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. Or Call Floodline on 0845 988 1188 and enter Quickdial Number 0335144 to get more information

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 was 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.

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 and by National Express East Anglia
• 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 and Littleport.

• Bus service 9 is operated Monday to Saturday by Stagecoach Cambridgeshire, who also run an early morning and late afternoon Citi 2 weekday service serving Waterbeach Green and Landbeach.
• Bus service 196 operated by Whippet Coaches to Cambridge via Horningsea and Fen Ditton, runs twice a day in each direction, on weekdays only. This is the only bus which stops at Waterbeach railway station.
• There is no Sunday bus service serving Waterbeach.

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 - however only part of the London to Cambridge section of this trunk road still exists today, between the M25 and the M11 south of Cambridge.

The largest employer in Waterbeach is currently the British Army, specifically the Royal Engineers, however the government announced in 2011 that the Barracks, on the Northern edge of the village, would close by the end of 2013.

The Army call their barracks Waterbeach Station. This name probably derives from its former use as RAF Station Waterbeach, an airfield built during WWII for Bomber Command. About a third of the children at the local primary school come from the barracks.
Local residents currently may use the outdoor heated swimming pool, fishing lake and 9-hole golf course there. There is also a small Barracks Museum, open April to September, by appointment only.

A new book was published in 2011 called "At the 'Beach: the story of Royal Air Force Waterbeach and Waterbeach Barracks" by John F Hamlin and Oliver J Merrington, ISBN 1904514634. You can buy a copy for £9.95 from Waterbeach HIVE in Cody Road.

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

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 run as the Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey for English Heritage and the trustees of the Museum.

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

Other websites

• www.waterbeach.org.uk is edited by Cllr Michael Williamson, for the village.
• Waterbeach Parish Council
• Waterbeach Community Association, who publish the quarterly Beach News - delivered free to all households in the village - and organise the Waterbeach Feast (a village fête) every summer in June.
• Waterbeach Community Primary School
• Waterbeach Level Internal Drainage Board
• www.waterbeach.co.uk is registered to RLW Estates Ltd., but is not currently in use.

This webpage is compiled by Oliver Merrington.

Oliver has lived in Waterbeach since 2004, and is the author of the book "At the 'Beach (2011) and the award-winning www.lidos.org.uk website.

To contact Oliver, please type

into your email program.
[sorry, not clickable, to reduce spam]

First compiled in January 2005.
Updated November 2011.