Alconbury Weston
Alconbury Weston – in Huntingdonshire (now part of Cambridgeshire), England – is a village and civil parish, lying just outside of the Fens, having just a few hills, but a significant change to the flat of the Fens. Alconbury Weston is situated 6.5 miles (10.5 km) north-west of Huntingdon.
| Alconbury Weston | |
|---|---|
  Alconbury Weston Location within Cambridgeshire | |
| Population | 800 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | TL1776 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Huntingdon |
| Postcode district | PE28 |
| Police | Cambridgeshire |
| Fire | Cambridgeshire |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
History
Alconbury Weston was listed as Westune in the Domesday Book in the Hundred of Leightonstone in Huntingdonshire; the name of the settlement was written in the Domesday Book.[1] In 1086 there was just one manor at Alconbury Weston; the annual rent paid to the lord of the manor in 1066 had been £1 and the rent was the same in 1086.[2] There were four households with an estimated population of 14 to 20.[2][3] There was one ploughland at Alconbury Weston in 1086 and that there was the capacity for a further one ploughland,[2] and a total tax assessed of one geld.[2]
Government
Alconbury Weston parish council is the lowest tier of government and consists of seven members.[4] The second tier of local government is Huntingdonshire District Council which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and has its headquarters in Huntingdon. Alconbury Weston is a part of the district ward of Alconbury and The Stukeleys and is represented on the district council by one councillor.[5][6] The highest tier of local government is Cambridgeshire County Council. Alconbury Weston is a part of the electoral division of Huntingdon and is represented on the county council by two councillors.[5][7]
Alconbury Weston 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, Alconbury Weston became a part of the county of Cambridgeshire.
At Westminster, Alconbury Weston is in the parliamentary constituency of Huntingdon. Since 2001 Alconbury Weston has been represented in the House of Commons by Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative).
Geography
The Alconbury Brook runs through the village then through Alconbury and on into Hinchingbrooke Park. The brook has a history of flooding, with the village being affected numerous times in the 20th and 21st centuries.[8][9]
Location
Neighbouring parishes | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Climate
The climate in the United Kingdom is defined as a temperate oceanic climate, or Cfb on the Köppen climate classification system, a classification it shares with most of northwest Europe.[10] Eastern areas of the United Kingdom, such as East Anglia, are drier, cooler, less windy and also experience the greatest daily and seasonal temperature variations. Protected from the cool onshore coastal breezes further to the east of the region, Cambridgeshire is warm in summer, and cold and frosty in winter.
The nearest Met Office climate station to Alconbury Weston is at Monks Wood, which is 2.2 miles (3.5 km) to the north-east. The average annual rainfall for the United Kingdom between 1981 and 2010 was 1,154 millimetres (45.4 in) but Cambridgeshire is one of the driest counties with around half of the national level. Regional weather forecasting and historical summaries are available from the UK Met Office.[11][12] Additional local weather stations report periodic figures to the internet such as Weather Underground, Inc.[13]
| Climate data for Monks Wood, elevation 41m, (1981–2010 averages) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 7.2 (45.0) |
7.7 (45.9) |
10.7 (51.3) |
13.5 (56.3) |
16.8 (62.2) |
19.7 (67.5) |
22.4 (72.3) |
22.3 (72.1) |
19.2 (66.6) |
15.0 (59.0) |
10.3 (50.5) |
7.4 (45.3) |
14.4 (57.9) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 1.1 (34.0) |
0.8 (33.4) |
2.6 (36.7) |
3.8 (38.8) |
6.6 (43.9) |
9.7 (49.5) |
11.8 (53.2) |
11.7 (53.1) |
9.9 (49.8) |
7.0 (44.6) |
3.9 (39.0) |
1.9 (35.4) |
5.9 (42.6) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 47.0 (1.85) |
35.0 (1.38) |
40.1 (1.58) |
47.0 (1.85) |
47.9 (1.89) |
54.1 (2.13) |
48.3 (1.90) |
51.7 (2.04) |
53.3 (2.10) |
60.2 (2.37) |
54.2 (2.13) |
47.1 (1.85) |
585.8 (23.06) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 58.0 | 77.4 | 109.9 | 152.3 | 186.2 | 180.6 | 193.3 | 188.1 | 142.5 | 114.6 | 67.0 | 52.4 | 1,522.2 |
| Source: Met Office Monks Wood, Cambridgeshire | |||||||||||||
Demography
Population
In the period 1801 to 1901 the population of Alconbury Weston was recorded every ten years by the UK census. During this time the population was in the range of 281 (the lowest in 1801) and 561 (the highest in 1861).[14]
From 1901, a census was taken every ten years with the exception of 1941 (due to the Second World War).
| Parish |
1911 |
1921 |
1931 |
1951 |
1961 |
1971 |
1981 |
1991 |
2001 |
2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alconbury Weston | 319 | 327 | 276 | 254 | 297 | 476 | 645 | 744 | 793 | 800 |
All population census figures from report Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011 by Cambridgeshire Insight.[14]
In 2011, the parish covered an area of 1,732 acres (701 hectares)[14] and so the population density for Alconbury Weston in 2011 was 295.6 persons per square mile (114.1 per square kilometre).
Culture and community
The brook is home to a number of water birds such as Mallard, Swan and Wren and the stream is also home to small fish such as Roach and also larger predatory fish such as Pike.
The village used to contain a Butchers, Farm Shop, Freezer Shop, post office and Master Saddlers which have all now shut down. It has one pub, The White Hart
Village Green Alconbury Weston
Down Stream on the Alconbury Brook
Flood Water Culvert Alconbury Weston
References
- Ann Williams; G.H. Martin, eds. (1992). Domesday Book: A Complete Translation. London: Penguin Books. p. 1304. ISBN 0-141-00523-8.
- Professor J.J.N. Palmer. "Open Domesday: Place – Alconbury Weston". www.opendomesday.org. Anna Powell-Smith. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
- Goose, Nigel; Hinde, Andrew. "Estimating Local Population Sizes" (PDF). Retrieved 23 February 2016.
- "Alconbury Weston Parish Council". Alconbury Weston Parish Council. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
- "Ordnance Survey Election Maps". www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Ordnance Survey. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
- "Huntingdonshire District Council: Councillors". www.huntsdc.gov.uk. Huntingdonshire District Council. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
- "Cambridgeshire County Council: Councillors". www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk. Cambridgeshire County Council. Archived from the original (pdf) on 5 February 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
- "Alconbury Brook Flood Alleviation Scheme - information page - Environment Agency - Citizen Space". consult.environment-agency.gov.uk. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
- "Cambridgeshire flooding: Alconbury hit for third time since Christmas". BBC News. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
- Peel, M. C.; Finlayson, B. L.; McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen–Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11 (5): 1633–1644. Bibcode:2007HESS...11.1633P. doi:10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007. ISSN 1027-5606. (direct: Final Revised Paper)
- "Forecast:East of England". UK Weather Forecasts. UK Met Office. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- "Monks Wood Climate: Averages Table". UK Climate Summaries. UK Met Office. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- "Alconbury Weston, United Kingdom". Weather Underground, Inc. 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- "Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011". www.cambridgeshireinsight.org.uk. Cambridgeshire Insight. Archived from the original (xlsx – download) on 15 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
External links
Media related to Alconbury Weston at Wikimedia Commons