Exning
{{Short description|Village in Suffolk, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox UK place
| official_name= Exning
| country= England
| region= East of England
| os_grid_reference=
| population= 1,960
| coordinates = {{coord|52.2667|0.35|display=inline,title}}
| post_town= Newmarket
| postcode_area= CB
| postcode_district= CB8
| dial_code=
| shire_county= Suffolk
| shire_district= West Suffolk
| hide_services= Yes
|static_image = Exning - Church of St Martin.jpg
|static_image_width = 140px
|static_image_caption= Church of St Martin, Exning
}}
Exning is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England.
It lies just off the A14 trunk road, roughly {{convert|12|mi|0}} east-northeast of Cambridge, and {{convert|10|mi|0}} south-southeast of Ely. The nearest large town is Newmarket.
The most conspicuous building in Exning is the Church of St Martin, which is visible from the A14.
History
Local lore reputes Exning to have been the capital of the Iceni tribe and therefore the home of Queen Boadicea (Boudica).{{Cite web |url=http://www.exningparishchurch.net/history_village.htm |title=Exning History |access-date=28 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902020912/http://www.exningparishchurch.net/history_village.htm |archive-date=2 September 2013 |url-status=dead }}
"The Island", a moated earthworks to the south of the parish is no longer visible following the building of the Newmarket bypass (originally part of the A45, before being redesignated the A14{{cite book |first1=Mel |last1=Birch |title=Suffolk's Ancient Sites- Historic Places |date=2004 |publisher=Castell Publishing |location=Mendlesham |isbn=0-948134-50-X}} in 1973.{{cite web |title=EXG 010 - The Island (Med) - Suffolk Heritage Explorer |url=https://heritage.suffolk.gov.uk/Monument/MSF6398 |website=heritage.suffolk.gov.uk |access-date=1 March 2024}} This led to the destruction of the site and its consequential delisting as a scheduled monument. However the site was examined before its destruction.
Exning is reputed to have been the birthplace of Saint Ethelreda, to whom Ely Cathedral is dedicated, though this is disputed.
A spring at Exning was named St Wendreda's Well, and a local legend had it that the seventh-century Saint Wendreda used its water for healing. Newmarket jockeys used to take horses there to drink before a race.{{cite web|url=http://www.fensmuseums.org.uk/page_id__40.aspx|title=Saint Wendreda: the story of a Saxon Princess|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180410072131/http://www.fensmuseums.org.uk/page_id__40.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 April 2018|website=Fensmuseums.org.uk|access-date=9 April 2018}}
At the time of William the Conqueror, Exning was in Staploe Hundred.{{cite web|url=https://opendomesday.org/county/suffolk/|title=Suffolk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116111051/https://opendomesday.org/county/suffolk/|url-status=live|archive-date=16 January 2019|website=Open Domesday|access-date=8 April 2020}} Later, the settlement was in the Liberty of Ely.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} When the powers of the Liberty were reduced, some of its territory returned to Suffolk, including Exning – albeit as a part of Lackford Hundred, where it would remain until the Victorian period. For several centuries, the part of Suffolk centred on Exning was almost an enclave of the county within the confines of Cambridgeshire.{{cite web|url=https://communities.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Compare/storytelling_compare/index.html?appid=7b0e661ef66b4a7aacb5a9acf55108ac|title=Current and historic counties|website=Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government|access-date=8 April 2020}} The parish of Newmarket All Saints was transferred from Cambridgeshire to this virtual enclave in 1894, but it continued to be practically detached until boundary changes in the area widened considerably the "bridge" between it and the rest of Suffolk a hundred years later.{{cite web|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/3026/made|title=The Cambridgeshire and Suffolk (County Boundaries) Order 1992|website=Legislation.gov.uk|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201213171122/https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/3026/made|archive-date=13 December 2020|access-date=11 April 2020}}
The Rosery Hotel is an early Victorian building which was frequently visited by Queen Mary.
During the Second World War, the headquarters of No. 3 Group of RAF Bomber Command were located in Harraton House. Nearby Newmarket Heath, the northwest corner of which borders on Exning, was used as an airfield, RAF Newmarket, for, amongst others, Stirling III Bombers of No. 75 (NZ) Squadron RAF. Little evidence remains of this chapter in Exning's history, apart from a single aircraft hangar on Heath Road, Burwell (near the One Thousand Guineas Connect service station on the A14 trunk road) and a memorial plaque on the racecourse.
See also
- Landwade, a neighbouring village that was formerly in Cambridgeshire but is now part of Exning parish
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Exning}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060428000051/http://www.onesuffolk.co.uk/ExningPC/ Exning Parish Council]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110720134144/http://exning.22plus3.co.uk/ Exning history and pictures]
- [http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/exningmartin.htm St Martin, Exning]
- [http://www.jrsaville.co.uk/exning.htm Photos of Exning today]
- [http://www.exningcc.com Exning Cricket Club]
- [http://www.exningparishchurch.net/ Exning parish churches]
- [http://www.jrsaville.co.uk/Exning_walk.htm Walk Round Exning]
{{West Suffolk|state=expanded}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Civil parishes in Suffolk
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