 Francis and, at that time, was a flagship school in Cambridge City.The school was named after Manor Farm which was in the area and was owned by Cambridgeshire County Council, who bought the farm in 1909 from the Benson family of Chesterton hall.The Council split the farm into smallholdings, and the name of one of the smallholders, William Downham, is commemorated in a nearby road called Downham's Lane.