Little Thetford is a small village 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, about 76 miles (122 km) by road from London. The village is built on a boulder clay island surrounded by flat fenland countryside, typical of settlements in this part of the East of England. In 1007, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman named Ælfwaru, granted her lands in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, including the "land at Thetford and the fisheries around those marshes", to the abbots of Ely Abbey; the village was still listed as a fishery in the Domesday Book, 79 years later. Little Thetford resisted the Parliamentary Inclosure Acts of William IV for seven years, which may have led to the strong Baptist following amongst the poor of the village. About half of Little Thetford was eventually enclosed under the Parliamentary Inclosure Thetford Act of Victoria. The Cambridge station to Ely station section of the Fen Line passes through the east of the village. The rail journey from Little Thetford to London, via Ely, takes about 75 minutes. Occupying an area of 2 square miles (5 km2), and with a population of 693, Little Thetford is the smallest civil parish in the ward of Stretham; notable buildings in the village date from the 14th century.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Thetford

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1533:

Anne Boleyn, already pregnant with future queen Elizabeth, secretly married Henry VIII of England, the second of his six marriages. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Boleyn

1755:

Russian Empress Elizabeth issued a decree ordering the establishment of what is now Moscow State University, today the largest university in Russia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_State_University

1890:

Inspired by Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, American journalist Nellie Bly completed a circumnavigation of the globe in a then-record 72 days. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly

1971:

Idi Amin Dada seized power in a military coup d'état from President Milton Obote, beginning eight years of military rule in Uganda. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin

2006:

Mexican professional wrestler Juana Barraza was arrested in conjunction with the serial killing of at least ten elderly women. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juana_Barraza

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

quacksalver (n): One falsely claiming to possess medical or other skills, especially one who dispenses potions, ointments, etc. supposedly having curative powers http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quacksalver

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

O, wad some Power the giftie gie us

To see oursels as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us,

An' foolish notion. What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us An' ev'n Devotion. --Robert Burns http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Burns