Huntingdonshire

Huntingdonshire (abbreviated Hunts) is a of, covering the area around. it was a in its own right. It includes, , , and.

History
The earliest English settlers in the district were the, an East Anglian tribe, who early in the 6th century worked their way up the Ouse and the Cam as far as Huntingdon. After their conquest of in the latter half of the, Huntingdon became an important seat of the , and the Danish origin of the shire is borne out by an entry in the Saxon Chronicle referring to Huntingdon as a military centre to which the surrounding district owed allegiance, while the shire itself is mentioned in the  in connection with events which took place before or shortly after the death of Edgar.

About 915 wrested the fen-country from the Danes, repairing and fortifying Huntingdon, and a few years later the district was included in the  of East Anglia. Religious foundations were established at, Huntingdon and St Neots in the , and that of Ramsey accumulated vast wealth and influence, owning twenty-six manors in this county alone at the time of the Domesday Survey. In Huntingdonshire was again overrun by the Danes and in  was attacked by. A few years later the shire was included in the earldom of (of the Middle Angles), but in 1051 it was detached from Mercia and formed part of the East Anglian earldom of Harold. Shortly before the Conquest, however, it was bestowed on Siward, as a reward for his part in Godwins overthrow, and became an outlying portion of the earldom of Northumberland, passing through and  to. After the separation of the earldom from the crown of Scotland during the Bruce and Balliol disputes, it was conferred in on William Clinton; in  on Guichard d'Angle; in  on John Floland; in  on Thomas Grey, afterwards  of ; and in  on George, Baron Hastings, whose descendants hold it at the present day.

The was followed by a general confiscation of estates, and only four or five thanes retained lands that they or their fathers had held in the time of Edward the Confessor. Large estates were held by the church, and the rest of the County for the most part formed outlying portions of the fiefs of William's Norman favourites, that of Count Eustace of Boulogne, the sheriff, of whose tyrannous exactions bitter complaints are recorded, being by far the most considerable. was fortified by and afterwards passed to the families of Bohun and Stafford.

The hundreds of Huntingdon were probably of very early origin, and that of Norman Cross is referred to in. The Domesday Survey, besides the four existing divisions of Norman Cross, Toseland, Hurstingstone and Leightonstone, which from their assessment appear to have been double hundreds, mentions an additional hundred of Kimbolton, since absorbed in Leightonstone, while Huntingdon was assessed separately at 50 hides. The boundaries of the county have scarcely changed since the time of the Domesday Survey, except that parts of the Bedfordshire parishes of Everton, Pertenhall and Keysoe and the Northamptonshire parish of Flargrave were then assessed under this county.

Huntingdonshire was formerly in the, but in was transferred to. In it constituted an ry, comprising the deaneries of Huntingdon, St Ives, Yaxley and Leightonstone, and the divisions remained unchanged until the creation of the deanery of Kimbolton in 1879.

At the time of the Domesday Survey Huntingdonshire had an independent shrievalty, but from it was united with  under one sheriff, until in  the two Counties were separated for six years, after which they were reunited and have remained so to the present day. The shire-court was held at Huntingdon.

In  captured and destroyed Huntingdon Castle. After signing the  sent an army to ravage this county under, and.

Status
In 1889, under the Huntingdonshire became an, with the new County Council taking over administrative functions from the. The area in the north of the county forming part of the of  became instead part of the  administrative county, in.

In 1965, under a recommendation of the, it was merged with the Soke of Peterborough to form - the Lieutenancy county was also merged. Also at this time expanded westward over the river into  and  in Bedfordshire.

In, under the , Huntingdon and Peterborough merged with to form the new non-metropolitan county of. A Huntingdon district was created based closely on the former administrative county borders, with the exclusion of the urban district became part of the Peterborough district, as did that part of  in Peterborough New Town.

The district was renamed Huntingdonshire on, by resolution of the district council.

Original historical documents relating to Huntingdonshire are held by at the County Record Office in.

Revival of county
The considered in the  the case for making a Huntingdonshire  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:  and.

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 and  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. 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".

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."

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, the birthday of.

Towns and villages
Major Towns

Smaller towns and villages



Famous people associated with Huntingdonshire

 * (-), of,  and  -
 * (- ), politician and former (- )
 * (-), seventeenth-century and
 * (-), pioneering manufacturer and founder of
 * (- ), Australian clergyman, evangelist and author, was born at St Neots