Kingston is a small village and parish in the East of England region and the county

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a 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 Northamptonshire to the ...

in the United Kingdom. Situated 7 miles to the west of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, 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. Cam ...

, the population at the time of the 2001 census was 214, increasing to 238 at the 2011 Census. The ancient parish is in size, at an altitude of between 80 and 250 feet. The land is largely agricultural, with Kingston Wood covering around 100 acres.

History

The discovery of

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

and

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

flint tools and pottery in the parish indicate that Kingston's location on a gravel spur above two streams has been occupied for millennia. Additional finds in the Old Rectory garden suggest there may also have been a Roman villa site here. The name Kingston, meaning "the king's manor", implies that the village was, prior to the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...

, a

royal vill A royal vill, royal ''tun'' or ''villa regalis'' ( ang, cyneliċ tūn) was the central settlement of a rural territory in Anglo Saxon England, which would be visited by the King and members of the royal household on regular circuits of their kingd ...

. It remained in the possession of the crown at the time of the

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 manus ...

in 1086. The village thrived in medieval times, and was the third most-populous parish in Longstow

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 des ...

in 1327. In 1306 the lord of the manor, Constantine Mortimer, was granted the right to hold a weekly market on Tuesdays, as well as two annual fairs around the festivals of St Margaret and St Luke (19–21 July and 17–19 October). The market and fairs lapsed at some point over the next few centuries and the population fell sharply to leave Kingston as one of the smallest parishes by population. There are a number of late medieval houses remaining, and many others date from the 17th and 18th centuries. There are 21 listed buildings and structures in the village. Electricity and mains water did not arrive in Kingston until after 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 opposi ...

, with water previously obtained from the village well or farm pumps.

Church

There was probably a church in the village in the 11th century, but the present building dates from the 13th century. Dedicated to All Saints and Saint Andrew the building has a clerestoried nave with a low west tower containing three bells. The church has been in the patronage of

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

since 1457. In the late 13th century Kingston Wood had its own chapel and chaplain. A Congregational chapel was built in around 1839, now a United Reformed church.

Village life

An inn is listed in Kingston in 1593. The Chequers and the Rose and Crown public houses opened towards the end of the 19th century, but the final pub in the village closed in 1960. Though an earlier school held in Crossways house began in 1702, Kingston had a small school from 1876 until its closure in 1960. It is now the Village Hall. Children now attend primary school in the neighbouring village of

Bourn Bourn is a small village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England. Surrounding villages include Caxton, Eltisley and Cambourne. It is 8 miles (12 km) from the county town of Cambridge. The population of the parish was 1,015 peo ...

References

External links

Kingston village website
{{authority control Villages in Cambridgeshire Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire District