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- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
Landbeach is a small fen-edge English village about three miles (5 km) north of Cambridge. The parish covers an area of 9 km2 (3.5 sq mi). It is now in the South Cambridgeshire District and was in the Northstow Hundred.
Various sources agree that Landbeach was in Chesterton Rural District from 1894 until 1965 and the South Cambridgeshire District was not formed until 1974. There is no reference to say what administrative district Landbeach was in during the nine intervening years. Chesterton Rural did exist until 1974 so it is possible that this might be an error and some of the parishes immediately to the north of Cambridge continued to be part of it until that year.
The fen edge north of Cambridge was well populated in Roman times, and the village's situation on a Roman road will have helped its growth. The road, Akeman Street, which once joined Ely to London, passes close to the village from north to south. Car Dyke, the Roman drainage canal known locally as "the Tilling", also runs through the village and in medieval times marked the boundary between the marshes of Landbeach and neighbouring Waterbeach. Drainage of the parish was not completed until the 18th century, and for much of the year large areas of the parish were inundated.
The original meaning of the "beach" part of the names is not universally agreed. One theory invokes the Anglo Saxon word bec meaning "stream", but a more plausible one gives the meaning as "shore", much like the modern "beach", as both Waterbeach and Landbeach were at the edge of The Fens, then an area of marshland.
Population reached a peak of 526 in 1851 but fell to 389 in 1911. It passed 600 for the first time in the 1950s and 800 in the 1990s. The count at the 2011 UK census was 825.
Church
The parish church of All Saints comprises a chancel with north chapel, a nave with south porch, and a three-stage west tower with a slim octagonal spire. The majority of the present building was constructed in the 14th century, though there are some remains of the 13th-century building at the base of the tower and chancel. The church retains much of its medieval woodwork. The spire was rebuilt in 1972.
Tithe barn
Landbeach Tithe Barn was constructed in the sixteenth century, or possibly earlier, for the collection and storage of tithes paid by the villagers to the church. It is thatched, timber framed and weatherboarded, and is a grade II listed building.
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
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