Places of interest in Huntingdonshire

St Ives;

As I was going to St Ives
I met a man with seven wives.
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits;
Kits, cats, sacks and wives -
How many were going to St Ives?

There can be little doubt that this jingle refers to someone on his way to one of the great St Ives fairs. St Ives is
Situated on the banks of the river Great Ouse, near Huntingdon the birth place of Oliver Cromwell. It has its roots in Saxon history, although it achieved fame in medieval times for its international fairs. Today it is a quiet market town with a population of approximately 16,000 and covering an area of just over 1000 hectares.
St Ives has excellent schools and sporting facilities and it is not far from the major cities of Cambridge , Peterborough and Ely. It has convenient road and rail links to the North, South ( London ), East and West.

Heavy rain often causes severe flooding in the Great Ouse Valley . Record high water levels were reached in 1947. Subsequently April 1998 and January 2003 saw water levels nearly as high as the 1947 levels.

About one year in three the Fens freeze in winter and the Fen outdoor speed skating championships are held on Bury Fen, just a few miles from St Ives.

A footpath runs through the valley of the river Great Ouse from St Neots, through many small villages, Godmanchester, Houghton, St Ives, Holywell and down to Earith. On the way one passes through many picturesque and historical villages as well as many conservation and nature areas rich in natural flora and fauna.

Along the way are several locks, and the river becomes very busy with leisure cruisers in the summer.

Huntingdon

The Birth place of Oliver Cromwell

Huntingdon is an important bridge-head where the A1, the Great North Road, crosses the River Great Ouse near to Hinchingbrooke House once home to both the Cromwell's and then the Montagu's, The Earls of Sandwich, where in 1660 Samuel Pepys was secretary to Edward Montagu, so Huntingdon was no stranger to politics when John Major became the youngest Prime Minister this century.

Huntingdon Castle

According to contemporary records many state that the castle in Huntingdon was built by William the Conqueror in 1068, this however is incorrect. He actually rebuilt and refortified a much earlier castle.
The Anglo Saxon Chronicle records the visit of Edward the Elder entering the "burgh" of Huntingdon in 921 where he 'repaired and restored' the castle. For him to be able to repair something then it must have been in existence prior to that date. There are indications that the Danes built the first earthworks sometime in the late 9th Century and it was these fortifications that Edward attacked and seized after which he moved on to Tempsford. The building of the first wooden bridge at Huntingdon is also attributed to Edward the Elder. The castle may have been built to protect the bridgehead.
However we must not discount the possibility that given the commanding position above what was then a ford, even the Romans may have built some form of defensive earthworks to guard the northern side of the river above Godmanchester. No archaeology to support this has been found but then as this area has undergone many major constructive and destructive phases it would be unlikely to find any.