The Green 1907 (photo F Smith)

The Green, Cottenham

The History of the Green Cottenham

Robert Ivatt planted trees on the Green in 1885. There was once a pond known as the Weir. It had been very poorly maintained and rarely cleaned out. In fact, mud from the village streets was usually dumped in the pond. So in 1925 the Parish Council decided that rubbish should be dumped in the pond until it was filled in.

There used to be a roadway across the Green. There was a pump on the road, about thirty feet from the pond. During the typhoid epidemics from 1885 until 1903 water from here was used when sources at Church End were found to be contaminated.

There were originally four public pumps in Cottenham: at the Green, Garibaldi Terrace, Lordship Lane and at Church End. According to Cottenham in Focus three of the pumps were removed in 1955. The last one, at Church End, was removed to the Green in 1985.