Huntingdonshire

Huntingdonshire District
—  Non-metropolitan district  —
Huntingdonshire shown within Cambridgeshire
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East of England
Non-metropolitan county	Cambridgeshire
Status	Non-metropolitan district
Admin HQ	Huntingdon
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
- Type	Non-metropolitan district council
- Body	Huntingdonshire District Council
- Leadership	Leader & Cabinet (Conservative)
- MPs	Jonathan Djanogly Shailesh Vara
Area
- Total	352.3 sq mi (912.5 km2)
Area rank	35th (of 326)
Population (2010 est.)
- Total	167,300
- Rank	105th (of 326)
- Density	474.9/sq mi (183.3/km2)
- Ethnicity	94.6% White 1.8% S.Asian 1.3% Black 1.4% Mixed Race
Time zone	GMT (UTC0)
- Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)
ONS code	12UE
OS grid reference	TL1900381334
Website	huntsdc.gov.uk

Huntingdonshire ( /ˈhʌntɪŋdənʃər/ or /ˈhʌntɪŋdənʃɪər/; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, covering the area around Huntingdon. Traditionally it is a county in its own right. It includes St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots, and Ramsey.

History

Main article: History of Huntingdonshire

The area corresponding to modern Huntingdonshire was first delimited in Saxon times, and the modern boundaries have remained largely unchanged since the 10th century.

Status

Map of Huntingdonshire, 1824

In 1889, under the Local Government Act 1888 Huntingdonshire became an administrative county, with the new County Council taking over administrative functions from the Quarter Sessions. The area in the north of the county forming part of the municipal borough of Peterborough became instead part of the Soke of Peterborough administrative county, in Northamptonshire.

In 1965, under a recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England, it was merged with the Soke of Peterborough to form Huntingdon and Peterborough - the Lieutenancy county was also merged. Also at this time St Neots expanded westward over the river into Eaton Ford and Eaton Socon in Bedfordshire.

In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, Huntingdon and Peterborough merged with Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely to form the new non-metropolitan county of Cambridgeshire. A Huntingdon district was created based closely on the former administrative county borders, with the exclusion of the Old Fletton urban district became part of the Peterborough district, as did that part of Norman Cross Rural District in Peterborough New Town.

The district was renamed Huntingdonshire on 1 October 1984, by resolution of the district council.^[1]

Original historical documents relating to Huntingdonshire are held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at the County Record Office in Huntingdon.

Revival of county

Huntingdonshire
Ancient and 1889 extent of Huntingdonshire
Geography
Status	Administrative county (1889-1965) Ceremonial county (until 1965)
1831 area	241,690 acres (978.1 km2)[2]
1961 area	233,985 acres (946.90 km2)[3]
HQ	Huntingdon
Chapman code	HUN
History
Origin	Historic
Created	In antiquity
Succeeded by	Huntingdon and Peterborough
Demography
1911 population - 1911 density	55,577[3] 0.24/acre
1961 population - 1961 density	79,924[3] 0.34/acre
Politics
Governance	Huntingdonshire County Council (1889-1965)
Arms of Huntingdonshire County Council

The Local Government Commission considered in the 1990s the case for making a Huntingdonshire unitary authority as part of a general structural review of English local government, that led to unitary authorities in two other English counties that had been wiped from the map: Rutland and Herefordshire.

The Draft Recommendations envisaged three possible scenarios for structural change in Cambridgeshire: the preferred option and the third option had a unitary Huntingdonshire, whilst the second option would have seen Huntingdonshire combine with Peterborough and Fenland to form a "Peterborough and Huntingdonshire" unitary authority. The Final Recommendations of the Commission for Cambridgeshire recommended no change in the status quo in Cambridgeshire.^[4] The districts of Peterborough and Huntingdonshire were referred back to the commission for a reconsideration in 1995. The commission recommended the creation of a Peterborough unitary authority, but proposed that Huntingdonshire remain part of the shire county of Cambridgeshire, noting that "there was no exceptional county allegiance to Huntingdonshire, as had been perceived in Rutland and Herefordshire".^[5]

David McKie writing in the Guardian noted that "Writers-in demanded an independent Huntingdon; but MORI's more broadly-based poll showed that most Huntingdonians - that is, most of John Major's electors - were content to stay part of Cambridgeshire."^[6]

After the failure of Huntingdonshire to become a unitary authority, a Huntingdonshire Society was set up to promote awareness of Huntingdonshire as a historic county, and to campaign for its reinstatement as an administrative and ceremonial entity. In 2002 it established an annual "Huntingdonshire Day" on 25 April, the birthday of Oliver Cromwell.^[7][8]

Sports

Huntingdonshire is the birthplace of bandy, now an IOC accepted sport.^[9] According to documents from 1813, Bury Fen Bandy Club was undefeated for 100 years. A member of the club, Charles Tebbutt, wrote down the 1st official rules in 1882 and helped spread the popularity of the sport to many countries.^[10] Huntingdonshire County Cricket Club is considered one of the 20 Minor counties of English and Welsh cricket, even though it has never played within the Minor Counties Championship it has its own individual Cricket Board and played in the English domestic one-day competition, between the years 1999 and 2003.

