Werrington, Cambridgeshire

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Werrington is a ward of the City of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire.

Area: 6 km²
Population: 14,800

1 History
2 Shopping
3 Politics
4 Activities
5 Local Schools
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] History

Originally a village, Werrington was engulfed by Peterborough in the mid 20th Century, as the city expanded. The district is on the northern edge of the connurbation, approximately 4 miles from the city centre. There are two distinct areas of Werrington, "the village" and "new Werrington". The village dates from older periods and focuses on the village green. The new Werrington area focuses on the Werrington Centre, a small shopping complex featuring many stores for basic needs.

[edit] Shopping

Werrington centre has many shops including Rainbow, Age Concern, a family owned bakery, and other small shops. Many of these shops have undergone vast change since 2004 as a result of bigger companies buying out the locally owned shops. The video rental shop changed to a tanning salon but due to business failure has now become a Domino's Pizza take-away, the hardware store 'Ostlers' will be a travel information shop for the nearby bus station. The centre also contains a chip shop (which sells Gluten Free fish and chips on the first Monday of each month), dry cleaners, off licence, pharmacy, hair salon & barbers and also a betting shop among other small stores. The development of Werrington continues today with new residential accommodation in the northernmost part of the area. The shopping centre is to be replaced by Tesco and shops who are considered to be 'in competition' with Tesco will not be offered a new lease.

[edit] Politics

Politically, Werrington is divided into North Werrington and South Werrington. It borders Barnack, Walton, Glinton & Peakirk. Some of the inhabitants of Werrington do not like the word district, but prefer the word village. However, the village of Werrington makes up only a small part of the Werrington development.

[edit] Activities

Werrington has held a Summer Carnival and Bonfire and Fireworks display every year since the 1970s, both of which are run by volunteers from the local Scout and Guide Association in conjunction with Werrington Primary School.

There is an active Werrington Village Cricket Club which plays in the local Huntingdonshire leagues throughout the summer and plays its home games at nearby Campbell Drive sports fields. Werrington badminton club also boasts a club of 100 members ranging from beginners up to county level and play in tournaments around the city and county. They also run two men's and a mixed team in the Hunts league.

[edit] Local Schools

New Werrington contains three schools. William Law and Welbourne are both primary schools. Ken Stimpson Community School is the only secondary school in the area. Recent redevelopment is complete.

Ken Stimpson Community School is a public secondary school which opened in 1982 having formally been a girls only school. The school currently has a roll of about 850 students from years 7 to Post 16 (Years 12/13). Following a review of secondary education in the Peterborough Area, the school is set to grow to 1250 students over the next 4 years. Heavy building work is planned to be started in early May 2005, with the humanities block which consists of 4 classrooms, a humanities office and a store room being demolished in the school Easter break in March 2006 to make way for the future development to accommodate the extra students. The school acquired Business and Enterprise College Specialist school status in late 2004.^[1]

Werrington Village Primary School is the only school in the original village. It has had very high ranking in the school league tables, being in the top 5 for most rankings for primary schools in Peterborough^[2]. The school was founded at the end of the 19th Century on the site of what it now the Village Centre as a Church of England School. The junior school moved to its current site in 1961, followed by the infant school in 1966. The junior and infant schools have now been merged and share a common administration.