Oakington - History

History

Oakington formed just over a mile to the north east of the Roman road Via Devana (now the A14) and early Anglo-Saxon burials have been found near the church. The ancient parish of Oakington covered 1,692 acres (685 ha) with the Via Devana forming its south-western boundary with Dry Drayton. The Beck Brook separated it from Westwick and Histon to the east, and field boundaries divided it from Longstanton to the north, and Girton to the south.

The village has long been paired with neighbouring Westwick, and the latter has relied on Oakington for a parish church since the 13th century. In 1985 the two parishes were merged to form the civil parish of Oakington and Westwick, and now covers 1,862 acres (754 ha).

After reaching a peak population of 610 in 1851, poverty led to widespread emigration to Adelaide, Australia, and it was reported that the population fell by a third in three years. New housing was built after the Second World War and the population has risen steadily since.

The railway reached the parish in 1847, with the Oakington railway station opening in 1848. The line closed in 1970, but is now used by the Cambridge to St Ives guided bus.

In 1909 two Oakington residents, Messrs Grose and Feary, built a monoplane in an attempt to win the Daily Mail prize for £1,000 for the first Briton to fly a circular mile in an all-British aeroplane.

From 1940 a Royal Air Force base, RAF Oakington, was constructed at Oakington covering 540 acres (220 ha) and served as a base for Short Stirling bomber forces and reconnaissance planes. In the post war period it as used for flight training, in the last period with Vickers Varsity aircraft; however when the need for training on piston-engined planes reduced, it was converted to a barracks in 1975, which in turn closed in 1999. The site was then leased to the Home Office and was converted into Oakington Immigration Reception Centre, an immigration detention centre. The base contracted after the war and much evidence of its former presence is visible in farmland surrounding the current perimeter.

Listed as Hochinton in the Domesday Book of 1086, the name "Oakington" means "estate of a man called Hocca".