'Cambridgeshire' (abbreviated 'Cambs') is a county in
England, bordering
Lincolnshire to the north,
Norfolk to the northeast,
Suffolk to the east,
Essex and
Hertfordshire to the south, and
Bedfordshire and
Northamptonshire to the west. Cambridgeshire contains most of the region known as
Silicon Fen. The
county town is
Cambridge.
Cambridgeshire is twinned with
Kreis Viersen in
Germany.
History
Cambridgeshire was recorded in the
Domesday Book as "Grantbridgeshire" (or rather ''Grentebrigescire'').
Cambridgeshire today is the product of several local government unifications. In
1888 when
county councils where introduced, two were set up, following the traditional division of Cambridgeshire into the area in the south around Cambridge, and the liberty of the
Isle of Ely. In
1965, these two
administrative counties were merged to form
Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely. In
1974,
this then merged with the county to the west,
Huntingdon and Peterborough (which had been created in 1965 by the merger of
Huntingdonshire with the
Soke of Peterborough - a part of
Northamptonshire which had its own county council). The resulting county was called simply 'Cambridgeshire'.
Since
1998 the
City of Peterborough has been a separately administered area, as a
unitary authority, but is associated with Cambridgeshire for ceremonial purposes such as
Lieutenancy, and functions such as policing and the fire service.
In 2002, the conservation charity
Plantlife unofficially designated Cambridgeshire's
county flower as the
Pasqueflower.
A great quantity of
archaeological finds from the
Stone Age, the
Bronze Age and the
Iron Age were made in
East Cambridgeshire. Most items were found in
Isleham.
The
Cambridgeshire Regiment or (Fen Tigers) county based army unit fought in South Africa, WW1 and WW2.
Most English counties have nicknames for people from that county, such as a
Tyke from
Yorkshire and a
Yellowbelly from
Lincolnshire; the traditional
nickname for people from Cambridgeshire is 'Cambridgeshire Camel' or 'Cambridgeshire Crane', referring to the wildfowl which were once abundant in the fens.
Original historical documents relating to Cambridgeshire are held by
Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies.
Geography
Large areas of the county are extremely low-lying and
Holme Fen is notable for being the UK's lowest physical point at 2.75 m (9 ft) below sea level. The highest point is in the village of
Great Chishill at 146 m/480 ft above sea level. Other
prominent hills are
Little Trees Hill and
Wandlebury Hill in the
Gog Magog Downs,
Rivey Hill above
Linton,
Rowley's Hill and the
Madingley Hills.
Economy
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Cambridgeshire at current basic prices
published (pp.240-253) by ''Office for National Statistics'' with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added[1] | Agriculture[2] | Industry[3] | Services[4] |
|---|
| 1995 | '5,896' | 228 | 1,646 | 4,022 |
| 2000 | '7,996' | 166 | 2,029 | 5,801 |
| 2003 | '10,154' | 207 | 2,195 | 7,752 |
1. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
2. includes hunting and forestry
3. includes energy and construction
4. includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
AWG plc is based in Huntingdon. The
RAF has a few bases in the Huntingdon and
St Ives area. Most of Cambridgeshire is agricultural. Close to Cambridge is the so-called
Silicon Fen area of high-technology (electronics, computing and biotechnology) companies.
ARM Limited is based in
Cherry Hinton.
Education
Cambridgeshire has a completely comprehensive education system with twelve independent schools. The average number of pupils in England achieving 5 GCSEs at grades A-C including English and Maths is 45.5%, and for Cambridgeshire it is 50.1% which is one of the highest in England. Huntingdonshire has the highest school population, with Fenland having the smallest (closely followed by East Cambridgeshire). There is variation across the county with South Cambridgeshire having a very high percentage with 5 grades A-C; one of the highest performing districts in England. South Cambridgeshire simply does not have any bad schools. At GCSE, the best school is
Comberton Village College (CVC) in
Comberton in South Cambridgeshire, with
Parkside Community College in Cambridge also doing well. The worst school at GCSE is the Queen's School in Wisbech. Huntingdonshire has five good schools and two low performing schools, which could be similar to a selective education system. At A level, the county does reasonably well, but not as good as the results found at GCSE. In general the independent schools do the best at A level, which is not true for the situation in other nearby counties. In the East of England, only one Cambridgeshire school has particularly good A level results - the
Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge. The rest are average, but the county has A level results as a whole above the England average.
