Hamerton is a village in and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of Hamerton and Steeple Gidding, in

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. Hamerton lies approximately north-west of

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...

. Hamerton is situated within

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popul ...

which is a

non-metropolitan district Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''shire counties'') in a two-tier arrangement. Non-m ...

of Cambridgeshire as well as being a historic county of England.

Hamerton Zoo Hamerton Zoo Park is situated in Hamerton, near Sawtry, Huntingdonshire, England. Development Planning permission for change of use from agricultural land to a zoo was granted in 1988, with the park being opened on 15 June 1990 by local MP, the ...

is on the north side of the village. The village has a church dedicated to All Saints. In 2001 the parish had a population of 87. The

of ''Hamerton and Steeple Gidding'' incorporates the nearby

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Steeple Gidding, which has a 14th-century church St Andrew's that is now redundant and preserved by the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

. Along with its nearby neighbour

Great Gidding Great Gidding is a village and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. Great Gidding lies approximately north-west of Huntingdon. The village has a Church of England primary school, playing field, corner shop, ...

, Steeple Gidding forms part of a cluster of villages known as The Giddings.

History

Hamerton was listed in the Domesday Book in the

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

Leightonstone Leightonstone was a hundred of Huntingdonshire mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. It took its name from the stone at Leighton Bromswold where the area's moot was held. In modern times it was an ecclesiastical administrative area within the ...

in Huntingdonshire; the name of the settlement was written as ''Hambertune'' in the Domesday Book. In 1086 there was just one manor at Hamerton; the annual rent paid to the lord of the manor in 1066 had been £12 and the rent was the same in 1086. The Domesday Book does not explicitly detail the population of a place but it records that there were 26 households at Hamerton. There is no consensus about the average size of a household at that time; estimates range from 3. 5 to 5. 0 people per household. Thatched Cottage, Hamerton - geograph

Steeple Gidding was listed in the Domesday Book in the Hundred of Leightonstone in Huntingdonshire; the name of the settlement was written as ''Redinges'' in the Domesday Book. In 1086 there was just one manor at Steeple Gidding; the annual rent paid to the lord of the manor in 1066 had been £5 and the rent was the same in 1086. The Domesday Book does not explicitly detail the population of a place but it records that there was 18 households and eight ploughlands at Steeple Gidding in 1086. In addition to the arable land, there was of meadows and of woodland at Steeple Gidding.

Government

Hamerton is part of the civil parish of ''Hamerton and Steeple Gidding''; it does not have a parish council but just holds an annual

parish meeting A parish meeting, in England, is a meeting to which all the electors in a civil parish are entitled to attend. In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish cou ...

. On 1 April 2010 the parish of Hamerton was abolished to form "Hamerton and Steeple Gidding". Hamerton was in the historic and

administrative county An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...

of Huntingdonshire until 1965. From 1965, the village was part of the new administrative county of

Huntingdon and Peterborough Huntingdon and Peterborough was a short-lived administrative and geographical county in East Anglia in the United Kingdom. It existed from 1965 to 1974, when it became part of Cambridgeshire. Formation The Local Government Act 1888 created fo ...

. Then in 1974, following the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, Hamerton became a part of the county of Cambridgeshire. The second tier of local government is

Huntingdonshire District Council Huntingdonshire District Council is the local authority for the district of Huntingdonshire in Cambridgeshire, England. Based in Huntingdon, it forms the lower part of the two tier system of local government in the district, below Cambridgeshire ...

which is a

of Cambridgeshire and has its headquarters in Huntingdon. Huntingdonshire District Council has 52 councillors representing 29 district wards. Huntingdonshire District Council collects the

council tax Council Tax is a local taxation system used in England, Scotland and Wales. It is a tax on domestic property, which was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, replacing the short-lived Community Charge The Community C ...

, and provides services such as building regulations, local planning, environmental health, leisure and tourism. Hamerton is a part of the district ward of ''Sawtry'' and is represented on the district council by two councillors. District councillors serve for four-year terms following elections to Huntingdonshire District Council. For Hamerton the highest tier of local government is

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 ...

which has administration buildings in Cambridge. The county council provides county-wide services such as major road infrastructure, fire and rescue, education, social services, libraries and heritage services. Cambridgeshire County Council consists of 69 councillors representing 60 electoral divisions. Hamerton is part of the electoral division of ''Sawtry and Ellington'' and is represented on the county council by one councillor. At Westminster Hamerton is in the parliamentary constituency of

North West Cambridgeshire North West Cambridgeshire is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. Constituency profile Th ...

, and elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

system of election. Hamerton is represented in 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. ...

Shailesh Vara Shailesh Lakhman Vara (born 4 September 1960) is a Ugandan-British politician, who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from July to September 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) ...

(

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

). Shailesh Vara has represented the constituency since 2005. The previous member of parliament was

Brian Mawhinney Brian Stanley Mawhinney, Baron Mawhinney, (26 July 1940 – 9 November 2019) was a British Conservative Party politician. He was a member of the Cabinet from 1994 to 1997 and a member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2005. Early life Mawhinney ...

(Conservative) who represented the constituency between 1997 and 2005.

Demography

Population

In the period 1801 to 1901 the population of Hamerton was recorded every ten years by the

UK census Coincident full censuses have taken place in the different jurisdictions of the United Kingdom every ten years since 1801, with the exceptions of 1941 (during the Second World War), Ireland in 1921/Northern Ireland in 1931,https://www.nisra.gov. ...

. During this time the population was in the range of 129 (the lowest was in 1801) and 187 (the highest was in 1871). From 1901, a census was taken every ten years with the exception of 1941 (due to the

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 ...

). All population census figures from report ''Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011'' by ''Cambridgeshire Insight''. In 2011, the parish covered an area of and the population density for Hamerton and Steeple Gidding in 2011 was 21.8 persons per square mile (8.4 per square kilometre).

References

External links

Hamertonzoopark.com
{{authority control Villages in Cambridgeshire Former civil parishes in Cambridgeshire Huntingdonshire