Isleham

Isleham is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Cambridgeshire. Isleham is located in the Fens of south-east Cambridgeshire. The western parish boundary is formed by the Crooked Ditch, the eastern boundary largely by the Lea Brook and the north by the River Lark. The village lies on the B1104 from Prickwillow to Chippenham. Isleham is twinned with Nesles in France and Magdala in Germany.

Its name seems to come from Anglo-Saxon Gísla hám = "the home of the hostages". It seems that in Anglo-Saxon societies the position of a hostage from one political group held by another political group, was sometimes more or less voluntary, and the meaning of the word could slip into "representative".

The village has five shops: a Co-op supermarket, a general store, a newsagents, a Post Office and butcher's, as well as a Chinese takeaway and an Indian takeaway. There are also three public houses - The Griffin, the Rising Sun and the Merry Monk - and three churches - the Baptist, the Free Church and St Andrew's Church of England parish church.

The region between Devil's Dyke and the line between Littleport and Shippea Hill shows a remarkable amount of archaeological findings of the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Findings in Isleham include the famous Isleham Hoard of more than 6500 pieces of bronze, both manufactured articles and fragments of sheet bronze, all dating from the late Bronze Age.