Caxton, Cambridgeshire

infobox UK place
country=England
latitude=52.20843
longitude=-0.09450
official_name=Caxton
population=480
shire_district=Huntingdonshire
shire_county =Cambridgeshire
region=East of England
constituency_westminster=Huntingdon
post_town=CAMBRIDGE
postcode_district=CB23
postcode_area=CB
dial_code=01954
os_grid_reference=TL303584

Caxton is a small rural village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England. It is 9 miles west of the county town of Cambridge. In 2001, the population of Caxton parish was 480 people. Caxton is most famous for the Caxton Gibbet.

History

The name Caxton is probably derived from 'farmstead of a man called Kakkr'. It was spelled "Caustone" in the 1086 Domesday book [Mills, A.D. (1998). A Dictionary of English Place-names. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford. p74. ISBN 0-19-280074-4] when 35 peasants lived there. It is probable that the village came into existence as a late Scandinavian settlement in a area of woodland. The use of the names 'weald' and 'wald' in the 12th century indicate the influence of woods.

What was the Roman Ermine Street, now the A1198 road, bisects Caxton parish. The modern village has grown up around the road, although the church is a short distance south-west, along Gransden Road. There are also three medieval moated sites further from the road: Caxton Moats, which has signs of Anglo-Saxon or Norman occupation; Caxton Pastures, south-west of Caxton Gibbet, which may have belonged to John of Caxton, a 13th century landowner; and Swansley, south-east of the gibbet. St Peter's Street, north and east of the church, may have been the centre of the original village. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66671 'Parishes: Caxton', A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 5 (1973), pp. 26-35. Date accessed: 27 July 2008] ]

The road provided passing trade; the market was held next to it and the Crown and George inns were built there. Parts of the Crown inn date from the 15th century and it was known by that name by 1545. Caxton benefitted from travellers passing through but highway robbers could also be a problem. The road became busier after the 16th century and a post office was opened at the Crown inn 'many years' before 1660. By the mid-18th century, Caxton post office was one of only two in the whole county.

After the end of the coaching era, Caxton declined. In 1863, a traveller described the village as "a small, rambling village, which looked as if it had not shaved and washed its face, and put on a clean shirt for a shocking length of time". Fires in 1896 and 1897 destroyed more than a dozen houses and, although the arrival of the motor car in the 1920s brought traffic back through the village, its former prosperity did not return. In 2004 a bypass was completed around Caxton to accommodate traffic for the newly-built Cambourne to the north.

Governance

Caxton is represented on South Cambridgeshire District Council by three councillors for the Bourn electoral ward [ [http://www.scambs.gov.uk/CouncilAndDemocracy/Elections/newwards.htm South Cambridgeshire District Council: Electoral wards] ] and on Cambridgeshire County Council by one councillor for the Bourn electoral division. [ [http://www2.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/db/council1.nsf/menus/councillors?OpenDocument Cambridgeshire County Council: Councillors] ] It is in the parliamentary constituency of South Cambridgeshire, represented at the House of Commons by Andrew Lansley. [ [http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/commons/l/ UK Government: Find your MP] ]

Geography

Caxton parish is 9 miles west of Cambridge, 7 miles east of the town of St Neots and 48 miles north of London. It stands on the A1198 (Ermine Street, the Old North Road) between the villages of Papworth Everard, to the north, and Longstowe, to the south. Roads run from Caxton to the villages of Bourn and Great Gransden. [http://www.getamap.co.uk Ordnance Survey: www.getamap.co.uk] ] It ranges from 44 to 68 metres above sea level and the soil is clay with a blue gault subsoil. [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/CAM/Caxton/index.html GENUKI: Caxton] ] Bourn Brook runs through Caxton, eventually joining the River Cam.

Demography

At the time of the 2001 census, the population of Caxton parish was 480 people. All residents were white and 72% described themselves as Christian, with 27.8% either having no religion or stating none. [http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/CCF889BD-ADD2-46BA-86D4-70561864138C/0/Caxton.pdf Cambridgeshire County Council: Parish Census Profiles] ] In 1881 the population was 129, and in 1921 the population had grown to 398.

Landmarks

Caxton Gibbet stands by the side of the A428 road, north of Caxton village. The roundabout at the junction of the A428 and A1198 is also known as Caxton Gibbet. [ [http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/4545.aspx Highways Agency: A428 Caxton Common to Hardwick Improvement] ]

A war memorial, commemorating Caxton men who died in the First and Second World Wars, stands at the junction of Ermine Street, Bourn Road and Gransden Road. [ [http://www.roll-of-honour.org/Cambridgeshire/Caxton.html Roll of Honour: Caxton] ]

Religious sites

Caxton has two churches. The Church of St Andrew was built of stone and flint mainly in the Early English style. It has a low tower with six bells. A Baptist Church was built in 1842.

ee also

* List of places in Cambridgeshire

References