Lode takes its name from the water at its end. Bottisham Lode, the man-made channel that once carried barges up from the Cam, probably came before the village, and it may be Roman. Lode itself only became a parish in its own right in 1894, when the old parish of Bottisham was split in two. Today it runs from the village down to Long Meadow, with around 900 people living across the two.
Fen underfoot
For anyone planning building work, the most useful fact about Lode is what lies beneath it. Apart from a narrow strip of lower chalk in the south, the parish is mostly fen, sitting only 5 to 12 feet above sea level. Across the old Bottisham fenland, gault clay is overlaid with peat and river gravels. Large areas were drained in the 17th century, and more after enclosure in 1808.
None of that rules out an extension, but it does mean the foundations deserve proper attention. Ground conditions can change across a single garden, and the design should come from a structural engineer who has looked at your plot. Getting that right at the start saves trouble later. Our extensions page explains how we work through a project from the first visit.
Mill Road, the green and the older houses
The older houses, none earlier than the 17th century, are mostly at the southern end of the village. Where the street bends towards Bottisham there was a group of one-storey timber-framed 17th-century cottages that were still thatched in the 20th century. Further north the buildings are mainly 19th century, including homes that were built on the old green after it was enclosed in 1808.
Mill Road has a terrace of six late 19th-century cottages, at numbers 46 to 56, in painted brick under gault pantiles with 6 over 6 sash windows. The local heritage list calls them a remarkably well-preserved group and a good example of 19th-century workers’ housing. The watermill at the end of the road is Grade II listed and dates from the late 18th century. It ground coprolites by 1890 and made cement until about 1930, before Lord Fairhaven bought it in 1934 for the Anglesey Abbey estate. After the National Trust took over, restoration began in 1978, and by 1992 the mill was producing flour again.
Northfield and the newer roads
Most of Lode’s homes are much younger. About 30 houses went up in the 1920s along the road leading north into the village, the Northfield estate was laid out after the late 1940s, another 60 homes were added between 1951 and 1971, and at least 75 more in the 1980s. These houses suit a garage conversion, a full refurbishment or a garden room for working from home.
Planning in Lode
Lode falls under East Cambridgeshire District Council. The village has a conservation area, first designated in July 1973 and reviewed in 1991. Inside it, a number of changes that would be permitted development elsewhere need an application, so it is worth a call to the district council’s planners early on. Our own team at A&F Building Services, insured and established in 1993, carries a Lode job through from drawings to handover.
