Aldreth

---

title: "Aldreth" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["hamlets-in-cambridgeshire", "east-cambridgeshire-district"] description: "Hamlet in Cambridgeshire, England" topic_path: "general/hamlets-in-cambridgeshire" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldreth" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Hamlet in Cambridgeshire, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
static_image	aldreth top view.jpg
static_image_caption	Aerial view of Aldreth
country	England
coordinates
official_name	Aldreth
civil_parish	Haddenham
london_distance_mi	62
london_direction	S
shire_district	East Cambridgeshire
shire_county	Cambridgeshire
region	East of England
constituency_westminster	South East Cambridgeshire
post_town	ELY
postcode_area	CB
postcode_district	CB6
dial_code	01353
os_grid_reference	TL446735
website	ECDC
::

|static_image = aldreth top view.jpg |static_image_caption = Aerial view of Aldreth |country = England |coordinates = |official_name = Aldreth |area_total_sq_mi = |area_footnotes = |population = |population_ref = |civil_parish = Haddenham |london_distance_mi = 62 |london_direction = S |shire_district = East Cambridgeshire |shire_county = Cambridgeshire |region = East of England |constituency_westminster = South East Cambridgeshire |post_town = ELY |postcode_area = CB |postcode_district = CB6 |dial_code = 01353 |os_grid_reference = TL446735 |website = ECDC

Aldreth is a hamlet in Cambridgeshire with about 260 residents (2001 census). It is located near the larger village of Haddenham (where the population is listed) and falls under the same Parish council. Aldreth is surrounded by fenland on all sides and is close to the River Great Ouse.

History

Toponymy

The name "Aldreth" occurs as Alreheða in the 1170 Pipe rolls, and means "landing-place by the alders", from a combination of the Old English words for "alder" and "hythe". The name also occurs a number of times in the text of the 12th-century Liber Eliensis, as Alreheðe, with one variant as Alhereðe.

Battles

Main article: Hereward the Wake

Aldreth may have been the site of two battles between Hereward the Wake (Anglo-Saxons) and William the Conqueror (Normans). Aldreth was one of three routes, or causeways, into the Isle of Ely at that time; Stuntney Causeway 2.25 mi to the south-east, the Earith Causeway 10 mi to the west-south-west and the Aldreth Causeway 7 mi south-west of the Isle of Ely.

Geography

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Isle_of_Ely_1648_by_J_Blaeu.jpg" caption="Map showing [[Isle of Ely]] surrounded by water
[[Joan Blaeu]] (1648) ''Regiones Inundatae''" alt="old yellowing map of east Cambridgeshire showing Isle of Ely surrounded by water"] ::

Geology

The village is on an east–west running boulder clay (middle-Pleistocene till) ridge sitting on a belt of mainly Jurassic Kimmerigian clays running south-west from The Wash. To the east is a north–south running belt of geologically more recent Upper-Cretaceous Lower Greensand capped by Lower-Cretaceous Gault Clay; the whole area is surrounded by even more recent fen deposits. To the west, again running north-east—south-west, is a scarp belt of middle-Jurassic sedimentary rocks including limestone and sandstone.

The flat fenland countryside around the village, typical for this part of the region, lies about 16 ft above sea-level. The highest point in the village is 23 ft above sea-level and the highest point in the area is 85 ft at Ely, seven-mile (7 mi) north-east. In contrast, the highest point in Cambridgeshire, 479 ft above sea-level, is at Great Chishill, 21 mi almost due south. Holme at nine feet (9.02 ft) below sea-level is East Cambridgeshire's (and the United Kingdom's) lowest point, and is 18 mi north-west.

Community

Aldreth shares an annual village open day, Blossoms & Bygones, with neighbouring village Haddenham. The event, which includes tractor rides, vintage car and tractor displays, and open gardens, held its 40th anniversary in 2011 with a VE Day theme, with villagers dressed in 1940s costume.

|Centre = Aldreth |North = Sutton |Northeast = Haddenham |East = Wilburton |Southeast = Chittering |South = River Great Ouse Cottenham |Southwest = Willingham |West = Earith |Northwest = New Bedford River

References

Bibliography

References

1. [[Eilert Ekwall. Ekwall, E.]], ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names'' (4th ed.), [[Oxford University Press. OUP]], 1960, p. 5 (Aldreth). Cf. Mills, A.D., ''A dictionary of British place-names'', OUP, 1991–2003, p. 5 (Aldreth). Note that Head (1995), p. 86, quotes "Freeman" as follows: "…Aldreth, a corruption of the name of the patron saint [[Æthelthryth]]". Head does not give a reference for, or expand on, the statement from "Freeman", but see Head (1995), pp. 7–8, and cf. [[Edward Augustus Freeman. Freeman, E.A.]], ''[[The History of the Norman Conquest of England]]'' (5 vols. & Index), OUP, 1867-9.
2. Blake, E.O. (ed.), ''Liber Eliensis'', Camden 3rd Series XCII, Royal Historical Society, 1962, pp. 178, 185, 194, 314(x2), 315, 322, 328; the variant "Alhereðe" is at p. 314.
3. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120309112302/http://boar.org.uk/ariwxo3FNQsupXXI.htm Miller (1895) chap. XXI]
4. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090412145350/http://boar.org.uk/ariwxo3FNQsupXXV.htm Miller (1895) chap. XXV]
5. Head (1995) p. 149 plus google earth for distances
6. Darby (1970) p. 106–118 and fig. 16 on p. 107
7. Darby (1970) p. 3 fig. 1
8. (1981). "Geological Survey of Great Britain". Ordnance Survey.
9. {{gbmapping. TL446735
10. (29 November 2002). "UK's lowest spot is getting lower". BBC.
11. "Ely People – Blossoms & Bygones story".

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