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XVI, — On the Farming of Huntingdon. Bj Gilbert Murray. 
Prize Essay. 
This county is divided into four hundreds — Norman Cross, to the 
north, containing twenty-five parishes ; Kimbolton, on the west, 
thirty parishes; St. Neot's, to due south, twenty-three parishes. 
The length from north to south is about 30 miles ; from east to 
west 23 miles. The extent is about 372 square miles, or 229,544 
acres. The population was in 1831, 53,192 ; and in 18G1, 64,250 : 
showing an increase of barely 20 per cent, during a period of 
thirty years. The chief town, Huntingdon, situated on the 
river Ouse, contains a population of 3,816, and returns two 
members to Parliament. The chief market towns are Hunting- 
don, St. Neot's, Ramsay, St. Ives, and Kimbolton. 
Huntingdonshire is well situated both for land and water car- 
riage. The river Ouse enters the shire on the south, passes St. 
Neot's, flows north to Huntingdon, and thence in an easterly 
direction to St. Ives, on its course to the Wash. It is navi- 
gable for large boats throughout the whole length of its course 
through the shire. The Nene, another navigable river, wends 
along the northern border of the county by Peterborough, 
and enters into the Wash below Wisbeach, in *Cambridge- 
shire. The Great Northern Railway, which enters the county 
at St. Neot's on the south, and passes almost directly through 
the middle of the shire to Peterborough on the north, is inter- 
sected by a branch of the Great Eastern, which connects Hun- 
tingdon and St. Ires with Cambridge. The Midland enters the 
shire on the south-west from Thrapston, passes Kimbolton, and 
joins the Great Northern at Huntingdon. 
The county is well provided with turnpike-roads, which are 
kept in an efficient state of repair. The old North road from 
London to York passes through the county, but is now little 
used. The parish and occupation roads on the clayland districts 
are not generally good ; burnt clay-ballast being the material 
principally used in their formation, but where sufficient at- 
tention is given to drainage, and gravel to the depth of from 
4 to 5 inches is laid on the ballast, very serviceable roads are 
formed, which, with a little attention, last for many years. 
Great expense and difficulty in obtaining gravel is the only 
bar to more extended improvements. 
Neither is the county deficient in historical interest. Traces 
of several Roman stations and encampments still remain, and the 
great roads, the Ermine Street and Via Devana, passed through 
the shire. It likewise contained two great abbeys, Ramsey and 
Sawtry of St. Judith, with castles at Kimbolton and Huntingdon. 
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