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Yaxley, Cambridgeshire

Coordinates: 52°31′N 0°16′W / 52.52°N 0.26°W / 52.52; -0.26
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Yaxley
St Peter's Church, Yaxley
Yaxley is located in Cambridgeshire
Yaxley
Yaxley
Location within Cambridgeshire
Population9,174 (2011)
OS grid referenceTL185925
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townPeterborough
Postcode districtPE7
Dialling code01733
PoliceCambridgeshire
FireCambridgeshire
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Cambridgeshire
52°31′N 0°16′W / 52.52°N 0.26°W / 52.52; -0.26
Village sign in Yaxley
Not to be confused with Yaxley, Suffolk.

Yaxley is a village and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England.[1] Yaxley lies approximately 4 miles (6 km) south of Peterborough, just off the A15 road. The village is located near the Hampton township, and is approximately three miles northeast of junction 16 of the A1(M) at Norman Cross.

History[edit]

Yaxley was listed as Lacheslei in the Domesday Book of 1086 in the Hundred of Norman Cross in Huntingdonshire.[2] In 1086 there was one manor at Yaxley and 39 households.[3]

The Church of England Parish Church of St Peter is a Grade I listed building.[4]

Norman Cross Prison, the earliest known prisoner-of-war camp, was constructed between Yaxley and the villages of Folksworth and Stilton from 1796-97[5] for the purpose of holding captured troops during the French Revolutionary Wars.

In 2011, a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl died after having been hit by a falling tree branch in Middletons Road Recreation Ground.[6] The family reached an out-of-court settlement with the Yaxley Parish Council, whom were held responsible for the tree, after it was found that it was not following the health and safety guidelines for risk assessments and maintenance in public places.[7]

In 2019, the village was flooded with "grey and murky" water carrying "a creamy substance on [its] surface" after two separate sewage pumps failed a week apart from each other. The incident caused the deaths of at least sixty fish, some of which were reported to have been "leaping from the water like they'd been electrocuted or attacked".[8] The village was flooded again in 2024. Peterborough City Council claimed that this was "due to the lack of maintenance of the watercourse", however the Yaxley Parish Council denied this claim and alleged that the flooding was the result of a housing development in Great Haddon, a location situated on land owned by the Peterborough City Council.[9][10]

In 2020, thousands of bees swarmed a street sign on Hillside walk.[11] A man was arrested in October 2022 after having been spotted feeding pizza to a stolen Jack Russell Terrier, whom he was hiding beneath his jacket.[12] In 2023, a resident discovered an active World War One-era grenade in his home. The weapon was later detonated in a field near the man's house.[13]

Government[edit]

As a civil parish, Yaxley has a parish council. The parish council is elected by the residents of the parish who have registered on the electoral roll; the parish council is the lowest tier of government in England. A parish council is responsible for providing and maintaining a variety of local services including allotments and a cemetery; grass cutting and tree planting within public open spaces such as a village green or playing fields. The parish council reviews all planning applications that might affect the parish and makes recommendations to Huntingdonshire District Council, which is the local 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.

Yaxley 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, Yaxley became a part of the county of Cambridgeshire.

The second tier of local government is Huntingdonshire District Council which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and has its headquarters in Huntingdon. Huntingdonshire District Council has 52 councillors representing 29 district wards.[14] Huntingdonshire District Council collects the council tax, and provides services such as building regulations, local planning, environmental health, leisure and tourism.[15] Yaxley is a part of the district ward of Yaxley and Farcet and is represented on the district council by three councillors.[16][14] District councillors serve for four-year terms following elections to Huntingdonshire District Council.

For Yaxley the highest tier of local government is Cambridgeshire County Council which has administration buildings in Cambridge. The county council provides county-wide services such as major road infrastructure, fire and rescue, education, social services, libraries and heritage services.[17] Cambridgeshire County Council consists of 69 councillors representing 60 electoral divisions.[18] Yaxley is part of the electoral division of Norman Cross[16] and is represented on the county council by two councillors.[18] Councillor Mac McGuire of the Conservatives represented Yaxley from 1985 to 1992 and again from 1997 until his death was announced in January 2024.[19] The current councillor is Liberal Democrat Andrew Wood, whom was elected in March 2024.[20][21]

At Westminster Yaxley is in the parliamentary constituency of North West Cambridgeshire,[16] and elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. Yaxley is represented in the House of Commons by Shailesh Vara (Conservative). Shailesh Vara has represented the constituency since 2005. The previous member of parliament was Brian Mawhinney (Conservative) who represented the constituency between 1997 and 2005.

