Great Shelford history timeline       

200 AD The earliest settlement in Great Shelford was probably on the north bank of the river almost two km west of the modern village by this date. There are remains from the Neolithic Period as well as evidence of a Roman settlement.

1029 The Manor of Great Shelford was given to Ely Abbey by the parents of Leofsige, when he became a monk there.

1086 There were 38 tenants recorded in Great Shelford.

1251 The water mill in Great Shelford was recorded to be operating by this date.

1321 Manor House was first recorded in Great Shelford.

1387 St Mary the Virgin Church was built.

1798 A storm brought down half of the 80-ft.tower of St Mary’s Church. By 1808 the tower had been rebuilt.

1845 A school was built near the junction of High and Church Streets and Woollards Lane, Great Shelford.

1845 The Great Eastern London (Liverpool Street) to Cambridge line, with a station at Great Shelford, opened.

1856 The Baptist chapel was built at a cost of £1,000.

1860s The parish was the second most densely populated in Cambridgeshire.

1870 A new, larger school was built – the forerunner of the existing village school.

1933 Shelford Rugby Club founded

1958  A new hall, built as a war memorial, was opened on Woollards Lane, Great Shelford.

1963/ 65 Early versions of Pink Floyd play two concerts in Great Shelford.

2014 The Tour de France cycled through Great Shelford.

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2022 Over 100 refugees from Ukraine make their temporary home in the Shelfords

Some earlier dates from: 'Parishes: Great Shelford', A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 8 (1982), pp. 207-219. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66756