Linton, Cambridgeshire

Linton

Linton Free Church
Linton
 Linton shown within Cambridgeshire
Population 4,412 (2001)
OS grid referenceTL560469
DistrictSouth Cambridgeshire
Shire countyCambridgeshire
RegionEast
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town CAMBRIDGE
Postcode district CB21
Dialling code 01223
Police Cambridgeshire
Fire Cambridgeshire
Ambulance East of England
EU Parliament East of England
UK ParliamentCambridgeshire South East
List of places
UK
England
Cambridgeshire

Coordinates: 52°05′57″N 0°16′37″E / 52.0991°N 0.277°E

Linton is a village in rural Cambridgeshire, England, on the border with Essex. It has been expanded much since the 1960s and is now one of many dormitory villages around Cambridge. The railway station was on the Stour Valley Railway between Shelford and Colchester, closed since 1967. The Rivey Hill overlooks the village, with its famous water tower. The River Granta runs through the village.

Linton Zoo is on the southern edge of Linton, whilst Chilford Hall and its vineyards are to the north side, beyond Linton's best-known feature, Rivey Tower. The A1307 passes through the village.

Many businesses are based in Linton, with several around the trading estate at The Grip and along the High Street.

Spread evenly along the High Street are the three public houses. The Crown has an attached restaurant. The Dog and Duck focusses on fresh Italian-influenced food and is styled internally on a contemporary European bistro theme. Near the fire station is the Waggon and Horses, which has been resurrected by a new landlord. Although it has been closed for several years, The Bell probably remains Linton's most famous pub.

A recent local tradition is the Wacky Races. This popular event occurs on the second Bank Holiday Weekend in May, and involves participants dressed in comedy costumes, racing down the High Street, stopping in all the pubs for a pint, and then racing through the fields next to the village and back down the High Street, again drinking in the pubs.

The village has a vibrant community with active clubs and societies for all walks of life and age groups. It remains a highly desirable semi rural location and a very popular residential location.

The author Graham Greene's wife once owned The Queens House in Linton. His wife Vivien bought the house in 1947 but sold the house in 1948. The house is on the High Street and is opposite The Crown pub.

Signpost in Linton showing the clapper stile

Schools

There are four schools in Linton. Linton CofE Infant School is in the middle of the village, adjacent to St. Mary's church, teaching children aged 4 to 7. At the Balsham end of the village, on Wheatsheaf Way, is Linton Heights Junior School, for children aged from 7 to 11. Linton Village College is alongside the A1307, the main Haverhill-to-Cambridge road, and teaches children aged 11 to 16, including those from several surrounding villages. The Granta School is one of Cambridgeshire's six area special schools. This caters for pupils with special educational needs from the ages of 3 to 19, and is located next to Linton Village College.

Popular culture

Linton has become famous through fictional character Alan Partridge, who once justified his extended stay at the Linton Travel Tavern by claiming that Linton is equidistant between London and Norwich.[1] Indeed, Linton is near the halfway point of the London-to-Norwich A11 trunk road, although some four miles from the actual road, which suggests that the travel tavern was not in Linton itself, but nearby on the A11. Even in this location, the travel tavern is probably farther than Partridge would have wanted from the M11 motorway, to which he once walked to purchase several bottles of windscreen-washer fluid from a petrol station.

However, the actual location used for the BBC television series was the Hilton Hotel on the A41 near Bushey in south Hertfordshire.

See also

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Linton, Cambridgeshire.

References

  1. ↑ Fake home page of the fictional Linton Travel Tavern