Towns and villages

Major towns

• Huntingdon
• Ramsey
• St Ives
• St Neots

Smaller towns and villages

• Abbots Ripton, Abbotsley, Alconbury, Alconbury Weston, Alwalton
• Barham, Bury, Bluntisham, Brampton, Brington, Broughton, Buckden, Buckworth, Bythorn
• Catworth, Chesterton, Colne, Connington, Coppingford, Covington
• Denton & Caldecote, Diddington
• Earith, Easton, Eaton Ford, Eaton Socon, Ellington, Elton, Eynesbury
• Farcet, Fenstanton, Folksworth & Washingley
• Glatton, Godmanchester, Grafham, Great Gransden, Great, Little and Steeple Gidding, Great Paxton, Great Staughton
• Haddon, Hail Weston, Hamerton, Hartford, Hemingford Abbots, Hemingford Grey Hilton, Holme, Holywell, Houghton
• Keyston, Kimbolton, Kings Ripton
• Leighton Bromswold, Little Paxton
• Molesworth, Morborne
• Needingworth
• Oldhurst, Old Weston
• Perry, Pidley
• Ramsey St Mary's
• Sawtry, Spaldwick, Somersham, Southhoe & Midloe, Stibbington, Stilton, Stow Longa
• Tetworth, Tilbrook, Toseland, The Offords, The Raveleys, The Stukeleys
• Upton, Upwood
• Wansford, Warboys, Waresley, Water Newton, Winwick, Wistow, Woodhurst, Woodwalton, Woolley, Wyton
• Yaxley, Yelling

Famous people associated with Huntingdonshire

• Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland 1653-58
• John Major (1943- ), politician and former Prime Minister (1990–97)
• Samuel Pepys (1633–1703), seventeenth-century MP and diarist
• Henry Royce (1863–1933), pioneering car manufacturer and founder of Rolls-Royce
• Peter Foxhall (1941- ), Australian clergyman, evangelist and author, was born in St Neots
• Lucy M. Boston (1892-1990) English children's writer, lived in Huntingdonshire from 1937 until her death, and set the Green Knowe series there.

See also

• Flag of Huntingdonshire
• List of Lord Lieutenants of Huntingdonshire
• List of High Sheriffs of Huntingdonshire

Notes

1. ^ Name change. The Times. 27 April 1984
2. ^ 1831 Census cited in Vision of Britain - Ancient county data
3. ^ ^{a b c} Vision of Britain - Huntingdonshire population (area and density)
4. ^ Local Government Commission for England. Final Recommendations for the Future Local Government of Cambridgeshire. October 1994.
5. ^ Local Government Commission for England. Final Recommendations on the Future Local Government of: Basildon & Thurrock, Blackburn & Blackpool, Broxtowe, Gedling & Rushcliffe, Dartford & Gravesham, Gillingham & Rochester Upon Medway, Exeter, Gloucester, Halton & Warrington, Huntingdonshire & Peterborough, Northampton, Norwich, Spelthorne and the Wrekin. December 1995.
6. ^ Commentary:Hatred of Harlow and bad thoughts about Basildon : David McKie - 31 October 1994. The Guardian
7. ^ And you're from where? The Times. 20 April 2002.
8. ^ Cromwell's own county. The Daily Telegraph. 19 June 2004.
9. ^ http://www.internationalbandy.com/viewNavMenu.do?menuID=4 internationalbrandy.com
10. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/articles/2006/02/15/bandy_sport_feature.shtml bbc.co.uk

External links

• Huntingdonshire District Council - local government information
• Huntingdonshire - general informative
• The Huntingdonshire Society - dedicated to the traditional county and campaigning for its reinstatement as an administrative entity
• The Huntingdonshire Flag
• The Lost Pubs Project: Lost and closed pubs of Huntingdonshire.

Coordinates: 52°25′N 0°15′W / 52.417°N 0.25°W / 52.417; -0.25