The 1834 Enclosures Act

The 1834 Enclosures Act was broadly a means of primarily identifying ownership of land but also the usage of the land and rights of way and common. For every Parish two copies of the Enclosures Act were produced. One a County copy and the second a Parish copy, ours for instance was to be kept in the Parish Church. Recently we have finished transcribing the 1834 enclosures Act. This is a project that we have been working on (on and off) for the past 10 years and have borrowed the Act from the Parish Council who are the current custodians. We are fortunate that the Oakington Parish copy still exists and is currently in the custodian of our parish council .

There are a number of street names or public areas that have been lost or had their names changed. In the image of the Cross Roads below Image you can see there was an area called Ale House Green (which is adjacent to the site of the original White Horse) either side of Longstanton Road. It extended as far west as the bridge on Dry Drayton Road called Gimblets Bridge and to the east to nearly as far as another bridge on Water Lane called Collins Bridge – now a culvert.
The Adeane family owned several enclosures in Oakington and Westwick. One of them Henry James Adeane was educated at Trinity College Cambridge, was MP for Cambridgeshire between 1830 and 1832. His great grandson was Michael Edward Adeane (Barron) educated at Magdalene College Cambridge and was Private Secretary to the Queen 1953 to 1972. His son George Edward Adeane was Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales from 1979 to 1985.