Fowlmere is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, about eight miles south-south-west of Cambridge city centre as the crow flies and about five miles north-east of Royston. Neighbouring parishes are Thriplow and Heathfield, Heydon, Melbourn, Foxton, Shepreth, Duxford and Great and Little Chishill. Its postal address is Royston, Hertfordshire, although the village is in Cambridgeshire.
The 2021 Census recorded about 1,300 people living in the parish. Part of the village lies within the Fowlmere Conservation Area, first designated in 1973 and extended in 1991.
The village takes its name from a mere. In the north-west of the parish, the Great Moor and North Moor, about 200 acres of marshy ground fed by springs at Black Peak on the Melbourn border, formed a mere that once provided food and fuel for parishioners and wildfowling for visitors from Cambridge. It was drained after enclosure.
Nearly 100 acres near Black Peak were laid out as watercress beds around 1890, with produce sent to London, Manchester and other cities, until cultivation stopped between 1960 and 1965. In 1977 the RSPB bought 66 acres there as a nature reserve. Today the RSPB's Fowlmere reserve covers the former watercress beds, now reedbed, fen and scrub, alongside the River Shep, a chalk stream. Most of its paths are boardwalks or hard surfaces.
The Domesday Book of 1086 records 36 inhabitants at Fowlmere: 22 villani, 10 bordars and four servi (unfree labourers), together with a water mill. In 1066 the manor was held by Aluric Campe, and by 1086 it had passed to Robert Gernon. Land around and north of the village was enclosed early, but the rest of the parish was not enclosed until 1845.
Fowlmere lies on what was once the main road from London to King's Lynn, already in use in 1260. Its position on the road brought several inns, and Samuel Pepys stayed at the Chequers in 1660. A fire in 1634 seems to have destroyed much of the village, so only a few houses, or parts of houses, survive from the 16th or early 17th century. The population rose from 420 in 1801 to 616 in 1841.
During the First World War land south-west of the village became an aerodrome, and by 1918 some 700 RAF staff were based there. It was abandoned soon after the war and its buildings were demolished in 1923. Another airfield was developed a little to the north in 1940 and became a United States Army Air Forces station in 1944. It closed after the war and most of the land returned to farming, although a private grass airfield, Fowlmere Airfield, still operates nearby.
The Fowlmere Conservation Area was designated in March 1973 and extended in September 1991. South of the High Street, about 175 metres south-east of the parish church, lies the Round Moat, the earthworks of an early ringwork, which Historic England describes as medieval, scheduled as a monument since 1925.
The Church of St Mary the Virgin is listed Grade I. The coursed rubble walls of its nave survive from a 12th-century church, and the church has a central tower with north and south transepts. The top stage of the tower, which carries the Vere arms on its battlements, dates from the 15th century, and the rood screen from the 14th century.
The Chequers Inn on the High Street is listed Grade II. It is timber-framed and plastered, dating from the late 15th or early 16th century with 17th-century additions.
The former United Reformed chapel on Chapel Lane is listed Grade II. Built as a meeting house in about 1780 on land given by Benjamin Wedd, it had an apse added in 1870 and a bell tower and clock in 1881. In October 2026 the parish council completed its purchase of the building, which it says secures the future of Fowlmere Playgroup and will provide community space and a base for the parish council.
Fowlmere Primary School is a community school on The Butts for children aged 4 to 11. Ofsted last inspected the school in April 2025, and the full report is available on the Ofsted website.
Fowlmere has no secondary school of its own. The parish council and South Cambridgeshire District Council both give Melbourn Village College as the catchment secondary school. Catchment areas can change, so families should confirm current catchment with Cambridgeshire County Council admissions.
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Fowlmere's housing ranges from a few houses surviving from the 16th and 17th centuries and a number of 18th-century buildings in the old village to 20th-century homes, including development around the Round Moat that began in 1976.
HM Land Registry recorded 28 standard residential sales in Fowlmere between October 2024 and July 2026. The median price was £485,000. Of those sales, 18 were detached houses, 7 semi-detached and 3 terraced, with prices ranging from £180,000 to £1,490,000. Because the mix of homes sold varies from year to year, these figures give a general picture rather than a precise valuation.
Thinking of moving to or from Fowlmere? Book a free valuation or browse property for sale with our team.
Fowlmere is about eight miles south-south-west of Cambridge city centre in a straight line.
Not in the village itself. Foxton station is about two miles away and Shepreth just over two miles, as the crow flies, both with Great Northern trains to Cambridge and London King's Cross. Whittlesford Parkway, about four miles east, has Greater Anglia trains to London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport.
From a mere. About 200 acres of spring-fed marsh in the north-west of the parish formed a mere, which was drained after enclosure. Part of the area is now the RSPB's Fowlmere nature reserve.
Fowlmere Primary School serves children aged 4 to 11. The catchment secondary school is given as Melbourn Village College; please confirm current catchment with Cambridgeshire County Council.
