Soham sits on the edge of the fens between Ely and Newmarket, and most of the parish is almost flat, well under 10 metres above sea level. East Cambridgeshire District Council’s conservation area appraisal notes that the town stands mostly on gault, with gravels to the east and alluvium to the north and west. Soham Mere, once one of the largest lakes in England, was drained for farmland by the early 1800s. Fen, common and an old market street give the place a character quite different from the villages nearer Cambridge.
Gault brick, slate and very little thatch
Walk along the High Street, Hall Street or Paddock Street and gault brick is everywhere: double-fronted houses, villas and terraces, some painted or rendered, mostly under slate roofs. The appraisal also records flint on side and rear walls, older timber-framed buildings, and red pantiles on some of the earliest properties. Thatch is rare, and the council picks out only a handful of thatched buildings in the town.
Away from the historic spine, the council built extensively after 1945, most quickly between the late 1960s and early 1980s, and private estates have carried the town further towards the Ely Road. So a Soham job might mean matching weathered gault brick on a Victorian house one week, and opening up the layout of a later estate home the next.
The Soham kitchen and extension project
Our Soham kitchen and extension case study shows a U-shaped kitchen planned around a bay window extension, with the sink and drainer set into the bay to make the most of the light. Slate-grey shaker units, white quartz worktops and upstands, recessed spotlights and herringbone vinyl flooring finish it off. It is the kind of job where our kitchens and extensions work comes together under one team.
Church, windmill and commons
The conservation area covers the historic centre of Soham and was extended in 2007. At the north end of the High Street, St Andrew’s Church is a Grade I listed minster church begun around 1180, with a 15th-century west tower. Downfield Windmill is Grade II* listed: first built as a smock mill in 1726, it was raised in 1860, largely rebuilt after a storm in 1889 and restored in 1975. Soham also keeps its commons at Angles Common, East Fen and Qua Fen, along with rare surviving medieval open fields.
East Cambridgeshire District Council has also published an Article 4 notice for Soham, which removes some permitted development rights, so check before assuming work can go ahead without an application. We advise checking with East Cambridgeshire District Council before you start.
How A&F works
A&F Building Services is a family-run builder, established in 1993 and fully insured, covering Cambridge, Newmarket and the surrounding villages. Everything from the first design consultation to completion is handled in-house, so you do not have to organise separate trades. In Soham that often means:
- kitchens and extensions, like the project above
- brickwork and flint walls, including repairs on older gault brick and flint properties
- garage conversions and refurbishments for later estate homes
- property maintenance for older houses that need regular care
Whatever the job, it is run by our own family team from start to finish.