Demography[edit]

Population[edit]

In the period 1801 to 1901 the population of Yaxley was recorded every 10 years by the UK census. During this time the population was in the range of 986 (the lowest was in 1801) and 1,590 (the highest was in 1901).[22]

From 1901, a census was taken every ten years with the exception of 1941 (due to the Second World War). The population at the Census 2011 included Denton.

Parish
 1911
 1921
 1931
 1951
 1961
 1971
 1981
 1991
 2001
 2011
 2021
Yaxley 1,697 1,792 1,934 2,761 2,690 3,943 5,962 6,922 7,413 9,174 9,409[23]

All population census figures from report Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011 by Cambridgeshire Insight.[22]

In 2011, the parish covered an area of 3,296 acres (1,334 hectares)[22] and the population density of Yaxley in 2011 was 1781.4 persons per square mile (687.7 per square kilometre).[24]

Sport and leisure[edit]

Yaxley has a Non-League football club Yaxley F.C., which play at Leading Drove. Yaxley also has a number of Rugby League players who play with Cambridge Lions in Cambridge. Denmark's Speedway World Cup winning captain Niels Kristian Iversen is the village's most famous sporting resident.

The Yaxley to Farcet cycleway was replaced after two men were hit by a vehicle and killed on the route.[25][26]

Notable People[edit]

  • Olinthus Gregory (1774–1841), a mathematician, author and editor; born in Yaxley.[27]
  • Peter Burroughs (born 1947), resided in Yaxley, running a shop and later in life becoming an actor.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 142 Peterborough (Market Deeping & Chatteris) (Map). Ordnance Survey. 2012. ISBN 9780319229248.
  2. ^ Ann Williams; G.H. Martin, eds. (1992). Domesday Book: A Complete Translation. London: Penguin Books. p. 1430. ISBN 0-141-00523-8.
  3. ^ J.J.N. Palmer. "Open Domesday: Place – Yaxley". www. opendomesday.org. Anna Powell-Smith. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  4. ^ Historic England. "Parish Church of St Peter (Grade I) (1274392)". National Heritage List for England.
  5. ^ "Site of the Norman Cross Depot for Prisoners of War, Non Civil Parish - 1006782 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  6. ^ "Falling branch kills schoolgirl in Yaxley park". BBC News. 1 July 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  7. ^ "Yaxley falling branch death: Parent's tribute to 'beautiful girl'". BBC News. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  8. ^ "Anglian Water fined £18k after sewage flooded river in Yaxley". BBC News. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  9. ^ "Fears Great Haddon development could be flooding Yaxley village". BBC News. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  10. ^ "Discharge of Water from Great Hadden development into Yaxley". Yaxley Parish Council. Archived from the original on 23 June 2024. The Parish Council have been very concerned with the adverse impacts created by the discharge of water from the new Great Haddon Development site on the village.
  11. ^ "'Amazing' swarm of bees removed from street sign". BBC News. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  12. ^ "Peterborough thief caught feeding pizza to stolen dog". BBC News. 21 October 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  13. ^ "Watch: World War One grenade is detonated in field". BBC News. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  14. ^ a b "Huntingdonshire District Council: Councillors". www. huntingdonshire.gov.uk. Huntingdonshire District Council. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  15. ^ "Huntingdonshire District Council". www. huntingdonshire.gov.uk. Huntingdonshire District Council. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  16. ^ a b c "Ordnance Survey Election Maps". www. ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  17. ^ "Cambridgeshire County Council". www. cambridgeshire.gov.uk. Cambridgeshire County Council. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  18. ^ a b "Cambridgeshire County Council: Councillors". www. cambridgeshire.gov.uk. Cambridgeshire County Council. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  19. ^ "Tributes after death of Cambridgeshire councillor Mac McGuire". BBC News. 4 January 2024. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  20. ^ "Lib Dems win by-election at Yaxley and Farcet in Cambridgeshire". BBC News. 22 March 2024. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  21. ^ "Council and committee meetings - Cambridgeshire County Council > Councillors". cambridgeshire.cmis.uk.com. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  22. ^ a b c "Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011" (xlsx – download). www.cambridgeshireinsight.org.uk. Cambridgeshire Insight. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  23. ^ "Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  24. ^ UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Yaxley Parish (E04001754)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics.
  25. ^ "Driver charged with causing deaths of two men appears in court". Echo. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  26. ^ "Man charged over Yaxley double road deaths". BBC News. 6 January 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  27. ^ "Gregory, Olinthus Gilbert" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 577.

External links[edit]

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