Fulbourn

Geography

Fulbourn lies about five miles South-East of the centre of Cambridge, separated from the outer City boundary by farmland and the grounds of Fulbourn Hospital. The village itself is fairly compact and roughly in the centre of the administrative parish. North and East of the village the land is flat, drained fenland; to the South and South-West the Gog Magog Hills rise to over 200 feet. Outside the residential area the land is open farmland, with relatively few trees. There is a wooded area including a Nature Reserve to the East in the Manor grounds. The village is set within the Cambridge Green Belt. The traditional parish boundaries follow the line of a Roman road and Icknield Way to the South-West and South-East, Fleam Dyke - an ancient defensive earthwork - to the East and the tributaries of Quy Water that drain to the River Cam. The parish extends some five miles North-South and four miles East-West.

Population

The majority of the population live within a half-mile square in the main village. The main settlement around the Parish Church of St Vigor has extended in post-war years westwards towards Cambridge and northwards in a narrow ribbon of development towards the former station on the Cambridge-Newmarket railway. Substantial housing estate developments, both local authority and private have taken place in the village, particularly south-west and south of the centre. The civil parish contains additional housing located on the edge of Cherry Hinton, which itself falls within the Cambridge City boundary.

The population of the ecclesiastical parish in 2001 has been estimated at about 4,000, being some 78% of the civil parish estimated in 1998 at 5,100. This has grown from a base of 1,440 in 1951 to 2,060 in 1961 and 4,220 in 1971. The 1979 boundary changes moved some (then) un-built-on land from Fulbourn and some partly developed land from Bottisham five miles to the North, though many parents choose to send their children to schools in Cambridge. There is also a special school within the parish which caters for learning disabilities, though this school's future is under discussion at present.

In the High Street there are a number of shops including a Co-op supermarket, a butcher, a greengrocer, a newsagent, a chemist, a flower shop and a post office. There is also a Tesco superstore within the parish close to the hospital site. The village has a well appointed recreation ground adjacent to which is the village hall. to modernise the hall and add a sports and social club and a small indoor sports hall. Fulbourn falls within the jurisdiction of Cambridgeshire County Council and