Gamlingay

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Gamlingay

Coordinates: 52.1579° N 0.1946° W
Population	3,535
OS grid reference	TL236526
District	South Cambridgeshire
Shire county	Cambridgeshire
Region	East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SANDY
Postcode district	SG19 3
Dial code	01767
Police	Cambridgeshire
Fire	Cambridgeshire
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	Huntingdon
European Parliament	East of England
List of places: UK • England • Cambridgeshire

Gamlingay is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, on the border with Bedfordshire.

An ancient village featured in the Domesday Book, the name comes from the Old English Gamelingei meaning "an enclosure of Gamela's people". There has been a settlement on the site since the Bronze Age, but artifacts dating back to the Palaeolithic period have been found within the village. The village is steeped in history, with lots of listed buildings throughout the village. There also used to be at one time 52 pubs in Gamlingay to serve the coach routes from London. It is thought that Dick Turpin rode through the village on his way up North. The stone for the building of the church was from a quarry within the village. This quarry then offered the perfect location for an archery range. Being dug into the ground it was a safe area where archery could be practiced, and thus was named `The Butts'. In medieval times it was a requirement that all men over a certain age, were capable of using a bow and arrow. The Butts is now a children's play area.

Throughout history, it has been a farming village. Most of the village was owned by the Oxford college Merton, and the Cambridge colleges Downing and Clare. Until a few years ago the houses at the local village college were named after Merton, Downing and Clare.

In 1600, a lot of the village was destroyed in the "Great Fire of Gamlingay" as described in an extract of a letter from the Privy Council to Sir Thomas Egerton.

"Whereas divers of the Justices of the Peace in the coutitie of Cambridge have certyfied us the lamentable accydent that bath fallen upon the inhabitantes of Gamlingay in the said countie, by casualltie of fire that happned on the 21St daie of Aprill last, whereby the moste parte of the said towne to the nomber of 76 houses with divers barnes and stackes of corne were suddainlie consumed."

Modern Gamlingay has a population of over 3,500 and is growing (the 2001 Census gives a population of 4,805 but this includes a few other smaller villages). It is now largely a commuter village: 44% of its employed residents work outside of Cambridgeshire, 30% more than 20km away and 11% more than 40km away.

Local amenities include pubs, shops, a primary school and village college, sports fields, community centre, lots of clubs and societies, nursary schools and a Grade II listed telephone box.