Cottenham

Much of Cottenham parish lies on a lower greensand ridge around 25 feet (8m) above sea level, which until the 17th century draining of the Fens was the only dry land in between Cambridge and the Isle of Ely around 12 miles to the north-east of the village. The southern side of the parish lies on raised fertile red loam, and the original village settlement is believed to have started as a Roman British island community taking advantage of fertile pasture at the edge of the marshland in between Cambridge and Ely. The growth into a permanent medieval village is thought to have begun from a nucleus of houses defined by High Street, Rooks Street and Denmark Road, a suggestion supported by…