Wansford, Cambridgeshire

Wansford Pasture is a 3.1-hectare (7.7-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wansford in Cambridgeshire. It is part of the 7.3 hectare Wansford Pasture & Standen's Pasture, a nature reserve managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (WTBCN).This is a south-facing slope, with Jurassic limestone grassland and a flush lower down which has a wide variety of wet-loving plants, including some which are rare in the county. The ecology is maintained by avoiding the use of fertilisers and herbicides, and by grazing. The WTBCN was enlarged by the donation of Standen's Pasture in 2007.There is access to the site from Old Leicester Road.

Thornhaugh is a civil parish and village in the city of Peterborough unitary authority, Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom. For electoral purposes it forms part of Glinton and Wittering ward in North West Cambridgeshire constituency. Thornhaugh (or Thornhaw) is derived from Old English and means a thorn enclosed low-lying meadow beside a stream. There is evidence of a settlement here as far back as the 12th century, but probably has earlier origins. Although the village of Thornhaugh itself is quite small, the parish is one of the largest in the county of Cambridgeshire at 1,096.33 acres (443.67 ha). The parish is crossed by the A1 and A47 roads. The village was declared a conservation area in 1979. The road that runs through the village is Russell Hill, named after William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh who lived here. The Russell family are also associated with the Bedford Estate in Central London where you will find Thornhaugh Street and Russell Square in Bloomsbury. St Andrew's Church dates from the 12th century, although much restored in the 19th century; it is a Grade I listed building. The village sign commemorates the first Baron Russell of Thornhaugh. Although the main village is close to the A1 road, there is a significant hamlet (Home Farm, Leicester Road, Thornhaugh) with a dozen houses about one mile west of the main village just off the A47 road, consisting of an old hunting lodge (now two houses) and associated farm buildings (all now residential). The Sacrewell Farm and Country Centre is in the parish, to the east of the A1. Sacrewell is named after a "Sacred Well" in Sacrewell field near Sacrewell Lodge. Some sort of mill probably existed here since the Roman occupation. Excavations have found two Roman villas, a corn drier and storage building - an ideal site being adjacent to Ermine Street and next to a spring. Three mills in the area were mentioned in the Domesday book, and it is likely that Sacrewell was one of them. A new watermill, mill house and farm were completed in 1755 and was originally called Curtis's farm after William Curtis who died in 1779. William Scott Abbott became a tenant at the farm during the First World War and expanded the farm operations. After his death his widow Mary carried on following her husband's dream. Her nephew David Powell took over the management of the farm in 1959 and in 1964 Mary founded The William Scott Abbott Trust. The vision was to provide an agricultural education for all and the educational values they promoted are still very much alive. The watermill remained a working mill until 1965, when it was no longer profitable, however, it has now been fully restored as a heritage working mill; a centre of milling excellence and an educational tool with a £1.4 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant. Sacrewell visitor centre was opened to the public in 1981 and the farm and watermill are now successful visitor attractions. Within the parish of Thornhaugh is Bedford Purlieus National Nature Reserve, an historic woodland of 520 acres and part of what was the ancient Royal Forest of Rockingham. Up to the mid 1600s it was known as Thornhaugh Woods or The High wood of Thornhaw. The name changed when the Dukes of Bedford took ownership renaming it Bedford Purlieus. English Nature declared the wood a National Nature Reserve in 2000, in recognition of its importance as a species-rich semi-natural native woodland. The wood is the most ecologically diverse wood in Britain and home to more plant and insect species than most other woods in this country. Muntjac and fallow deer are found on the reserve, and bird life includes nightingale, red kite, sparrowhawk, kestrel, little owl, tawny owl and long-eared owl. Reptiles at the site include adders, grass snakes, common lizards and slow worms. Bedford Purlieus is managed by English Nature and Forest Enterprise in partnership and is open to the public during daylight hours. There is significant confirmation of Roman industrial occupation within the wood with many iron ore extraction pits and evidence of a bath house. It was featured on series 17 of television's Time Team in 2011. During the Second World War, Bedford Purlieus was used as part of RAF Kings Cliffe for airmen's living accommodation which were dispersed around the woods to reduce the risk of being hit in the event of an air raid. Various foundations still remain. Buildings within Leedsgate Farm (private property) included the theatre, gym and chapel for the airbase.

Old Sulehay Forest is a 34.8-hectare (86-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of King's Cliffe in Northamptonshire. It is part of the 85-hectare (210-acre) Old Sulehay nature reserve, which is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.This ancient forest has a number of different soil conditions and coppice types, and the ground flora is diverse. Abundant herbs include dog's mercury, bracken, bramble, ramsons, wood anemone and bluebells.There is access by footpaths from Wansford Road.

Stibbington is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, located approximately 6 miles (10 km) west of Peterborough city centre in the civil parish of Sibson-cum-Stibbington. It is situated in the far north-west corner of Huntingdonshire, which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire, as well as a historic county of England.

