Great Shelford

Great Shelford began as two small settlements. One was clustered around the church. The other included the manor house at Granhams and what is now High Green. The houses of High Green were built round the edge of a large green, which was used as grazing. The two settlements were separated by a further large area of open grazing land or common., North of High Green the road to Cambridge was a long empty road, with arable fields on one side and the Common or Moor on the other. There were no more houses till you reached Trumpington. Cherry Hinton Road (now Hinton Way) ran between arable fields, equally empty of houses until you reached Cherry Hinton. The village was very compact, running in one long street - called The Street - from High Green, along High Street to Church Street. Down Mill Lane was the corn mill., The village was a farming village, with 1500 acres of open arable fields, and 500 acres of common or waste. Much of the land was owned by Cambridge colleges. The village was inhabited by their tenant farmers, a few small farmers, tradesmen such as the miller and the blacksmith, and a large number of agricultural labourers and their families., In 1835 the open fields and common grazing were enclosed by act of Parliament. This represented a huge change for the village. Shortly afterwards further change arrived with the railway. The first line to be built in 1845 ran to Shoreditch (now Liverpool Street). Soon after a second line, running to Royston, crossed the parish., With travel made easier, the pace of change in the village quickened. Many labouring families migrated to Australia or America. Towards the end of the 19th century, Cambridge families began to move out to the village. Many were married Dons, and built large houses for their families., In the early 20th century, the gap between the two settlements was filled in, and the old Green built on. Development began along Cherry Hinton Road, renamed Hinton Way in 1930, and along Cambridge Road. With train and bus travel available, and the arrival of the motor car, commuting to Cambridge was easy. Such ribbon development became contentious, and led to the introduction of planning controls. Since then Great Shelford has continued to grow. In 1801 its population was 570; in 1901, 1,085. In 2015 its population is over 4,000.