HUNTINGDONSHIEE-CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 225 



implements, lace, and straw plait are manufactured. There are a public library, a 

 literary institution, and an archaeological museum. John Bunyan was born in 

 the neighbouring village of Elstow, and the town and its vicinity abound in 

 objects connected with him. 



Wohurn is a quiet market town near the western border of the count}^, famous 

 on account of the magnificent mansion of the Duke of Bedford (Woburn Abbey), 

 which stands in the centre of a park 3,500 acres in extent. Fuller's earth is 

 procured in the neighbourhood. 



Leighton Buzzard, an old country town, is giving signs of renewed life since it 

 has become a principal station on the London and North-Western Railway. 



Biggleswade, on the Ivel, a navigable tributary of the Ouse, has been almost 

 wholly reconstructed since 1785, in which year a conflagration laid it waste. Dun- 

 sfahle, at the northern foot of the Chiltern Hills, has interesting remains of a priory 

 church founded by Henry I. The quarries in the Downs present many features 

 of interest to the geologist. Some of the neighbouring heights are crowned with 

 British earthworks. Luton, a straggling place with a remarkable Gothic church, lies 

 beyond the Chiltern Hills, in the valley of the Thames. It is the centre of the trade 

 in straw hats and bonnets, the plait for which is made in the neighbouring villages. 



Huntingdonshire stretches from the Nen in the north to beyond the Ouse in 

 the south. Its surface is gently undulating in the west, but the north-eastern 

 portion is for the most part embraced within the district of the Fens. 



Huntingdon, the county town, is pleasantly seated upon the Ouse. An ancient 

 stone bridge, erected before 1259, connects it with its suburb of Godmanchester, 

 the site of the Roman station of Durolipons. The trade in wool and corn is 

 considerable, and patent bricks are made. Oliver Cromwell was born in the town, 

 baptized in its ancient church, recently restored, and educated in its grammar 

 school. St. Ices and St. Neofs are interesting market towns on the Ouse, the one 

 below, the other above Huntingdon. Kimholton, with a castle belonging to the Duke 

 of Manchester, lies to the west. Ramsey is the principal town in the district of the 

 Fens. Stilton is a village in the same part of the county. It is usually stated 

 that "Stilton cheese '' was first made here ; but in point of fact it was originally 

 produced in Leicestershire, and derives its name from having been first brought 

 into notice at an inn of this village, which lies on the great northern road. 



Cambridgeshire lies almost wholly within the great level of the Fens, but the 

 southern portion of the county has a finely diversified surface, and the chalk 

 downs rise here to a height of between 300 to 500 feet. Butter and cream cheese 

 are amongst the most highly appreciated productions, and the breeding of pigeons 

 is carried on more extensively than in any other part of England, the produce of 

 a single "pigeonry" frequently exceeding 100,000 dozens a year. The manufac- 

 tures are unimportant. 



Cambridge, the county town, is seated on the river Cam, which flows north- 

 ward into the Ouse. Its university is a worth v rival of that at Oxford. 

 Its situation in a wide plain is not so favourable or so picturesque as that of 

 Oxford ; but the green meadows surrounded by trees, which run along the 

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