Oakington

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Oakington
Oakington shown within Cambridgeshire
Population	534
OS grid reference	TL412645
District	South Cambridgeshire
Shire county	Cambridgeshire
Region	East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CAMBRIDGE
Postcode district	CB24
Dialling code	01223
Police	Cambridgeshire
Fire	Cambridgeshire
Ambulance	East of England
European Parliament	East of England
UK Parliament	South Cambridgeshire
List of places: UK • England • Cambridgeshire

Coordinates: 52°15′41″N 0°04′07″E / 52.26136, 0.06869

Village sign of Oakington

Oakington is a large village north of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire in England, and belongs to the administrative district of South Cambridgeshire. The parish of Oakington and Westwick covers an area of 883 hectares.

At the village crossroads, the east-west road from Histon to Longstanton crosses the north-south road from Cottenham to Dry Drayton. Between Oakington and the nearby hamlet of Westwick runs a disused railway branch line, with a disused station, that is due to be converted to a guided bus track. Next to the track, the 150-year-old bridge over Beck Brook was completely rebuilt in 2006.

Oakington Barracks were recently converted to Oakington Immigration Reception Centre, an immigration detention centre. The barracks site is based around a World War II airfield. During the war this base was used for Short Stirling bomber forces, as well as other assorted units. The base contracted after the war and much evidence of this is visible in farmland surrounding the current perimeter.

St Andrew's church

Of the three churches there (Anglican, Methodist and Baptist) the Anglican St. Andrews has the largest congregation. The church building has parts dating back to the eleventh century, but was recently restored. Soon a new conference centre will be added as well.^{[citation needed]}

The barracks and attached airfield are to become the site of a new town called Northstowe. It is planned to become one of England's first five "eco towns", as announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on May 2007. ^[1]

In 1909 Messrs Grose & Feary built a monoplane in an attempt to win the Daily Mail prize for £1,000 for the first Briton to fly a circular mile in an all-British aeroplane. ^[2]