6. Soham Conservation Area - East Cambridgeshire District Council

10.12 Mature Trees
The most significant groups within the main village are those within the
Recreation Ground and the Churchyard of St Andrews, which together
provide a verdant backdrop to buildings in views west and from Clay
Street. Other significant trees are typically found in the grounds of the
more substantial residences such as the Vicarage on Churchgate
Street and The Beeches on Clay Street, but street vegetation is not
common in Soham. The trees that line the millpond on Angle Common
form an attractive group that soften the boundary of the mill complex.
10.13 Spaces
The key spaces within the main village are St Andrew’s Churchyard
and the Recreation Ground that form a green heart at the centre of the
village. Their boundaries are an important remnant of the enclosure
associated with the 7 th century St Felix’s abbey church and the later
10 th century Saxon Cathedral and Bishop’s Palace. Today the
Recreation Ground is a well used community facility, providing a more
formal leisure resource than the commons on the outside of the village.
In contrast, the Churchyard is a quiet secluded space.
Angle Common on the western boundary of the village, by the mill
complex forms the rural setting to the cluster of dwellings that encroach
upon it. Grass verges and the open space at the entrance to the mills
in Mill Corner complement the lower density of this area of the
conservation area. The only other spaces of note within the main
village are Red Lion Square, which is very urban in contrast and is
really little more than a traffic junction, and the area in front of the
Vicarage that was once Cross Green.
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