Huntingdon

Huntingdon is a market town in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was chartered by King John in 1205. It is the traditional county town of Huntingdonshire, and is currently the seat of the Huntingdonshire district council. It is known as the birthplace in 1599 of Oliver Cromwell.

History
Huntingdon was founded by the Anglo-Saxons and Danes. Mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, it seems that it was a staging post for Danish raids outside of east Anglia until 917, when the Danes relocated to Tempsford, before being crushed by Edward the Elder. It prospered successively as a bridging point of the River Great Ouse, as a market town, and in the 18th and 19th centuries as a coaching centre, most notably The George Hotel. The town has a well-preserved medieval bridge that used to serve as the main route of Ermine Street over the river. The bridge only ceased to be the sole crossing point to Godmanchester in 1975, with the advent of what is now the A14 bypass.



Its valuable trading position was secured by the now vanished Huntingdon Castle. The site is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and is home to a beacon used to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Spanish Armada.

The town has been represented in parliament by two prominent MPs: Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century, and former Conservative Prime Minister John Major from 1979 to 2001. It is currently represented by Conservative MP Jonathan Djanogly.

Original historical documents relating to Huntingdon, including the borough charter of 1205, are held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at the County Record Office Huntingdon.

Between the railway station and the old hospital building, stands a replica cannon. In the 1990s the replica was installed to replace an original Crimean War one, that stood there until the Second World War, being scrapped for the war effort. When the replica was installed it was placed in the opposite direction from the original.

The George
The George Hotel, on the corner of High Street and George Street was once a posting house. It was named after St. George in 1574 and was bought some 25 years later by Henry Cromwell, grandfather of Oliver Cromwell. Charles I made The George his headquarters in 1645. Later Dick Turpin is reputed to have been a visitor when it was a coaching inn on the Great North Road. The mid-19th century saw two wings of the inn burnt down but two were saved including the one with the balcony overlooking the yard. Since 1959 the courtyard and its balcony have been the setting for performances of the plays of William Shakespeare, produced by the Shakespeare at The George Trust.

Area
The town lies on the north bank of the River Great Ouse, opposite Godmanchester and close to the market town of St Ives in the east and the village of Brampton in the west. Huntingdon now incorporates the village of Hartford to the east, and the developing areas of Oxmoor, Stukeley Meadows and Hinchingbrooke to the north and west.

Between Godmanchester, Huntingdon and Brampton lies England's largest meadow, Portholme Meadow. Around 257 acres (1 km²) in size and containing many rare species of grass, flowers and dragonfly, it is the only known habitat of the Marsh Dandelion in Britain. It acts as a natural reservoir for holding water in times of flood enabling the river to run off slowly, thereby helping to prevent flooding of nearby towns. It has also served as a horse race course and once was a centre for aviation.

There is a local Horseracing Course, Huntingdon Racecourse. The former Literary and Scientific Institute is now Commemoration Hall.



There are 3 RAF stations within 4 mi of the town: RAF Brampton, once home to Headquarters RAF Support Command and now part of the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO); RAF Wyton, once a major flying station but now also part of the DLO; and RAF Alconbury currently occupied by the United States Air Force.

Once renowned for many more churches within the town, there are now four Church of England churches in Huntingdon, which together with the churches in the adjacent villages Great and Little Stukeley are members of the Huntingdon Team Ministry in the Diocese of Ely. The four churches are All Saints' (next to the Market Square), St Mary's (opposite Pathfinder House), St Barnabas (on the Oxmoor estate) and All Saints', Hartford.

Part of the medieval infirmary hall of St Johns on the marketplace became Huntingdon Grammar School and was attended by Cromwell and diarist Samuel Pepys. The building is now the Cromwell Museum, run by Cambridgeshire County Council.

Local Primary schools include Hartford Junior School, Thongsley Fields Primary School, St John's Primary School, Stukeley Meadows Primary School and Cromwell Park Primary School. Special needs schools include Spring Common School. Secondary schools include St Peters and Hinchingbrooke School. Further Education colleges include Huntingdonshire Regional College, Hinchingbrooke school sixth form college and St Peter's Sixth Form.



Climate
The nearest weather station for which long term weather data is available is RAF Wyton, 3 mi north east of the town centre, although more recently Monks Wood, 5 mi to the north west, also provides data.

As with the rest of the British Isles, Huntingdon experiences a strongly temperate maritime based climate, free from temperature extremes, with rainfall fairly evenly spread throughout the year.

The absolute maximum recorded at Wyton was 35.4 C during August 1990, although the temperature at Monks Wood rose to 35.1 C during July 2006. Typically the warmest day will average 29.7 C, and 16.0 days a year will rise to 25.1 C or above.

Typically 43.2 nights of the year will report an air frost. The absolute minimum at Wyton (from 1960) was -16.1 C recorded during January 1982. On average, the coldest night of the year will fall to -7.7 C

With rainfall at under 550 mm per year, the Huntingdon area is amongst the driest in the UK – 103.4 days on average will record at least 1 mm of rain. All averages mentioned refer to the period 1971–2000.

Rail
Huntingdon and St Neots stations are connected with London Kings Cross station by a frequent service operated by Thameslink and Great Northern.

Huntingdon is connected to Peterborough station by Thameslink and Great Northern, and then on to the North and Scotland by East Coast.

Bus
There are regular buses to Peterborough, St Neots, Ramsey, St Ives and Cambridge all direct from Huntingdon, as well as within the town and to Hinchingbrooke Hospital. Most buses are provided by local company Go Whippet or Stagecoach in Huntingdonshire.

Air
Luton and Stansted airports are both within an hour's drive.



Legends
Once a convent, Hinchingbrooke House is said to be haunted. The bridge over the Alconbury Brook named Nun's bridge is said to be also haunted by one of the nuns who once lived at the old convent that is now Hinchingbrooke House. It's said she is often accompanied by another ghost which resembles the appearance of a nurse. The myth goes that the nun had a lover, a monk who caused them to be murdered. In 1965 a married couple reported seeing the ghosts on the bridge, and again when they returned home the same night.

Sport
The town's highest ranked football club, Huntingdon Town, play in the United Counties League, whilst Huntingdon United RGE play in the Cambridgeshire League.

Notable residents

 * Basil Montagu (1770–1851), jurist, barrister, writer, and philanthropist and illegitimate son of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich and Martha Ray
 * Robert Carruthers (1799–1878), journalist, writer, and author of History of Huntingdon
 * Oliver Cromwell (1599–1653)

Twin towns

 * 🇫🇷 Salon de Provence, France
 * 🇭🇺 Szentendre, Hungary
 * 🇩🇪 Wertheim am Main, Germany