Yarwell is a village on the River Nene in the extreme east of the English county of Northamptonshire near the border with Cambridgeshire. Yarwell is one mile north of Nassington, 7+1⁄2 miles (12.1 km) west of Peterborough and its county town of Northampton is 30 miles (48 km) to the south-west. The name Yarwell is derived from 'the spring where the yarrow grows'. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 316 people, reducing to 294 at the 2011 Census.The village's name origin is dubious. 'Fish-weir spring/stream' or maybe, 'yarrow grass spring/stream'. It has been thought that the second component could be the Old English 'wael' meaning 'pool'.Yarwell was not recorded in the Domesday Book, however, it probably was recorded as part of Nassington. During the middle ages, the village was surrounded by the Rockingham Forest. A folklore amongst the people of yarwell is that in Rockingham forest, there lived three greedy little goblins in their little goblin huts that ran around biting children's toes. But fear not, for this is only a legend and may not be real. The village was never large, in 1580 it was recorded as having 39 houses, and in 1801 it was recorded as containing 58 families. Yarwell has a pub called The Angel Inn, famous for an alleged short visit from lord chartholamew reyce in 1901, during which he declared the inn the most divine place he had ever stayed, and offered to recommend it to the king himself, a promise he would seemingly forget as he rode away on his horse named william. The village is also home to a village hall and the 13th-century Church of St. Mary Magdalene. The majority of the church building is original with walls made of limestone rubble with freestone dressings however the west tower was rebuilt probably in the 17th century. Until 1892, the church's roof was thatched.One of the village's two farms has been converted into a housing development and the other has applied for planning permission. Until recently, there was a Methodist church in the village; the post office closed in 1993. The village school closed in the early 1960s and in 2003 was redeveloped into three houses. In total there are about 130 houses in Yarwell. Yarwell and Nassington Britannia band is the local brass band which rehearses in the village hall and draws its players from the surrounding area including Stamford and Oundle. The preserved Nene Valley Railway has a station at Yarwell Junction. Before closure in the 1960s, this was the junction of two lines, one from Market Harborough and the other from Northampton. It is on the Cambridgeshire side of the Nene at grid reference TL078970. Also nearby is Old Sulehay, a historical hunting forest now managed as a reserve. Another tale amongst the yarwell folk is that Yarwells village is haunted by the ghost of eggie McGee, a doll that is located in one of the households that wonders the village at night, looking for more of his eggie kind. Hide your eggs, or you might have an unpleasant visit from this unwanted egg.

Yarwell Junction is the current western terminus of the Nene Valley Railway. It opened at Easter 2007. It was formerly the junction of the Peterborough to Northampton and Peterborough to Market Harborough lines. In April 2006 a track realignment made space for a platform, and this was constructed during 2007. There was never previously a station on the site. The new station is served by footpaths to Nassington and the mill village of Yarwell, but there is no vehicular access. Yarwell Junction is situated approximately just 1 mile west of Wansford station, at the western end of the 616 yard long Wansford Tunnel, (the fourth longest tunnel on a UK Heritage Railway within preservation).

Sutton Heath and Bog is an 18.3-hectare (45-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of Wansford in Cambridgeshire.This site has two types of grassland, both of which are rare in Cambridgeshire. They are calcareous grassland on Jurassic limestone and base-poor marshy neutral grassland. The base poor areas have a diverse variety of plant species, including some which are locally uncommon.The site is private land but a public footpath runs through the northern end.

Wansford Road railway station was located in Northamptonshire serving the village of Wansford. It was some distance east of the village on the A47 road, although still nearer than the more important Wansford station of the London & North Western Railway. The station was built in 1867.Wansford Road station was on the Stamford and Essendine Railway line from Stamford to Wansford line which never really recovered from the 1926 general strike, and the whole line closed in 1929. The station building survived as a private residence.When National Highways drew up plans to duplicate the A47 road, the station building lay in its path. In 2022 agreement was reached for the building to be dismantled and re-erected as the terminus of the Nene Valley Railway. The project will require an estimated £200,000 from the National Highways.

Southorpe is a settlement and civil parish in the Peterborough district, in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. For electoral purposes it forms part of Barnack ward in North West Cambridgeshire constituency.

Stibbington Hall is a Jacobean country house in Sibson-cum-Stibbington, Huntingdonshire, England. The house and its gateway are Grade I-listed with English Heritage, and additional structures on the 19-acre property are also listed. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner regarded the hall as having "the finest Jacobean façade in the county". Stibbington Hall lies on the River Nene in Huntingdonshire, now a district in Cambridgeshire. It is built of Ketton stone from Rutland with a roof of Collyweston slate from Northamptonshire. Very little is known of the origins of Stibbington Hall. The date 1625 (1626), along with the motto DEO TRIN-UNI SIT GLORIA, are inscribed on a sunken panel on the façade. Carved onto a raised shield on the front gable are the arms of Peter Edwards of Alleston or Alston (lion rampant) and his wife, Joan (or Jane) Knight of Piddington (Gules two bars argent in chief three wolves' heads erased of the second). The initials "I.E. and I.H." (J.E. and J.H.) are carved next to the panel. In 1619, Edwards' widow remarried John Hanger (1579–1638), the rector of Stibbington, who presumably lived at the hall with her. The initials are presumably for Peter's son John Edwards and his wife, but could possibly be for John and Joan Hanger. The house underwent renovations in the 17th, 18th, and 20th centuries.

Wansford Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the preserved Nene Valley Railway in Cambridgeshire. The tunnel is situated to the south of the village of Wansford, but just to the west of Wansford railway station. It was on the Blisworth to Peterborough line, opened in 1845 by the London and Birmingham Railway. The line was originally double track, however in the present day only a single track runs through the full length of the tunnel. A siding is partially contained within the tunnel, entering at the eastern end. The tunnel is 616 yards long and has no ventilation shafts.Just to the west of the tunnel the NVR has opened a new station, Yarwell Junction railway station, which opened to the public in 2007. The hamlet of Sibson lies atop the hill through which the tunnel is bored.

West, Abbot's and Lound Woods is a 50.4-hectare (125-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Wittering in Cambridgeshire.The site has a variety of woodland types, some of which are rare in Britain, including plateau alderwood. There are ancient woodland plants such as yellow archangel and toothwort.The site is private land with no public access.