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Histon The Village

The large village of Histon lies north of Cambridge, its built-up area in 1986 being separated from that of the city only by a narrow belt of farm land and the Cambridge northern bypass. The parish was mainly agricultural until the mid 19th century, when fruit growing and market gardening developed, further stimulated by the establishment of the Chivers jam factory in 1874. The firm's later growth made Histon a centre of employment for a wide area. Development after 1950 was mostly residential and middle-class, and from the 1960s Histon was regarded by some as a suburb of Cambridge. Histon's original boundary with Girton, Oakington, and Westwick mostly followed straight trackways and furlong boundaries; that on the north mainly drainage ditches, one of which was determined as the boundary with Cottenham in 1273. The north part of the parish is in the upper end of the Beach Ditch hollow and lies below. The ground slopes gently up to reach in the south. Most of it lies on terraces of river gravels, parts of which, especially in the north, are overlaid by gault. In the 19th century the soil was thought very fruitful and suited to a wide range of crops. Two small brooks flow north and west through the parish. Beck brook formed the boundary with Oakington after 1954. The unnamed eastern brook flows north to the green by Water Lane, then turns west across the green and alongside Park Lane and a footpath to the parish boundary.

The twisting village street, which in the 19th century earned the name 'crooked Histon', was the main medieval route from Cambridge into the Isle of Ely. The road from Cambridge forks south of the green, with Water Lane following the brook to the south-east corner of the green and the more direct Broad Lane (later called Station Road) skirting the green on the west. North of the village Gun's Lane represents the medieval road. The route from Cambridge to Cottenham followed Water Lane and continued north past the green along Pig's Lane, renamed Glebe Way in the 20th century. Cottenham Road links the north end of the village street with Glebe Way north of the green. The roads to Cambridge and Cottenham and the Oakington-Girton road, which crossed the south-west corner of the ancient parish, were left in their former routes at inclosure, and a new straight road linking Park Lane and the Oakington-Girton road replaced the old roads to Oakington, which followed the brook, and to Girton, which led across the open fields south of Park Lane. In the 19th century the lane from the green to Impington village was often called Dog Kennel Lane, evidently from kennels belonging to Guy Sindrey of Histon Manor.

Moses Carter the Histon Giant (1801-1860)

Moses Carter was nearly seven feet tall, weighed over twenty three stone and was as strong as he was big. In about 1847 he accepted a challenge to carry a great stone from the old ballast pit on Oakington road to The Boot public house. Moses managed to carry the boulder back to the garden of the pub and collected his winnings, a pint of beer. The boulder can still be seen in the garden and one of his shoes is inside the pub.

The street plan suggests that the village grew from two early focuses, both of which had probably been laid out by the 11th century in view of the large population in 1086. One was a large oval green, of which only the eastern third remains, defined on the north by the brook and on the south by the present High Street. Elongated tofts stretching back from both long sides of the green survived in 1806. The other focus, later called Church End, lay immediately north-west and included both churches; Church Street formed its spine, ending in the west at St. Etheldreda's church and its associated manor house and winding round St. Andrew's churchyard, perhaps an encroachment on the street, with St. Andrew's manor house to the south. Back lanes roughly parallel with Church Street are represented by Clay Street on the north and part of Park Lane on the south, on the east the present Windmill Lane links Church End with the green.

The opening of the St Ives to Cambridge railway line by the Eastern Counties Railways Company on the 17 th of August 1847 fuelled the expansion of companies. Steven Chivers was one of the first to seize on this new opportunity when in he bought an orchard next to the railway. This proved a successful venture, and within two years the Victoria Works jam factory had opened on the orchard site. In the 1980s Station Road had a 19th-century appearance, dominated by the Chivers factory (until its demolition in 1986), the large Baptist chapel built by John Chivers, and by Victorian houses and cottages, many turned into shops. In contrast the area around the church kept the atmosphere of a small village, with crooked lanes and timber-framed buildings, closed off on the west by the park-like grounds of Histon Manor and Abbey Farm.

The village Feast is held in late June or early July had turned by the late 19th century into a church parade which collected funds for Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. It lapsed after the Second World War but was revived in the early 1970s as a festival spread over several days. John Chivers helped to found the Histon Institute in 1903. Its building, the former Baptist chapel on the green, housed a reading room and sports clubs. In the 1890s and 1900s Histon and Impington boasted a large number of other social, sports, and political clubs. The village's mixed character was evident in the variety of activities from agricultural and horticultural societies to clubs for pigeon racing, amateur dramatics, and bicycling. Voluntary associations of all kinds continued in the 20th century.

Histon The Village

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