Croxton is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

about 13 miles (21 km) west of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, England. In 2001, the resident population was 163 people, falling slightly to 160 at the 2011 Census. Croxton Park is to the south of the current village and contains a large house and parkland.

History

The name of the village was spelled ''Crochestone'' in the 1086

Domesday book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

. 'Croxton' is derived from 'farmstead in a nook, or of a man called Krókr', or the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

'croh-tun' meaning

saffron Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent i ...

farm, and may have been part of a late Scandinavian settlement, along with

Caxton Caxton may refer to: Places * Caxton Street, Brisbane, Australia * Caxton, Cambridgeshire, a village in Cambridgeshire, UK ** Caxton Gibbet, a knoll near the village * Caxton Hall, a historic building in London, UK * Caxton Building, a historic ...

and Toft. It is likely that the settlement grew up on two sites: around the old

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

of Westbury, at the south end of the village, and around the old manor house of Croxton. It seems that a street to the east of the church formed the main village . By 1811 it had already reduced in size, and after

enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

in 1818, the rectory was demolished and an ornamental lake created on its site. By 1826, all the houses had gone and only Croxton Park mansion remained.'Parishes: Croxton', A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 5 (1973), pp. 36–46. Date accessed: 6 August 2008
/ref> At Westbury, the

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

at the north end of the village street was enclosed and a large house, The Downs, and a farm were built on it. At the south end of the street is a late medieval timber-framed house called Croxton Manor but it was probably the original Westbury manor house. Westbury Farm was probably an earlier site for the manor house - the farmhouse has several medieval parts and remains of a moat. In 1801, 171 people lived in Croxton parish; in 1821, 225 people. The population grew, though it declined between 1841 and 1851, when the mansion was unoccupied and there was emigration overseas from the area. Croxton's population peaked at 308 in 1871; in 1961 it was 155.

Governance

The parish is represented on the

South Cambridgeshire District Council South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

by three councillors for the Bourn ward and on

Cambridgeshire County Council Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council of Cambridgeshire, England. The council consists of 61 councillors, representing 59 electoral divisions. The council is based at New Shire Hall at Alconbury Weald, near Huntingdon. It is a mem ...

by one councillor for the Papworth and Swavesey electoral division. It is represented at the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

as part of the

South Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, England, with a population of 162,119 at the 2021 census. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Chesterton Rural District and South Cambridgeshire Rural District. I ...

constituency.

Geography

Croxton parish covers an area of 7.72 km² and lies alongside the

A428 road The A428 road is a major road in central and eastern England. It runs between the cities of Coventry and Cambridge by way of the county towns of Northampton and Bedford. Together with the A421, (and the A43, M40 and the A34), the eastern ...

between

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

and

, the main village street being at right-angles to the major road. It is 13 miles (21 km) west of the county town of Cambridge and 49 miles (79 km) north of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The nearest town is

St Neots St NeotsPronunciation of the town name: Most commonly, but variations that ''saint'' is said as in most English non-georeferencing speech, the ''t'' is by a small minority of the British pronounced and higher traces of in the final syllable ...

, 3.5 miles (5.5 km) west; minor roads run north to Toseland and south towards

Abbotsley Abbotsley is a village and civil parish within the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The village sits to the North of Croxton Park, a Grade II*

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

landscaped parkland with woodland and a lake. The soil in the parish is clay with a

gault The Gault Formation is a geological formation of stiff blue clay deposited in a calm, fairly deep-water marine environment during the Lower Cretaceous Period (Upper and Middle Albian). It is well exposed in the coastal cliffs at Copt Point in ...

subsoil.GENUKI: Croxton
/ref> The parish ranges from 29 to 64 metres above sea level.Ordnance Survey: Getamap
/ref>

Demography

At the time of the 2001 census, the population of Croxton parish was 163 people. All residents were white, 76.4% described themselves as

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, three followed another religion and 21.8% either had no religion or did not state one.Cambridgeshire County Council: 2001 parish census profile
In 1921, the population was 234.

Landmarks

A war memorial, commemorating Croxton men who died in the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

s, was erected in 1920 in the churchyard. A total of 13 structures in the parish are

, including a milestone by the A428, a cross in the churchyard, a 19th-century

village pump A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. T ...

and several cottages. Within Croxton Park is a large Grade II*

Country House An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

, also called Croxton Park. It was the historic seat of the Leeds family. The current red brick, three-storey house was constructed around 1760–1 by Edward Leeds and probably incorporated part of the previous Tudor building . Sir (George) Douglas Cochrane Newton, Member of Parliament for Cambridge (and later 1st Baron Eltisley) was lord of the manor and principal landowner in 1929.

Religious sites

A church at Croxton was first mentioned around 1217 and parts of today's church date from the 13th century. It is dedicated to St. James and situated south of Croxton Park, close to the manor house. It was built mainly of fieldstones in the Perpendicular style; the tower has a clock and six bells. The church is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. There are some pictures and a description of the church at the Cambridgeshire Churches website.The church's page at the Cambridgeshire Churches website
/ref>

References

Cambridgeshire Churches

External links

Croxton Village Information
{{authority control Villages in Cambridgeshire Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire District