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 of the town's name are common. is a town 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...

district of

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, England. It is west of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. The areas of Eynesbury, Eaton Ford, Eaton Socon, Love's Farm and Wintringham form part of the town. The town centre lies on the eastern bank of the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse ( ) is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the ...

. The town is close to the A1 road (north-south), as well as the A421 and A428 roads which link Cambridge to

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

and

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

. St Neots railway station is on the

Great Northern route The Great Northern route, formerly known as Great Northern Electrics, is the route consisting of services on the southern end of the East Coast Main Line, which is the main railway link between the cities of London and Edinburgh, and its ass ...

between

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

. St Neots had a population of 33,410 in 2021.

Toponymy

The town is named after the ninth century monk Saint Neot, whose bones were brought to

St Neots Priory St Neots Priory was a Order of St. Benedict, Benedictine monastery beside the town of St Neots in the historic counties of England, historic county of Huntingdonshire, now a non-metropolitan district in the England, English county of Cambridgeshi ...

from

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

in around 980AD, resulting in pilgrims visiting in large numbers. Before the founding of the priory the area had been part of the parish of Eynesbury. As the town around the priory grew it became a separate parish of St Neots in the twelfth century. The two were administratively reunited in 1876 when Eynesbury was absorbed into St Neots.

History

Early history

Remains of

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

settlement have been found in the town centre; a Roman encampment was located in the town.C F Tebbutt, ''St Neots: the History of a Huntingdonshire Town'', Philimore & Co, Chichester, corrected reprint 1984, , page 6 It became known as Eynesbury, after Ernulf, a local leader.David Bushby, ''St Neots: A History and Celebration'', The Francis Frith CoIlection, Salisbury, 2005, ISBN 1-84589-216-X, pages 12 to 15 Neot was a holy man who founded a monastery near the present-day Cornish village of St Neot. When he died, his remains were kept there as holy relics, and many pilgrims visited, making donations. In the later tenth century a priory was established immediately north of the village of Eynesbury in what is now St Neots. The landowners, Leofric and his wife Leoflaed, obtained Neot's remains (leaving an arm in Cornwall), realising that they would attract pilgrims, and their money, to their priory. This was successful, and the priory became rich and famous, and the area became known as St Neots. St Neots subsequently became a separate parish from Eynesbury sometime between 1113 and 1204, with the boundary between them being a stream called Hen Brook. About this time, the settlement to the west of the River Ouse was known as Ea-tun, meaning "waterside village". In Norman times, a sub-division of a Baron's area of control was called a "soke" (a district within certain legal privileges could be exercised) and in French the area was called the Soka de Eton, and later Eaton Socon. Before the river was bridged, people waded across it, and this was called a "ford", from which the immediate area became called Eaton Ford.Rev Walter Skeat, ''The Place-Names of Bedfordshire'', Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 1906, page 49 The Priory was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, and the relics of St Neot were lost. The River Great Ouse was made navigable from St Ives to Bedford, via St Neots, in 1629, increasing river-borne trade in the town.Joyce Godber, ''The History of Bedfordshire 1066 - 1888'', Bedfordshire County Council, Bedford, 1984, ISBN 0 90704 1 272 Neots pond

The

Second English Civil War The Second English Civil War took place between February and August 1648 in Kingdom of England, England and Wales. It forms part of the series of conflicts known collectively as the 1639–1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which include the 164 ...

began in April 1648. The Parliamentarians under

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

were in control, but King Charles I planned to overthrow them by force of arms. An attempt to seize London by his supporters, the Royalists, failed. A group of them retreated to St Neots and planned to spend the night of 9 July resting in the town. In the small hours of 10 July Parliamentary troops attacked, taking them by surprise, and the battle centred on the market square area. Many Royalists were killed or taken prisoner.Peter Raggatt, ''The Battle of St Neots'', published by St Neots Museum, undated In the 18th and 19th centuries the town enjoyed prosperity through corn milling and brewing, and from

stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

traffic and from 1850 its

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

connection. Eaton Socon was on the Great North Road and had inns used as a staging post and overnight stop for stagecoaches travelling between London and

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

; some of the routes ran via St Neots instead of Eaton Socon, and intersected with traffic on the east–west route from the Eastern Counties and the Midlands.

