Romsey

Romsey Town, usually just Romsey, is the district east of the railway on the far side of the Mill Road bridge from Petersfield. It is an electoral ward of Cambridge, and the two neighbourhoods are divided by the railway line even though Mill Road runs through both.

How it grew

Romsey started to be built up after the nineteenth-century enclosure acts. As the railway network expanded, housing for railway workers followed, with the bulk of it going up in the decade following 1885.

The district developed differently from Petersfield. Where Petersfield tended to the university side of the town-and-gown divide, Romsey stayed largely working class and developed a strong left-wing tradition in local politics. Locals nicknamed it "Red Romsey" or "Little Russia".

What's here

The area's main street is Mill Road, which is lined with independent businesses along its length. Coldham's Common is the nearest large open green.

Getting around

Romsey is reached on foot or by bike from the centre along Mill Road, crossing the railway bridge near the boundary with Petersfield. The bridge and a stretch of road around it are shut to vehicles for the Winter Fair on the first Saturday of December. Mill Road connects at its south-eastern end with the A1134 ring road, so it is also a way out of the centre toward the outer suburbs such as Cherry Hinton.