Alconbury
| Alconbury | |
 A Weeping Willow in Alconbury, taken from across Alconbury Brook |
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  Alconbury |
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| Population | 1,670 |
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| OS grid reference | TL1875 |
| District | Huntingdonshire |
| Shire county | Cambridgeshire |
| Region | East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | HUNTINGDON |
| Postcode district | PE28 |
| Dialling code | 01480 |
| Police | Cambridgeshire |
| Fire | Cambridgeshire |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | Huntingdon |
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Coordinates: 52°22′N 0°16′W / 52.36°N 00.26°W
Alconbury is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England.[1] Alconbury is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being an historic county of England. Alconbury lies approximately 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Huntingdon.
History
Alconbury was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086.[2] The church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. The Great North Road passed through the village and Alconbury Weston to the north-west. The A1 was dualled from Water Newton to Alconbury Hill in three stages in 1958. The £1.25m two mile A1 bypass opened in December 1964, joining the road at the point where it now meets the A14 (former A604) at the junction at the top of a hill. It followed part of the former A604. In November 1998, the bypass was converted into the A1(M) which terminates next of the village. The former road is partly the B1043 which is also part of the former A14 and the rest of the former A1 to Peterborough. Units of the US Air Force were based at Alconbury from 1942-1945, and then from 1953 to 1995.
Government
As a civil parish, Alconbury has its own elected parish council that is responsible for providing and maintaining a variety of local services including the allotments, street lighting, play areas, grass cutting and tree planting. It helps to maintain and extend the paths in the built area and the countryside, provides the bus shelter, litter, dog-waste and salt bins.[3] A committee of the parish council reviews all planning applications and makes recommendations to Huntingdonshire District Council, which is the planning authority for the parish. The parish council also represents the views of the parish on issues such as local transport, policing and the environment. The parish council raises its own tax to pay for these services, known as the parish precept, which is collected as part of the Council Tax. In 2015, Alconbury parish council had 10 members; meetings were held on the last Tuesday of every month in the Memorial Hall in Alconbury.[3]
Alconbury was in the historic and administrative county of Huntingdonshire until 1965. From 1965, the village was part of the new administrative county of Huntingdon and Peterborough. Then in 1974, following the Local Government Act 1972, Alconbury became a part of the county of Cambridgeshire. Alconbury is a part of the district ward of Alconbury and The Stukeleys for Huntingdonshire District Council[4] and is represented on the district council by one councillor.[5] The district ward consists of the civil parishes of Alconbury, Alconbury Weston and the civil parish of Great Stukeley and Little Stukeley. Alconbury is a part of the electoral division of Huntingdon for Cambridgeshire County Council[4] and is represented on the county council by two councillors.[6]
At Westminster, Alconbury is in the parliamentary constituency of Huntingdon,[4] and is represented in the House of Commons by Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative). Jonathan Djanogly has represented the constituency since 2001. The previous member of parliament was John Major (Conservative) who represented the constituency between 1983 and 2001.
Geography
Alconbury is in the district of Huntingdonshire and gives its name to RAF Alconbury. The village is near to the point where a major north/south road, the A1, crosses the only major east/west road: the A14. As of 2005 there are proposals to convert the airfield (now redundant) into a freight-only commercial airport to benefit from these surface links. Nearby to the east along the A14 are The Stukeleys: Great Stukeley and Little Stukeley. Little Stukeley is nearer to the former airfield than Alconbury. Just north of the A1/A14 junction is Alconbury Hill. The Alconbury Weald development is taking place near to Alconbury village.
The research laboratory, Huntingdon Life Sciences, is just south of the village.
Location
 |
Buckworth | Alconbury Weston | | |
| Barham and Woolley |  |
The Stukeleys | ||
| ||||
 | ||||
| Ellington | Brampton |
Demography
Population
In the period 1801 to 1901 the population of Alconbury was recorded every ten years by the UK census. During this time the population was in the range of 483 (the lowest in 1801) and 967 (the highest in 1851).[7]
From 1901, a census was taken every ten years with the exception of 1941 (due to the Second World War).
| Parish |
1911 |
1921 |
1931 |
1951 |
1961 |
1971 |
1981 |
1991 |
2001 |
2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alconbury | 518 | 523 | 492 | 733 | 629 | 748 | 1131 | 2440 | 1670 | 1569 |
All population census figures from report Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011 by Cambridgeshire Insight.[7]
In 2011, the parish covered an area of 3,067 acres (1,241 hectares)[7] and so the population density for Alconbury in 2011 was 327.4 persons per square mile (126.4 per square kilometre).
