the school site. It is still a popular through route for people living on the Gunhild/Queen Edith's sites to get through to Cherry Hinton Hall and generally just a good cut through, when on bike or foot.
The passage-way between Cherry Hinton Road and Queen Emma School/Gunhild Way, running between what was two of Mr Coe's orchards:
Let's continue down the time line, at what event's were recorded.....
In 1894 - we can see that Cherry Hinton had a Cottage Garden Society, in the article below, of which the Coe family were part of:
July 20th 1894
FLOWER SHOW The fifth annual Show of the Cherry Hinton Cottage Garden Society was held yesterday in the grounds of Cherry Hinton Hall. The weather though threatening at first, was very fair. The Cherry Hinton brass Band played a selection of music during the afternoon and evening. The exhibits were arranged very tastefully in a large marquee. Dr Lyon's fuchsias and geraniums were especially worthy of notice. The judges were Mr. Missen, Fulbourn and Mr A. Coe, Cherry Hinton... (Cherry Hinton Chronicle, E. Filby)
In 1888 at a village meeting, Daniel Coe is appointed constable for the year - this is repeated several times over coming years. Daniel Coe is Matthew's grandson (son of James Barron Coe). See newspaper article below:
30th March 1888 (Cambridge Independent Press, BNA)
In 1888 mention of Widow Coe is made, occupying a cottage in the village. I wonder which one it is referring to - I'll try and find out at some later point - see below:
10th August 1888 (Cambridge Chronicle, BNA)
Decided to have a quick look at the 1881 census to see if there was any correlation of the names mentioned above in that article, with households living next to, or being listed next to one another. There is. We can see that on the High Street Cherry Hinton, in 1881, there are the following families in listing order: Jackson, Merry, Coe, Tabour and then Farrent. All apart from Tabour, matching a few of the names shown above in the article from 1888. So the cottages mentioned above are likely ones that stood on the High Street.
I think I know where these cottages stood...potentially. Some years ago I was arriving at a Cambridgeshire Association for Local History committee meeting in Cambridge Central Library, when as soon as I got in the door, Mike Petty (our brilliant Cambridgeshire Historian) collared me and said, get down to the market (Cambridge) now, there's a painting of Cherry Hinton that is not in the Cambridgeshire Collection and I haven't seen it before. Go and buy it quick! I duly got down to the antiques stall on the Cambridge Market and found the painting in question. Trouble was they wanted £80 for it, which was a lot to me then, anyway, I forgo my bill money and got the painting quick. Later once home, I studied the picture to work out where the view was in the village. I then had a few A3 copies of it made, deposited a copy in the Cambridgeshire Collection and Cherry Hinton Community Archives and then door knocked on a few of the doors of houses, which were stood at the site of the where the buildings in the picture were shown, and sold a few of the pictures to get back some of my bill money. The original painting now lives with Mr David Taylor, chair of the Friend's of Cherry Hinton Hall.
Here is that picture:
View of Cherry Hinton High Street c.1917
This is a view painted from what was part of the village green in Mill End (a Funnel green), where the Indian Restaurant now stands (previously The Unicorn Pub) looking down the High Street towards the Robin Hood. The buildings in the centre of the picture, above the head of the lady, are the old Robin Hood pub - the tall trees beyond are the start of The Spinny and the quarry on Lime Kiln Hill. The area to the left of the lady (our right as we look at the picture) is where Giants Grave and the village green extended to and which the post office and laundrette now stand on. The road branching off to her left is Mill End Road. The pub sign that you see is a sign for the Red Lion pub which is down Mill End Road and was to direct travellers down the road, as they could miss it if they carried on up the High Street. The building standing on the green is most likely the village pound or a storage building (it is not to say that the Unicorn pub isn't there behind our view at this date but it is not the pub itself).The row of cottages on the left of the painting, you can in fact still see the remains of today if you look carefully. The only fully remaining one of these cottages today, which is again behind us in this view, is Applewood Cottage by the recreation ground.
This view shown in the painting more or less, as it is seen today -more from the other side of the road.
Below pictures of Applewood Cottage and Applewood Close (note the name - does it relate to more of Coe's orchards or just coincidental.) Mrs Coe, mentioned in the news article above, lived along here, maybe in what became Applewood Cottage or one of the buildings shown on the old painting. Note that the style of Apple Wood Cottage is the same of those as in the painting.
