Little Downham
Encyclopedia
Situated in the east of Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...

, the village of Little Downham is located just 3 miles (5 km) north of the city of Ely
Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about by road from London. It is built on a Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of is the highest land in the Fens...

. The Parish of Little Downham comprises Little Downham and Pymoor. It has an approximate population of 2660 with approximately 35 miles for footpaths around the parish.

It was the only site in Cambridgeshire to be covered by the Survey of English Dialects
Survey of English Dialects
The Survey of English Dialects was undertaken between 1950 and 1961 under the direction of Professor Harold Orton of the English department of the University of Leeds. It aimed to collect the full range of speech in England and Wales before local differences were to disappear...

.

In the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 the village is called Duneham. At the time the Fens were mostly flooded, and the village is on a small rise of solid ground (visible today), so there may have been 'dunes' there.

Local Nature Reserve

Little Downham has the first dedicated Local Nature Reserve in East Cambridgeshire
East Cambridgeshire
East Cambridgeshire is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in Ely....

which is situated adjacent to the Bishop's walk. It consists of four sections of land, measuring a total of 17 acres.

Local Events

Each year a village fete is staged in June and in the same month a Medieval Fair is held just outside of the village. In September the local primary school organises a Scarecrow Fair, that sees the village lined with Scarecrows for the week building up to the fair.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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