User talk:Burwellian/Burwell

Early history
The village is located at the head of Burwell Lode, a man-made waterway which connects it with the River Cam. The present course, created in the mid 17th century, replaced an older route which was probably Roman in origin. The lode splits into two at the village, and each branch served a series of basins, warehouses and wharves, which were located at the bottom of long strips of land, with the merchants' houses at the other end of them.

The village and the lode became more important with the opening in the 1850s of the Burwell Chemical Works, owned by T. T. Ball. By the 1890s, it had become the Patent Manure Works, was owned by Colchester and Ball, and around 10,000 tons of goods each year were shipped along the lode, using three steam tugs and a large fleet of lighters. Prentice Brothers Ltd built barges in the village until 1920, and continued repairing them there after they bought the fertilizer factory in 1921. The factory was later owned by Fisons, and boats continued to be used to move the fertiliser to Fenland farms until 1948. Commercial use of the lode ceased in 1963, when the traffic in sugarbeet stopped.

Burwell Castle
The village is the site of an unfinished castle, situated in Spring Close. The final wall was knocked down by the Fire Brigade testing a fire hose in the 1930s, but the dry moat is still clearly visible. The castle was built during "The Anarchy", the internal conflict of the mid 12th century in the reign of King Stephen. Although a settlement had been reached such that the throne would pass to Henry II on Stephen's death, the Barons of the time took the opportunity to fight their own battles.

Among these Geoffrey de Mandeville was particularly troublesome and, after turning against Stephen, had set up an impregnable base around Ely. From his base he would attack local towns, such as Cambridge, and so the king ordered castles be built to surround Geoffrey. The few sites at which it is known such castles were to be constructed include Rampton (Giant's Hill), Ramsey (Booth's Hill) and Burwell.

At Burwell, a moat had been constructed and the stone keep partially built when Geoffrey attacked and was mortally wounded. His revolt thus collapsed and the castle was left unfinished. The narrow lane running along the side of the church next to Spring Close, where the Castle is located, is named "Mandeville".

The Barn Fire on Cuckolds Row
On the 8th of September 1727, a puppet show visited Burwell and put on a show, held in a barn on what is now Cuckolds Row, near the centre of the village. After the barn had filled with an audience from Burwell and surrounding villages, the doors were nailed shut to prevent further people getting in, a simple act which was key to the tragedy which resulted.

One person who could not get into the barn sat with a candle lantern and peered in to watch the show. However, the person accidentally knocked the lantern into the barn, setting fire to the hay within. With no way to escape, 78 people (51 of them, children) perished in the ensuing blaze.

The deceased are buried in the churchyard of St. Marys parish church, at the opposite end of the High Street, with a gravestone engraved with a blazing heart with angels' wings. On 8 September 2005, a plaque was unveiled at the site of the barn in memorial of the fire.

Clunch quarry
Up until the early 20th century the building material clunch was dug in Burwell. Remains of the open quarry can be seen either side of Bloomsfield. Clunch was used to build many of the houses in Burwell and remains the name of the local parish magazine.

Priory Wood
section Like many of the other villages around it, Burwell has a small area of woodland. Planted in 1998 as a community project to commemorate the coming millennium, it is owned and maintained by the Woodland Trust. It has become a haven for local wildlife such as pheasants, foxes and several species of deer. The official name comes from an ancient priory which stood nearby also giving its name to some of the local roads, such as Priory Close and Abbey Close.

Twinning
The village is twinned with two villages: Lizy-sur-Ourcq and Mary-sur-Marne and one small town: Ocquerre. These are all situated in France, but only Lizy is mentioned on the signs as you enter the village. Visits from Burwell to the twinned villages are organised by the Burwell Village Twinning Association. A plate commemorating the twinning is located on a wall on the outside of the Year 3 classroom at the village primary school: Burwell Village College (Primary) which educates local 4-11 year olds. The village falls into the catchment areas of both Bottisham and Soham Village Colleges, which provide education at secondary school level (11-16 yrs).

GUTTED (Education)
Children attend Burwell Village College (Primary School) up until the age of 11 and then go to the secondary school's of either Soham or Bottisham.

Burwell Museum
Rural history museum depicting life through the centuries on the edge of the Cambridgeshire fens. Opened in 1992, it is housed in a collection of interesting buildings, some are reconstructed from other sites (such as the 18th century timber framed barn) and others are built in the local style using mainly reclaimed materials (such as the wagon sheds/granary display area). The neighbouring Grade II* listed windmill, Stevens' Mill, is also part of the Museum and can be visited when the Museum is open.

GUTTED (Sport)
Burwell Swifts F.C. play football in Division 2B of the BIS Cambridgeshire Football League, with a reserve team in Division 4B and a third "A" team in 5C. There are also two youth football clubs; the Burwell Swallows and Burwell Tigers.

Burwell Cricket Club is based on Tan House Lane, with a 1st XI in the East Anglian Premier League.