The three pictures below show the remains of the cottages, shown in the old painting, that you can still see for yourself today and are in the garden walls of the houses that are there now - you can even see the old doorways if you look closely. The first photo on the left, below is looking across the road from the Post Office on the High Street. Look at the middle photo, look closer in the front garden wall and you'll see the original cottage wall and a now bricked doorway. 3rd photo on the right shows more of the old brick work from those cottages - one of the Coe families houses? Go and have a look when you get chance yourselves :)
Let's continue onward with looking for the Coe's of Cherry Hinton and Lime Tree Farm....
The first real hint, within the newspapers, of the Coe family being involved and keen on growing a variety of market garden produce, comes with the report in 1890 of the Cherry Hinton Flower Show, where the produce shown by J Coe include such vegetables as turnips, potatoes, onions and beans....(which J Coe though?- probably Jesse?)
1st August 1890 (Cambridge Chronicle, BNA)
In 1891, George Coe is mentioned in the sale of some land, - see below - which is not on the site that became Lime Tree Farm but shows that the Coe family were very much part of the village by this point, working the land and being involved in village activities. For example, within meeting reports we find that various members of the family are involved with both the Conservative Club and others with the Liberal Club.
18th July 1891 (Cambridge Independent Press, BNA)
In 1894, we find a Mr Frederick Coe listed, who is a market gardener and farmer. The report however is from the village of Histon, to the north of Cambridge, not Cherry Hinton. It refers to a bad accident that Mr Coe had. But how likely is it that this Coe is related to the Cherry Hinton Coe family? - I don't have him on the Coe family tree yet but it is a very likely possibility that this person, given his profession is part of the same extended Coe family. I will come back to him another time and add to the end of this blog, any links that I discover about this branch of the family, - which is worth looking into because this particular Frederick Coe was born around 1824 in Impington, Cambs. Perhaps we will discover a link to where the first Coe in Cherry Hinton (Richard Coe) came from, perhaps the original family hailed from those parts in the first place? and if you are a Cambridge person you'll know what one of the main occupations Histon became well known for... The Chivers fruit farm and factory, which almost every one in Cambridge of a certain age range can remember working for, or a family member working for at some point - my granny Toller did - I wonder.... given the nature of the Coe's farming if there is any link to what became Chivers... see this is the trouble! A whole new thread to follow and what starts out as a little blog on Lime Tree Farm becomes the start of a book ..... As tempted as I am to go off with this new exciting hint... I will stay in Cherry Hinton for now and maybe add on something at the end of this if I find out more - or I'll just do a separate article on it.
17th August 1894 (Cambridge Chronicle, BNA)
In 1895 we find reference to Arthur Coe as a gardener - most likely Jesse and Delilah's son. If so, this incident occurred on Lime Tree Farm site, as Jesse is shown on the 1891 census, living there at this time.
12th April 1895 (Cambridge Chronicle, BNA)
1899 and more evidence of the family enjoying village life with John Coe playing the cornet in the Baptist Chapel on Fishers Lane. John is one of the Coe grandchildren, somewhere along the line.
4th April 1899 (Cambridge Daily News, BNA)
The William Coe mentioned below is probably Charles Coe's son.
18th October 1891 (Cambridge Independent Press, BNA)
1901 - on the 1901 Os map below, you can see some of the changes that have occurred at the Lime Tree Farm site and the orchards. You can see that the transport depot had taken over the land directly opposite Lime Tree Farm and the dotted, parallel lines marked over the west end of the grounds of Cherry Hinton Hall were marking out where Walpole Road was to be built.
OS map surveyed in 1885, revised in 1901.
Here's an article mentioning the marriage of George Coe's daughter Lilly, with many members of the family travelling to London for the event. Sadly Jack, her husband was killed in the war, soon after. Lime Tree Farm is mentioned by name in this report.
Friday 24th September 1909 (Cambridge Independent Press, BNA)
So back to which son takes on Lime Tree Farm after George Coe's death in 1919 - Jessie or Herbert? From the newspaper clip below we can see that in 1917, when George Coe was very elderly, that Jesse, perhaps, is already in charge of Lime Tree Farm.
