Waterbeach

Waterbeach is in the county of Cambridgeshire, and is located six miles North of Cambridge. For maps see the Wikipedia page on Waterbeach.

In pre-Norman times Landbeach and Waterbeach were known together as Beche, cf. the Viking word Beck.

John Master's Short Account of the Parish of Waterbeach (1795) has been published by Google Books.

To the East of the village (TL 508657) is the River Cam in the Fens. At the end of Bannold Road is a weir constructed in 1699 with the confusing name of "Bottisham Sluice". There is also a lock, 29.6 m long, here to allow large boats to pass through. Before the railway came, goods were transported by water and the river provided a link to the sea, which is downstream just North of King’s Lynn.

Cambridge (Jesus Lock) is seven miles upstream from Bottisham Lock.
Seven miles downstream, at Pope's Corner, the river joins the River Ouse.
The Flood warning status for the River Cam (Cambridge to Upware) is checked every 15 minutes

The towpath along the river to Cambridge is called "The Haling Way". This is part of the National Cycle Network Route 11, organised by Sustrans. The author of this webpage is a Sustrans Volunteer Ranger for the section between Milton (Fen Road) and Waterbeach railway station. However the path and river is maintained by the Conservators of the River Cam who should be contacted if there are obstructions, like trees down.
An extension of Route 11 is planned from the station to Bottisham Lock and Wicken Fen.

Waterbeach railway station is on the London to King's Lynn line.

There are hourly off-peak trains to Cambridge, Ely, and London. This train service is operated by First Capital Connect
To see the departure board on Waterbeach Station, look here.
The line was built for the The Eastern Counties Railway, later Great Eastern Railway, in 1845.

There are regular bus services from Waterbeach to Cambridge, or Ely.

These services (8, 9 and X9) are operated from Monday to Saturday by Stagecoach East, who also run an early morning Citi 2 weekday service from Waterbeach Green.
There is also the 19 / 19A on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

To the West of the village, the A10 or Ely Road, passes to the West of the village, and is the road from Cambridge to King's Lynn. In the past the A.10 ran all the way from London (Bank) to King's Lynn - today only part of the London to Cambridge section of this trunk road still exists, between the M25 and M11 south of Cambridge.

The largest employer in Waterbeach is the British Army, specifically the Royal Engineers. Their Barracks, called Waterbeach Station, is on the Northern edge of the village. Its name probably derives from its former use as RAF Station Waterbeach, airfield built during WWII for Bomber Command. One third of the children at the local primary school come from the barracks.
Local residents may use the outdoor heated swimming pool, fishing lake and golf course there.
There is also a small Barracks Museum there.

Some properties and developments on the A10 also have a Waterbeach postal address,
e.g. Cambridge Research Park, now called IQ Cambridge.

The parish church is St. John the Evangelist, is in the archdeaconry and diocese of Ely - Genuki provides a useful history of this church.

Just north of the village is the Benedictine Denny (Daneia) Abbey, originally built in 1159, used by the Knights Templar from 1170-1308 and then refounded in 1327 by the Countess of Pembroke for the Franciscan St. Clare nuns. It is now run for English Heritage as the Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey. The author of this webpage is a museum trustee.

Waterbeach

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