Average score at GCSE by council district (%)
★ South Cambridgeshire 61.1
★ East Cambridgeshire 53.4
★ Cambridge 51.9
★ Huntingdonshire 48.9
★ (City of Peterborough Unitary Authority 39.4)
★ Fenland 36.6
Settlements
These are the settlements in Cambridgeshire with a town charter, city status or a population over 5,000; for a complete list of settlements see
list of places in Cambridgeshire.
★
Burwell
★
Cambridge
★
Chatteris
★
Ely
★
Godmanchester
★
Huntingdon
★
Littleport
★
March
★
Peterborough (no longer part of the administrative county)
★
Sawston
★
Linton
★
Sawtry
★
Soham
★
St Ives
★
St Neots
★
Wisbech
★
Whittlesey
★
Yaxley
The town of
Newmarket is surrounded on three sides by Cambridgeshire, being connected by a narrow strip of land to the rest of
Suffolk.
Places of interest
Famous people from Cambridgeshire
Map of the Cambridgeshire area (1904)
The following people are either from Cambridgeshire, have lived in Cambridgeshire, or continue to live in Cambridgeshire.
★
Adrian Durham, Radio
TalkSPORT presenter. (Peterborough)
★
Andrew Eldritch, lead singer of the band
The Sisters of Mercy. (Ely)
★
Andy Bell, lead singer of the electronic pop band
Erasure. (Peterborough)
★
David Gilmour, member of the rock band
Pink Floyd. (Cambridge)
★
Don Airey, the keyboardist in the rock band Deep Purple.
★
Don Lusher, trombonist. (Peterborough)
★
Douglas Adams, author. (Cambridge)
★
Hereward the Wake, outlaw who led a resistance against
William the Conqueror. (Peterborough and Ely)
★
Henry Royce, co-founder of
Rolls-Royce Limited. (Huntingdonshire)
★
Jeffrey Archer, author and former politician. (Cambridge)
★
Joe Bugner, boxer. (Huntingdonshire)
★
John Clare, the Northamptonshire poet. (Helpston)
★
John Major (Huntingdonshire)
★
Matt Bellamy Musician (Cambridge)
★
Keith Palmer, better known as
Maxim Reality, member of dance music band
The Prodigy. (Peterborough)
★
Oliver Cromwell, military leader, politician. (Huntingdonshire and Ely)
★
Nigel Sixsmith, founder member of
The Art Of Sound, Musician, well known
Keytar player. (Peterborough)
★
Paul Nicholas, actor and singer. (Peterborough)
★
Peter Boizot, founder of the
Pizza Express restaurant chain. (Peterborough)
★
Richard Attenborough, film actor, director, and producer. (Cambridge)
★
Richard Garriott, better known as
Lord British. (Cambridge)
★
Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett, member of the rock band
Pink Floyd. (Cambridge)
★
Ronald Searle, cartoonist. (Cambridge)
★
Brian J. Ford, scientist. (Cambridge).
★
Rory McGrath, comedian. (Cambridge)
★
Samuel Pepys, diarist. (Huntingdonshire)
★
Sarah Cawood, television presenter. (Peterborough)
★
Stephen Hawking, physicist. (Cambridge)
★
Warwick Davis, actor. (Peterborough)
★
Peter Foxhall, evangelist. (Huntingdonshire)
★
Thomas Clarkson, anti-slavery campaigner. (Wisbech)
★
Octavia Hill, social reformer. (Wisbech)
★
Sir Jack Hobbs, cricketer. (Cambridge)
See also
★
Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely
★
Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire
★
High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire
★
Cambridgeshire local elections
★
Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies
★
Cambridgeshire Constabulary
★
Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service
External links
★
Cambridgeshire County Council
★
Cambridge Market Place Webcam
★
Cambridgeshire Family History Society
★
Cambridgeshire Community Archive Network
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