The men and women who made The Kite, 1815 to 1980
Stapleford History Society – 10 March 2026
A talk by Mike Levy
This was the fourth talk that Mike Levy has given to the History Society and it generated lots of questions and comments from members of the large audience. Many of them had witnessed the demolition of the Kite in order to build The Grafton Centre which is, itself, soon to be demolished. Though I was living in York at the time, I well remember the outcry and reading the numerous articles and letters about the issue in the national press, many of which were written by customers of the Waffles cafe. The Kite was the name given to the area bounded by Newmarket Road and Maids Causeway, Christ’s Pieces, Parkside and East Road in the 1960s. This area, previously known as Barnwell, was clearly the shape of a kite when looked at on a street map of the town.
To begin, we were shown several pictures of the first area to be bulldozed. This housed the working class who were cleaning and cooking for the ‘Gentlemen’ and Dons of the various Colleges. The earliest map of this area (1830) also shows the Garden of Eden, a large market garden area in which people laboured to supply provisions for the Colleges. By 1886 the Garden of Eden had been built on, as Cambridge adjusted to the demands of increasing industrialisation. Brickworks were needed and the railways could bring provisions into the town. The outdoor recreational needs of the increasing population were also catered for as fields were changed into Parker’s Piece and land was drained to create Midsummer Common.
Many interesting people developed the area. Charles Humfrey (1772-1848) was an architect/designer who bought up land after the passing of the Enclosure Act in 1811. James Burleigh and the Duke of Grafton did the same and their names live on even now. William Wilkins built the Theatre Royal in Sun Street (now the Buddhist Centre on Newmarket Road) with what is possibly the oldest house in Cambridge next door.
We learnt about local people who were significant not only because of their association with the Kite area but also for their wider contribution. Elice Hopkins, born 1836, founded one of the first Working Men’s Clubs on East Road. She was driven by Evangelical Christianity and wanted to improve the lives of working men living in extreme poverty – and by implication to improve the lives of their wives and daughters! Lelle Secor Florence founded the first Birth Control Centre in the town. Most well known, however, is Daisy Hopkins. She was accused of “talking to an undergraduate in the street” and sentenced to serve fourteen days in the Spinning House, the University’s private jail for women who were deemed to be prostitutes. Algernon Lyons JP took her part and took out a writ of Habeas Corpus. The University Chancellor had to appear in the High Court in London and then the Civil Court in Ipswich. It was revealed that Daisy had been propositioned by the undergraduate and had refused his advances. The artist/decorators, F.R.Leach, had workshops in City Road employed by the likes of William Morris. David Parr of Gwydir Street fame was one of their talented painters. Councillor Henry Hall represented West Barnwell in the 1870s and 80s. He was suspended for commenting that the Prince of Wales had recovered from illness not due to the Grace of God but due to the grace of medicine. He established the first free public library in Cambridge. William Heffer, born in poverty in Ely in 1858, became the founder of the well-known bookshop after selling books door-to-door. He was one of the first newsagents, buying from the railways.
Report by Jane Steadman