In 1951 Teversham had 534 residents. Forty years later it had 2,452. Housing doubled between 1931 and 1951, more than 700 new homes were built over the south-western edge of the parish by the 1980s, and by 1981 about half the houses in Teversham were council-built. So although the parish church is medieval, most homes in Teversham are post-war, and that shapes the kind of building work people here want.
Room to grow in a post-war house
The newer parts of the village grew away from the old street, first in closely packed blocks south-west of the centre, opposite Hall Farm, then with around 90 more homes between Pembroke and Manor Farms in the late 1970s. Houses of this kind usually have a sensible footprint and a decent garden, and the common upgrades are a single-storey rear extension, turning a garage into a usable room with a garage conversion, or a new kitchen.
Our nearest finished project is next door in Cherry Hinton, where we removed the rear wall of a house on structural steel and built a lean-to extension with a vaulted ceiling, Velux windows and bifold doors. The Cherry Hinton extension case study shows the result. For a home office without touching the house, a garden room is the other route.
Building on gault
Teversham lies almost entirely on gault, a heavy clay, with gravel in the north-west of the parish and peat out in the eastern fen. Clay soils need foundations designed for the site, especially near trees, so a structural engineer’s input and building control approval are part of any extension here. It is not a reason to avoid building, just something to plan for from the beginning.
The old village by All Saints
The medieval village ran along a street curving south-east from the church, with a green beside it. Not much from before 1800 survives, which makes what is left more valuable. The Church of All Saints, Grade II*, dates from the 13th century, with a west tower inserted in the early 15th; two of its rectors, John Whitgift and Richard Bancroft, later became Archbishops of Canterbury. At 6 Church Road, a Grade II listed 17th-century cottage has a plastered timber frame, brick casing added in the 20th century, and a reed thatched roof. Teversham Hall, The Rectory and Manor Farmhouse are also listed.
The area around the church is a conservation area, first designated in January 1998 and revised in 2006, when South Cambridgeshire District Council adopted its current appraisal. If your house is inside it or listed, expect a closer look at extensions and outside changes. A&F Building Services, building since 1993 and fully insured, takes a project from first design through to handover with its own team.
