Cottenham is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, about five and a half miles north of Cambridge city centre as the crow flies. The parish is a wedge of land with its wide northern edge on the Old West River (the Ouse), and its neighbouring parishes are Landbeach, Rampton, Histon, Willingham, Oakington and Westwick and Waterbeach, with Haddenham, Wilburton and Stretham in East Cambridgeshire to the north.
The 2021 Census recorded about 6,300 people living in the parish. Cottenham has been among the largest villages in Cambridgeshire since the 11th century, and it has its own primary school, secondary school, library and post office.
The village sits on a shallow ridge in the southern part of the parish. Its main street runs for more than a mile south-south-west from All Saints' Church to a large triangular green, which had a pond until 1928. Cottenham Village College opened in 1963 on the east side of the green.
The village has suffered several serious fires. One in 1676 destroyed half the village, and another in 1850 destroyed 35 houses, 26 farms and 7 shops.
The Domesday Book of 1086 records 60 tenants at Cottenham, and each of its three manors had a home farm. Long before that, the Roman Car Dyke was cut across the parish, probably in the early 2nd century, to link the Cam with the Ouse at Earith.
As the fen grazing improved with better drainage, dairying became the most important economic activity in the parish. Two varieties of Cottenham cheese were made: a hard cheese like Stilton and, in the autumn, "single Cottenham", said to resemble Camembert. The fens were finally drained under an Act of 1842, and the remaining commons and open fields were inclosed in 1847.
Commercial market gardening began in the early 19th century, and commercial fruit growing expanded quickly during the agricultural depression of the late 19th century. The area under orchards and fruit bushes rose from a little over 200 acres in 1885 to well over 1,000 acres by 1914.
Horse racing on Mason's Pastures is said to have been started by undergraduates in the late 18th or early 19th century. A permanent course was established in the 1880s, and from 1923 three point-to-point meetings were held each year.
The population grew rapidly after 1961, mostly during the 1960s, rising from 2,400 in 1961 to 4,125 in 1981.
Cottenham has a conservation area, first designated in February 1972. It was originally two separate areas, which were joined by an extension in November 1989. Greater Cambridge Shared Planning publishes a boundary map for the area.
All Saints' Church is listed Grade I. Historic England describes it as of 13th-century origins but mostly rebuilt in the 15th century. Its west tower was felled by a storm in 1617 and the upper stages were rebuilt in pink brick, topped by corner turrets with distinctive ogee domes, balls and pinnacles.
Cottenham became a prominent centre of dissent in the 19th century. The Old Meeting Baptist chapel on the High Street was rebuilt in 1856 as a large gabled building in local gault brick.
Cottenham Primary School on Lambs Lane is a community primary school for children aged 5 to 11. Ofsted last inspected the school in May 2023.
Cottenham Village College on the High Street is a secondary academy for students aged 11 to 16, part of the Astrea Academy Trust. Ofsted last inspected the school in October 2023.
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Cottenham grew quickly from the 1960s, and much of the land between High Street, Lambs Lane and Rampton Road, formerly orchards and market gardens, is now housing.
HM Land Registry recorded 209 standard residential sales in Cottenham between October 2024 and August 2026. The median price was £415,000. Of those sales, 106 were detached houses, 54 semi-detached, 46 terraced and 3 flats or maisonettes, with prices ranging from £128,000 to £1,175,000. Because the mix of homes sold varies from year to year, these figures give a general picture rather than a precise valuation.
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Cottenham is about five and a half miles north of Cambridge city centre in a straight line. Stagecoach East route 8 links the village with the city centre.
No. The nearest stations are Waterbeach, about three and a half miles away, and Cambridge North, about four and a half miles away.
Yes. Cottenham Village College on the High Street takes students aged 11 to 16, and Cottenham Primary School on Lambs Lane takes children aged 5 to 11.
Yes. The Cottenham Conservation Area was first designated in 1972 and extended in 1989 to join what were originally two separate areas. All Saints' Church, listed Grade I, stands at the northern end of the High Street.
