Work on roads around the parish – starts 23rd February 2022

Work on roads around the parish - starts 23rd February 2022

Notification has been received this evening that work will commence on roads around the parish to complete the next stage of the Local Highways Improvement programme. The work starts tomorrow, Wednesday 23rd February, and is anticipated to take place until Friday. This will affect Chapel End, Main Street, Mill Road, Luddington Road and Milking Slade Lane at various times over the next few days.

From Cambridgeshire County Council Highways Department:

To ensure works are carried out safely and efficiently, stop/ go boards will be used as part of the traffic management between 07.30 am and 17.30 pm.

Access will be maintained for properties and businesses, however, there might be some delays depending on the activities being carried out on site. Traffic management operatives will be on site to assist anyone.

Please note that due to the nature of our works, there will be some noise generated when carrying out the works. This is unfortunately unavoidable, however, we will endeavor to complete them in a timely manner in order to minimise disruption to the residents.

We thank you in advance for your co-operation and understanding during this time. If you have any further queries or require additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Project Delivery

Cambridgeshire Highways

T:   (+44) 1480  372170

M: (+44) 7776  679371

Chapel End Pond

Chapel End Pond

A photographic essay of how Chapel End pond was reclaimed back to an attractive environmental pond  from being an unloved, overgrown shallow  pit.

Chapel End No. 58

A pond has probably always featured in Chapel End as long as people have been around. It may have been created after clay was dug out for bricks or its just a shallow depression where water has lain.
In our first photograph we see the edge of the pond without a fence this was probably to allow cattle and all other farm livestock to drink from. Its quite easy to forget that mains water was not available until the late 1940’s so water was either well drawn, harvested from roof’s or accumulated in ponds.
As an aside the photograph above shows a curved 4 rail fence, this was replaced with post and wire and then back to post and rail (evolution) The cottages adjacent to Woodway farm were demolished in the late 1960’S. Now we are crying out for small rural housing.

Chapel End Pond restoration 2011

Chapel End pond as it was at 8.40am on September the 10th 2009. Anyone not familiar with the area would be hard pressed to suggest there was a pond there. Overgrown with willow and scrub and the road drains blocked even on the wettest day no water could drain into the pond, instead we had a flow of water all the way down Chapel End to the cross roads on Main Street and a lot of disgruntled villagers complaining about the drains.

As the pond came under the auspices of the Parish Council it had been suggested a few times that some form of reclamation should be undertaken but each time budgetary constraints ruled this out.  It then came to the notice of the Parish Council that Huntingdonshire District Council were offering environmental grants for schemes on a points basis.

We made our case and were lucky enough to be awarded a grant to proceed with works. Quotes from contractors were sought andwere chosen to complete the works. Lattenbury Services were chosen and the job commenced in October 2009.

Chapel End Pond restoration 2011

A specification for excavation and remedial work was drawn up, it was agreed that all the green material around the front of the pond would be lost and the backdrop of the hawthorn hedge and ash trees would be retained subject to some trimming back.

Chapel End Pond restoration 2011

Removing the old concrete fence post’s

Chapel End Pond restoration 2011

Midi digger and Midi dumper (not mini) Excavating the years of silt and associated rubbish from the pond. It was suggested on the initial survey that the pond had a hard base, this proved to be the case with a graduated cobbled bottom in excellent condition. So someone years back put a lot of effort into creating a pond where the mud wouldn’t stir up to much when livestock drank. There is also the suggestion that cart horse would have had their legs washed down after a days work in the field particularly if it was muddy going.

Chapel End Pond restoration 2011

Chipping the green material, this was then excavated with the spoil.

The above picture shows two things, first the completely silted up drain that stopped any road surface water from entering the pond and secondly the cobbled base of the pond which was in excellent condition and allowed the contractors to profile the pond to its original depth.

The pond cleared out to the stone base without too much damage.

The shape of the pond on complete excavation and trimming of green materials.

Laying out the fence line.

The completed project, just add water.

The first drop of rain on 31st October 2009

Two years on almost to the day and the aquatic life is thriving. The pond holds a good level of water and the drains work well both for filling and preventing overflow and consequently we have an environmental area that is attractive and functional. Bringing the story right up to date, the pond supports a thriving population of Great Crested Newts. Chapel End pond is now part of the Great Gidding Newt Trail.

An evening photograph of a newt survey underway.

