Cambridgeshire, England Genealogy

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Cambridgeshire, England

CAMBRIDGESHIRE, an inland county; bounded, on the NW, by Northampton; on the N by Lincoln; on the E, by Norfolk and Suffolk: on the S, by Essex and Herts; and on the W, by Beds and Huntingdon...

The county contains 152 parishes, part of another parish, and 3 extra-parochial tracts, besides the parishes and extra-parochial colleges of Cambridge. It is divided into the hundreds of Armingford, Chesterton, Cheveley, Chilford, Flendish, Longstow, Northstow, Papworth, Radfield, Staine, Staploe, Triplow, Wetherley, Whitlesford, Ely, Wisbeach, North Witchford, and South Witchford, the liberty of Whittlesey and Thorney, and the boroughs of Cambridge and Wisbeach. The northern section of it forms the Isle of Ely: and contains the hundreds of Ely, Wisbeach, and Witchford, the liberty of Whittlesey and Thorney, and the borough of Wisbeach. The registration county is more extensive than the electoral county; includes 114,735 acres from adjoining counties; excludes 17,590 acres; contains 571,758 acres; and is divided into the districts of Caxton, Chesterton, Cambridge, Linton, Newmarket, Ely, North Witchford, Whittlesey, and Wisbeach. The market towns are Cambridge, Ely, Linton, March, Thorney, Wisbeach, and parts of Newmarket and Royston; and the towns next in note are Caxton, Chesterton, Whittlesey, and Soham...

The county is governed by a lord-lieutenant, a deputy, a high sheriff, and about 48 magistrates. It is in the Home military district, and in the Norfolk judicial circuit. The assizes are held at Cambridge; and quarter sessions at Cambridge, Ely, and Wisbeach... The county is in the diocese of Ely, and constitutes the archdeaconry of Ely, and the deanery of Fordham in the archdeaconry of Sudbury... The places of worship, in 1851, in the county proper, were 176 of the Church of England, with 52,917 sittings; 38 of Independents, with 12,195 s.; 72 of Baptists, with 17,897 s.; 3 of Quakers, with 440 s.; 2 of Unitarians, with 330 s.; 57 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 11,764 s.; 39 of Primitive Methodists, with 5,105 s.; 5 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 1,430 s.; 1 of Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, with 550 s.; 5 of isolated congregations, with 1,298 s.; 2 of Latter Day Saints, with 2 70 s.; 3 of Roman Catholics, with 350 s.; and 1 of Jews. The schools were 188 public day schools, with 16,559 scholars; 398 private day schools, with 7,770 s.; 280 Sunday schools, with 24,006 s.; and 11 evening schools for adults, with 156 s. Pop. in 1801, 89,346; in 1821, 122,387; in 1841, 164,459; in 1861, 176,016...

The territory now forming Cambridgeshire belonged first to the Iberians, and afterwards to the Iceni. It became part of the Roman province of Flavia Cæsariensis: and subsequently was included mainly in East Anglia, and partly in Mercia...

The above extract comes from: John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72). Read the full account online at Vision of Britain.