Place:Wendy, Cambridgeshire, England

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Wendy is a hamlet since 1957 in the civil parish of Shingay cum Wendy in the South Cambridgeshire District of Cambridgeshire, England around 5 miles northwest of Royston in the neighbouring county of Hertfordshire.

Wendy was a separate parish until 1957 when it was merged with neighbouring Shingay to form the present civil parish. The historical parish covered an area of 1,023 acres (414 ha). Its northern border with Croydon (formerly Croydon-cum-Clapton) and Arrington followed the River Cam, and its western border with Wendy was marked by the "North Ditch". The parish's straight eastern boundary with Whaddon follows the Roman Ermine Street (now the A1198 road), and its southern border with Bassingbourn and Abington Pigotts largely follow field boundaries.

The hamlet itself is around a mile west of the Roman Road, just south of the river. There were 17 residents recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, and there were probably around 80 in 1377, though numbers fell in later centuries. By 1801 there were 109 in the parish, rising to a peak of 154 in 1851 before dropping to 66 by 1931.

There are six listed buildings in the village and another three on the Roman Road.

RAF Bassingbourn covers a sizeable portion of the southern part of the parish, and was built just prior to the Second World War.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Wendy.

Research Tips

• Original historical documents relating to Cambridgeshire are now held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at Shire Hall, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4GS
• The Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Family History Society has transcribed the parish registers for many if not all the ancient parishes of Cambridgeshire and these can be purchased from the Society as separate pdfs.
• A History of the County of Cambridge. Seven volumes from British History Online (Victoria County Histories). This is by far the most complete history of the parishes of the county to be found online. From the numbering it would appear that some parts of the county are yet to be published online, but the first two volumes for any county are of little interest to the genealogist. The chapters are ordered by the divisions of the county called hundreds, but each parish is listed in the volume's content page.

• A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 3, the City (Cambridge) and University of Cambridge (published 1959)
• A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 4, City of Ely; North Ely and South Ely, Witchford and Wisbech Hundreds (the cathedral city and liberty of Ely and the rural areas to the west and northwest, including the port of Wisbech) (published 2002)
• A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 5, the Hundreds of Longstowe and Wetherley, west of Cambridge (published 1973)
• A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 6, the three Hundreds of Chilford, Radfield and Whittlesford (in the south of the county, on the border with Essex) (published 1978)
• A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 8, Armingford and Thriplow Hundreds (south and west of Cambridge) (published 1982)
• A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 9, Chesterton, Northstowe, and Papworth Hundreds (the suburban and rural areas to the north and northwest of Cambridge) (published 1989)
• A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 10, Cheveley, Flendish, Staine and Staploe Hundreds (northeastern Cambridgeshire) (published 2002)

• GENUKI has a page on Cambridgeshire and pages for each of the ecclesiastical or ancient parishes in the county. These give references to other organizations who hold genealogical information for the local area. Each parish page includes a map of the parish provided by Open Street Maps.
• The FamilyTree Wiki has a series of pages similar to those provided by GENUKI which may have been prepared at a later date.
• A Vision of Britain through Time, section "Units and Statistics" for each parish and borough leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from about 1800 through 1974.
• Map of Cambridgeshire divisions in 1888 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Map of Cambridge divisions in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time