The hunt begins

Searching for Newts 19th March 2012

Great Gidding Gala Week

Great Gidding Gala Week

A new July event for Great Gidding

A new event for The Giddings! Following the weekend of the Eliot Festival at Little Gidding there will be a series of cultural and fun events held in and around the village. From Monday 8th July through to Sunday 14th July there will be poetry, arts, crafts, lunches, cultural visits and a couple of fun events to cater for all tastes.

Events list

Saturday 6th July and Sunday 7th July

T S Eliot

T S Eliot Festival at Little Gidding

Monday 8th July
History walk around Great Gidding

A guided walk around Great Gidding, looking at a number of historical sites, starting at Chapel End and then along Main Street. Start time 5pm Mill Farm, Chapel End

Tuesday 9th July
Fox and Hounds Great Gidding

Poetry Please, your choice of poem. Tell Paul Burgess 293354 by Friday 5th July.
Start time 11am at 85 Main Street.

Fox & Hounds Lunch, start time 12.30pm.
Booking and menu choice phone 293657 before 1st July.

Menu 1, Ham , salad and hot new potatoes £6.00.
Menu
2, Scampi, chips & peas £7.00


Wednesday 10th July
Wif Waf Evening in Great Gidding Village Hall

Wif Waf evening – fun and games in the Village Hall.
Start time 3.15 through till 10pm, includes an adult bouncy castle.

Thursday 11th July
Spiceland, Peterborough

Visit the Lincoln Road Temple, PE1 3BU from 9.30am

Curry Club lunch at Spiceland 12.30pm . Booking meal phone  293354 or 293591

In the evening there will be a talk about the Civil War and it’s effects on the local area.
Start time 7.30pm, Village Hall.


 Friday 12th July 
Peterborough Museum

A visit to the recently refurbished Peterborough Museum  from 10am and then in the evening “Eliot for Dummies” – a not too serious chat about T S Eliot and his work, meeting at 85 Main Street from 7.30pm

Saturday 13th July
Art Exhibition in Great Gidding

Arts, crafts, photographs and sculpture by residents of Gidding and the surrounding villages  to be held in St Michael’s Church between 2pm _ 5pm followed by an evening concert. Music by Bach & Handel featuring Fergus Black (organ) and Leslie Crowson (tenor) Tickets £4 pay at door.
Start 7.30pm.

Sunday 14th July
St Michael's Church Great Gidding

“Desert Island Hymns”  11.30am – choose your favourite hymn to be sung during the service this, followed by a Garden Party Lunch 12.30pm. Food provided but bring your own drinks.

Choice of Hymn to Lois Jordan 293178 or johndeval@hotmail.com

Further updates and announcements will appear here on the run up to the event

If you would like to help with any of the events or submit an item for the display in the church please let one of the organisers know.

Paul Burgess, Mary Read, Roland Bostock, Julie Morrison and Julie Trolove

Alternatively use the contact form below.

 

The Great Gidding Close Up Quiz – The Answers

The Great Gidding Close Up Quiz - The Answers

Welcome to The Great Gidding Close up Quiz.

If you lived in the village at the time of the Golden Jubilee celebration in 2002 you will recall that we offered a paper based quiz that asked you to identify close up photographs of certain locations around the Parish of Great Gidding. This is an updated version to accommodate the computer and smart phone generation. You may be able to guess some locations from the comfort of your seat in front of the computer but a walk round the village will nail the difficult locations and keep your eyes open when travelling out towards the parish boundaries. All the photographs are taken from public areas. Google Street View may help in some cases.

How to enter – Identify where or what the photograph is, either by house number or descriptive location. The closer the better. When you have identified as many locations as you can fill in the comments box at the foot of this page using a 1,2,3 order and send it in.

The quiz will run until 1pm on Saturday the 23rd June. The winner will be announced at the Mid Summer Picnic on the following day. A wider view photograph will also be posted with location text after this date.

A modest prize will be awarded to the most accurate entry.

Good luck

Click on right hand picture to reveal location

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About The History group

About The History group

General information about the Group:
Meetings take place on the third Wednesday (September to April) and are very informal (no committee or agenda) and quite often we are just chatting about times past and memories, you don’t have to attend each one but would be really pleased if you would like to join us. The venue is usually the Fox and Hounds Pub and sometimes the Village Hall.

We have a growing collection of recordings of Gidding villagers talking about their memories – if you would like to take part please contact us. We have recently started to gather together photographs, newspaper articles and documents which have been generously donated to the Group and will be stored at the Village Hall. We welcome any additions to this collection, so please don’t throw anything away that may be of interest to the Group and/or future researchers of village/family/local history – what you may think is rubbish could be just what someone else is looking for.