August 22nd 1917 (Cambridge Daily News, BNA)
The death of George Coe is in the papers. The 'Gracie' mentioned is his daughter Lilly Grace.
24th January 1919 (Cambridge Independent Press, BNA)
22nd January 1920 (Cambridge Daily News, BNA)
The probate record doesn't appear to show that much was left, so perhaps, at some time before his death, George had handed over the farm and estate to his son/s.
Probate entry for George Coe
Herbert Matthew Coe:
Starting with Herbert Matthew Coe 1884-1964. Herbert marries Elizabeth (nee Wright) and they have at least one child, Gracie Elizabeth. They go to live at number 51 Fulbourn Road, where Herbert works as a market gardener with orchards of his own to the back of his property on Fulbourn Road, east of the Robin Hood pub, on the main road through to Fulbourn village. You can see the orchards shown on the 1951 OS map below. There is now modern housing on the site and one of the roads is called 'The Orchards' after Matthew Coe's orchards. (to place yourself - the Cherry Hinton recreation ground is shown top right on the map and the orchards are shown south of this. along the bottom right is Fulbourn Road and running up through the map is Cherry Hinton High Street.)
1951 OS map, Cherry Hinton
This leaves George's son, Jessie, living at and managing Lime Tree Farm.
Jessie Coe: Jessie Coe 1883-1973, marries in 1928, Elsie Coe (nee Coxall). They have one son, Cyril. Jessie is listed in the Cambridgeshire electoral records as being a farmer and fruit grower. In 1950, Jessie submits plans to the Council - 'Building bylaw plan and approval for proposed extension to farm shop and Tea Room, Lime Tree Farm, Cherry Hinton Road' (Cambridgeshire Archives: KCB/2/SE/3/9/17630). This suggests that a tea room was already in operation by this point at the site. Elsie Coe ran the tea room and small shop. Jessie and Elsie Coe live at Lime Tree Farm, with their son Cyril, until their deaths, when Cyril then takes over the running of the site.
1939 - The 1939 OS map below shows that although the transport depot is has now taken over land opposite Coe's farm, some of their orchards still remain behind it. This is now the site of the Army Reserve Centre and the back of the Glenmere Close estate.
OS map 1927 revised 1939, Cambridge Record Office.
Below are two advertisements for produce from Lime Tree Farm.
27th June 1939 (Cambridge Daily News, BNA)
12th December 1939 (Cambridge Daily News, BNA)
1950 - On the 1950 OS map below, we can now see that construction of the Walpole Road estate has taken place. The farm still has many of the original orchards that were purchased by George Coe in the late 1800's.
1950 OS, sheet XLVII NE 1:10000
Cyril Coe:
Cyril Coe 1928- 2006, lives at the farm his whole life. He marries Elieen Cooke, who had been previously married and had two daughters. Cyril and Elieen then ran the shop, which was at the front part of the main house, facing Cherry Hinton Road - the one us locals remember the most.
1964 The picture below comes from Mike Petty's Cambridge News archives and it is believed to show Mrs Elsie Coe, Cyril's mother, working in the shop at Lime Tree Farm.
Elsie Coe, Cyril's mother, in the shop at Lime Tree Farm, 1963. (Mike Petty - E. Dimock, Cambridge News 1963, unpublished)
1964 - The aerial view of Lime Tree Farm from 1964 shows the farm in the bottom right, with Dewent Close beneath it and Walpole Road now built above it. You can see the site of the transport depot opposite the farm and the orchards continuing over the road in what was to become Netherhall School lower, front playing field.
June 1964, view of Lime Tree Farm. (A1X 98 -Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photographs)
1973 onwards...After Jessie's death, his wife, Cyril's mother, Elsie, stayed on at the farm with her son, his wife Elileen and the children. The orchard farming had ceased with the land being sold off and most of it becoming the Netherhall School lower, front playing field.
My uncle married one of Mrs Coe's daughters and as I only lived a little further down the road, on Cherry Hinton Road, I used to go and play with my aunts kids at Lime Tree Farm, where we would climb about in the old barns and hay lofts. I can remember being sent, by my mum, up the road, to go to the little shop to buy a tin of meatballs from Mrs Coe.
