Little Thetford | |
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Little Thetford looking north-east. Ely is north—top-left. The A10 road at Thetford corner is west and the River Great Ouse is east. The south-west block of housing is where the Iron Age settlement and Romano-British tile kiln were found |
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Little Thetford shown within Cambridgeshire | |
Area | 2 sq mi (5.2 km2) |
Population | 792 (2011) |
• Density | 396/sq mi (153/km2) |
OS grid reference | TL530764 |
• London | 62 mi (100 km) S |
Civil parish |
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District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | ELY |
Postcode district | CB6 |
Dialling code | 01353 |
Police | Cambridgeshire |
Fire | Cambridgeshire |
Ambulance | East of England |
EU Parliament | East of England |
UK Parliament | |
Website | ECDC |
Little Thetford /ˈθɛtfɔːrd/ is a small village and civil parish 3 miles (5 km) south of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, about 76 miles (122 km) by road from London. The village is built on a boulder clay island surrounded by flat fenland countryside, typical of settlements in this part of the East of England. During the Mesolithic era, the fenland basin was mostly dry and forested, although subject to salt and fresh water incursions. The marshes and meres of this fenland may therefore have been difficult to occupy, other than seasonally, but there is evidence of human settlement on the island since the late Neolithic Age; a Bronze Age causeway linked the village with the nearby Barway, to the south-east. An investigation, prior to a 1995 development in the village, discovered a farm and large tile-kiln of Romano-British origin; further investigations uncovered an earlier settlement of the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The Roman road Akeman Street passed through the north-west corner of the parish, and the lost 7th century Anglo-Saxon village of Cratendune may be nearby.