CHAPTER EIGHT 



THE VILLAGES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE 



By John Jones 



THE VILLAGES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE NUMBER ABOUT ONE 

 hundred and sixty.' There are, in addition, some half-dozen urban 

 areas, but many of these only contain overgrown villages. Nearly 

 all of them are mentioned in the Domesday Book. It is certainly true to say 

 that the village geography of the County has been stable through the 

 centuries. Fig. 22, showing the distribution of Domesday settlements, 

 represents quite well the pattern, if not all the detail, of the present-day 

 village distribution as shown in Fig. 23. The main difference between the 

 two maps is the addition of a number of villages upon the silt area of the 

 northern Fenland." 



LOCATION OF VILLAGE SITES 



Even a cursory glance at Fig. 23 shows that these villages are not evenly 

 distributed. Three stretches of country appear villageless : a district in the 

 north of the County; an east-west strip south of the Ely cluster of villages; 

 and a north-east — south-west strip in the south-eastern quadrant of the 

 County. On the other hand, the area with the most dense distribution of 

 villages occupies the south-western quadrant. 



Four physical features are reflected in this variation : the Fenland and its 

 islands; the upland with its contrast between clay and chalk; the river 

 valleys ; and the narrow strip of country between fen and upland which 

 may be conveniently designated the "fen-line". From the point of view 

 of location, therefore, the villages fall into four groups: 



(i) Fen villages. 



(2) Upland villages. 



(3) Valley villages. 



(4) Fen-line villages. 



Naturally, these groups are not mutually exclusive, for some sites claim 

 admission to more than one group. Take Cambridge town itself, for 

 example. It is on the fen-line, but it is also in the valley of the Cam, and 



' For a fuller account, see J. Jones, A Human Geography of Cambridgeshire (1924). 

 ' For a discussion of these differences, see H. C. Darby, "The Domesday Geography 

 of Cambridgeshire", Proc. Camb. Aiitiq. Soc. xxxvi, 35 (1936). 