By the late 1990's Cyril and Eileen had moved out of the old farm house and had a new bungalow built for themselves next door. They then sold off the old house and the land behind which was once the farm. A new housing site was constructed and is named Coe's Court. Before long, all of the old barns and buildings had disappeared and with Cyril's death in 2006 and Elieen's death in 2009, the end of Lime Tree Farm and the Coe's at the site came to an end.
More pictures of Eileen and Cyril and the shop - coming soon
Cyril & Eileen Coe
I have started a public family tree for the Cherry Hinton Coe family on Ancestry, to provide further information and gather more records. You can view it here:
Coe Family Tree
I hope this has been of some interest and use, in particular to Cherry Hinton residents and anyone researching the Coe family tree. Every now and again, I'll come back to this and add, edit and adjust as I get new pieces of data and information. Perhaps, you may feel inspired to do a bit of research yourself, which would be brilliant! I've started listing a few things that could be looked at further, below. This is not extensive of course but just a few things, that are thoughts to follow up. Research is never done and always throws up more questions than answers :)
Further research to be done:
Where did the first Coe come from - Richard Coe, where was he born, what was his occupation etc? Which one of the Coe's first got into the market gardening business? Did they sell their produce at the Cambridge market? what about further afield? or were they wholesale suppliers? What fruits, vegetables and produce were they producing, other than those mentioned in the adverts above? Did any of the Coe's work at the Cherry Hinton Hall kitchen gardens and orchards, when John Okes was in residence (c.1835-1871) or afterwards (c.1930 - 1990) when the Council nursery was in operation at the back of the Hall, producing plants for the counties parks and roundabouts etc? Other that Lime Tree Farm, where else in the village were Coe's orchards and gardens, if any others? Did any descendants go off into other villages and towns, continuing the market gardening business, if so where and are any still running today? How many of Coe's descendants are still living in Cherry Hinton? How many of their original trees, from the old orchard plots, still remain in peoples gardens unrecognised for what they were part of? - couldn't resist having a little general look around for this one - all where plots 5 & 6 would have been and the original George Coe's orchards, shown on the 1883 sale map - see photo gallery below. There were a lot of much older cherry tree stock along with many apple trees and other cherry trees around - separating out what is modern garden planting, to what remains of any of the Coe's orchard stock and the descendant trees is a challenge that would need revisiting. Find out more about Frederick Coe born 1824, market gardener of Histon and see if there are any links to the Cherry Hinton Coe's and also to what eventually became Chiver's of Histon? Other pictures of the Coe family/Lime Tree Farm site.
Looking for old fruit tree stock, from Lime Tree Farm, that may remain today.
Below: Coe burials in St Andrew's Church Yard, Cherry Hinton. These are from the survey's and records which myself and Mr Clarke made in 2005.
Update on the Coe/Chivers connection - so, do you remember the Frederick Coe, mentioned in the newspaper article of 1894 above, who wasn't part of the Cherry Hinton Coe's but was a market gardener living in Histon? I had not only wondered if they was a link to the Cherry Hinton Coe family - still looking at that - but if there had been a link to Chivers of Histon, the famous fruit growers and jam makers...well, there is of sorts. Frederick Coe, his wife Susannah and their children live next door to Stephen Chivers, with his wife Rebbecca and their children - as shown on the 1861 census. The two families live north east of the green in Histon and Steven Chivers is a farmer and gardener of 140 acres, employing 9 men and 5 boys - it is Steven Chivers who starts the great Chivers enterprise. So they were at least neighbours, in dwelling and fields. In addition to this their family links go back a little further as Frederick's father, James Coe, also a gardener is living next door to John Chivers in 1832.
In addition to that the next thing I find out is that Frederick Coe takes a Thomas Chivers to court over damage of his market garden produce - see article below - so although it is not currently a connection in quite the way I'd imagined, it is still something worthy of note and interest. 
Cambridge Independent Press, September 1888 (BNA)
Although this strays a little from sticking to Cherry Hinton history, I couldn't resist sharing this with you too. The article below describes a tragic incident involving James Coe, Frederick Coe of Histon's father. It struck me how, not only did Frederick witness this incident, but how we had begun our discovery of him with a near fatal incident of his own, which must have reminded him of his fathers fate.
If you'd like to support the work that I do, why not buy me a coffee, I'd be really grateful and it will help keep me going :)
©Michelle Bullivant, May 2020
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