Cambridgeshire

ounty of eastern England. First recorded in 1010 as Grantabrycgscir. Meaning Grantebridge (the bridge over the river Granta, one of the sources of the Cam). The Norman name was Cantebruge (the Cam was first called the Cante). Cam is also a Celtic word ascribed to rivers and meaning crooked or winding. Cambridgeshire County Council - Cambridge City Council - Huntingdonshire District Council Contained the unitary authority Peterborough since April 1998. The boundaries of the county were altered in 1965 when the two then counties of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely united to form one county. In 1974 the county was extended to include Huntingdon and Peterborough district.
owns and cities	Cambridge (administrative headquarters), Ely, Huntingdon, March, Wisbech, St Neots, Whittlesey
rea	3,410 sq km / 1,316 sq miles
opulation	686,900 (1994)
opography	Cambridgeshire is bounded to the north by Lincolnshire and Peterborough; to the east by Norfolk and Suffolk; to the south by Essex and Hertfordshire; and to the west by Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire. Although the county is generally very flat, there are hills in the south (the Gog Magog Hills), in the southeast (near Weston Colville, West Wickham, and Castle Camps), and in the west. The hills are mainly boulder clay on top of chalk, although geologically, the county is mainly oolite covered with boulder clay. Highest point: Great Chishill at 480 feet. The south is more wooded than the rest of the county. The river channels are chiefly man-made, and the rivers flow extremely slowly. Rivers in the county include: Nene, Ouse (with tributaries Cam, Lark, and Little Ouse) and the Welland The river Cam, famed for the Cambridge student's obsession with punting and the Isle of Ely, which can boast a fabulous 11th Century Cathedral and the hiding place of the famed freedom fighter Hereward The Wake.
ommerce	Agriculture: the county is one of the chief cereal and sugar-beet producing districts of England; fruit and vegetables are grown; there is also dairy farming and sheep-rearing Industry: brewing, paper, electronics, food processing, mechanical engineering; there are scientific and pharmaceutical research establishments
amous people	Oliver Cromwell, Octavia Hill, John Maynard Keynes The poet Rupert Brooke put Grantchester on the literary map with a line about the church clock and its indication of tea-time "and is there honey still for tea?" The rectory is now home to novelist Jeffrey Archer and his wife Mary.
ttractions	The home of the famous Cambridge University which for generations has turned out some of the finest academic minds in the world. Cambridgeshire can boast the traditional beauty of the city of Cambridge, known as cycle city due to the profusion of bicycles preferred for travelling around there, and the more modern city of Peterborough. King's College, King's Parade. Britain's second cruise missile base at RAF Molesworth, near Huntingdon, was deactivated in January 1989 The monasteries at Thorney and Ramsey were founded before the Norman Conquest. There are outstanding examples of medieval architecture, especially in the county's many fine churches. There are medieval bridges at Huntingdon (birthplace of Oliver Cromwell in 1599), Wansford, and St Ives, and important houses at Burleigh, Elton, and Hinchingbrooke. Brampton, Home of Samuel Pepys. St. Ives, which has one of only four bridge chapels surviving in England. Burwell Once a centre for barge-building and turf-making, this large village has attractive windmills and a fine church with an interior of clunch - hard East Anglian chalk. Chatteris An ancient manor house stands on the site of a Benedictine nunnery built in 980 by Alfwen the niece of King Edgar in this town with a Domesday lineage. Ely Has a Quay area - a reminder of its 'inland port' status before the Fens were drained. The 14th-century octagonal central tower of the cathedral, which replaced a square one destroyed by fire, took only 26 years to complete - that is fast for those days! It remains a marvel of 400 tons of masonry. The cathedral dates back to 1083 and can be seen for miles around. Gamlingay Mellow redbrick almshouses date from the year of the Great Plague (1665). A 15th century church also survives. Melbourne A fine tithe barn, splendid Norman church and yew-lined avenues. Hard to imagine that the touring holiday originated from here, but Thomas Cook was indeed born here in 1808. Sawston Has a claim to fame of sorts by being the first billage college to open in 1930. Soham Five miles from Ely across the causeway a splendid 7th-century abbey was established a few years before Ely (and not rebuilt after the Danes destroyed it). Wisbech Prosperous fruit and flower-growing area with an ancient castle and beautiful merchange houses. Whittlesey Domesday entry. Roman roads and now Peterborough's eastern dormitory town. Elton Hall, Elton, Peterborough. Anglesey Abbey, Lode, Cambridge. Island Hall, Godmanchester.