Climate
The climate in the United Kingdom is defined as a temperate oceanic climate, or Cfb on the Köppen climate classification system, a classification it shares with most of northwest Europe.[8] Eastern areas of the United Kingdom, such as East Anglia, are drier, cooler, less windy and also experience the greatest daily and seasonal temperature variations. Protected from the cool onshore coastal breezes further to the east of the region, Cambridgeshire is warm in summer, and cold and frosty in winter.
The nearest Met Office climate station is at Monks Wood, which is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the north-east of Alconbury. The average annual rainfall for the United Kingdom between 1981 and 2010 was 1,154 millimetres (45.4 in) but Cambridgeshire is one of the driest counties with around half of the national level. Regional weather forecasting and historical summaries are available from the UK Met Office.[9][10] Additional local weather stations report periodic figures to the internet via web sites such as Weather Underground.[11]
| Climate data for Monks Wood, elevation 41m, (1981–2010 averages) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 7.2 (45) |
7.7 (45.9) |
10.7 (51.3) |
13.5 (56.3) |
16.8 (62.2) |
19.7 (67.5) |
22.4 (72.3) |
22.3 (72.1) |
19.2 (66.6) |
15.0 (59) |
10.3 (50.5) |
7.4 (45.3) |
14.4 (57.9) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 1.1 (34) |
0.8 (33.4) |
2.6 (36.7) |
3.8 (38.8) |
6.6 (43.9) |
9.7 (49.5) |
11.8 (53.2) |
11.7 (53.1) |
9.9 (49.8) |
7.0 (44.6) |
3.9 (39) |
1.9 (35.4) |
5.9 (42.6) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 47.0 (1.85) |
35.0 (1.378) |
40.1 (1.579) |
47.0 (1.85) |
47.9 (1.886) |
54.1 (2.13) |
48.3 (1.902) |
51.7 (2.035) |
53.3 (2.098) |
60.2 (2.37) |
54.2 (2.134) |
47.1 (1.854) |
585.8 (23.063) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 58.0 | 77.4 | 109.9 | 152.3 | 186.2 | 180.6 | 193.3 | 188.1 | 142.5 | 114.6 | 67.0 | 52.4 | 1,522.2 |
| Source: Met Office Monks Wood, Cambridgeshire | |||||||||||||
Amenities
The village has a Neighbourhood Watch group, cricket club, football teams, several public houses, a doctor's surgery, post office and houses the local MP. There is a Church of England primary school,[12] A service station on the B1043/A14 junction closed in August 2007 and re-opened in 2012 under new owners.
There are several annual events held in the village including The Midsummer Fun Fair, The Neighbourhood Watch Summer Fête and The Dame Norma Major charity cricket match.
References
- ↑ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 142 Peterborough (Market Deeping & Chatteris) (Map). Ordnance Survey. 2012. ISBN 9780319229248.
- ↑ Professor J.J.N.Palmer. "Open Doomsday: Alconbury". www.opendomesday.org. Anna Powell-Smith. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
- 1 2 "Alconbury Parish Council". alconburyparishcouncil.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- 1 2 3 "Ordnance Survey Election Maps". www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
- ↑ "Huntingdonshire District Council: Councillors". www.huntsdc.gov.uk. Huntingdonshire District Council. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
- ↑ "Cambridgeshire County Council: Councillors" (pdf). www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk. Cambridgeshire County Council. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
- 1 2 3 "Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011" (xlsx - download). www.cambridgeshireinsight.org.uk. Cambridgeshire Insight. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
- ↑ Peel, M. C. and Finlayson, B. L. and McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen–Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11: 1633–1644. doi:10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007. ISSN 1027-5606. (direct: Final Revised Paper)
- ↑ "Forecast:East of England". UK Weather Forecasts. UK Met Office. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- ↑ "Monks Wood Climate: Averages Table". UK Climate Summaries. UK Met Office. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- ↑ "Alconbury, United Kingdom". Weather Underground, Inc. 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- ↑ Alconbury C of E Primary School. Retrieved 23 February 2009
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alconbury. |
- Victoria County history entry for Alconbury
- 1st Alconbury Scout Group
- Alconbury Parish Council
- Cricket Club
- Manor House Hotel
- The significance of its location
- 1831 description
- Baptist church