1900 onwards

In the twentieth century, Eaton Ford and Eaton Socon, lying on the west side of the River Great Ouse, became gradually more integrated with St Neots and Eynesbury. Nevertheless their location to the east of the River Great Ouse meant that they were administratively part of Bedfordshire. This anomaly was resolved in 1965 when they were incorporated into the urban district of St Neots. A considerable addition to the population took place in the 1960s when London overspill development took place in the area. This incorporated a great deal of light industry, and Cromwell Road was constructed and became a focus for it. At this time the A45(T) road ran through the town and the construction of St Neots by-pass in 1968 provided a much-needed relief, as well as enhancing access to additional light industry. Recent developments in St Neots have expanded the population in the last few years: to the east of the railway station is the Love's Farm estate, where more than 1,000 houses were built in the period to 2020. Stage one of the extensive Wintringham estate has been completed but much remains to be done. planned to be a vibrant community with 2,000 homes, To the east of Love's Farm, further development has been started for the construction of the Monkfields Estate.

Culture and community

St Neots Museum is housed in the town's former Victorian Police Station and Magistrates Court. It has local history collections covering the town's rich past including a display about James Toller, the Eynesbury Giant, a resident from the 18th century who measured over 8 ft in height. There is also a gallery with temporary exhibitions by local creatives including fine art, ceramics, sculpture and illustration. The museum organises a variety of specialist and family events from walks, talks, one-day festivals, temporary and touring exhibitions. St Neots general market is held on the market square every Thursday. A further farmers market is held on the market square every second and fourth Saturday.https://www.visit-stneots.co.uk/things-to-do/listing/weekly-charter-market/ St Neots weekly market on Visit St Neots website Retrieved 25 April 2025 The theatre community includes the Riverside Theatre Company, who stage productions, run workshops and have groups for all ages; VAMPS formed in 1961 as the St Neots and District Operatic Society and stage popular musicals and variety shows; St Neots Players, formed in the late 1920s as a play-reading group with past members who used to perform the annual

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

, Pantomime and other mid-season productions at the Kings Head Hotel in the Stables Theatre; and Stageworks, a performing arts group offering classes, holiday programmes, workshops and a college offering full-time training to students aged 16 years and over that prepares students for musical theatre and acting, SJ School of Dance, Pocket Productions, and Peppercorns Academy. The local creative community is served by Neotists, a

community interest company A community interest company (CIC, pronounced "see-eye-see", or colloquially, "kick") is a form of social enterprise in the United Kingdom intended "for people wishing to establish businesses which trade with a social purpose..., or to carry on ...

for creative professionals with members covering design, illustration, art, photography and IT, which commissions local creatives to collaborate on projects, run workshops and events for the community and provide opportunities and connections for professionals working in the creative industry. In 2023, the Neotists organised the St Neots Festival, a music and performing arts festival in Priory Park.

Governance

There are three tiers of local government covering St Neots, at

(town),

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

, and

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

level: St Neots Town Council, Huntingdonshire District Council and

Cambridgeshire County Council Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council for non-metropolitan county of Cambridgeshire, England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county, which additionally includes the City o ...

. The district and county councils also form part of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, led by the

Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough The mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is a combined authority mayor, first 2017 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral election, elected in May 2017. The mayor is leader of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. This o ...

Town Council

St Neots Town Council is led by a mayor. The council consists of 21 elected councillors, serving eight wards: Eaton Socon, Eaton Ford, Eynesbury, Priory Park, St Neots East, St Neots Crosshall, St Neots Church and Priory Park South. The Town Council has a budget of £1.97million in 20252026. Responsibilities include allotments, certain buildings, play areas, bus shelters, public toilets, cemeteries, some categories of street lighting, defibrillators, operation of the Priory Centre, youth engagement, and trees, grass and town maintenance.St Neots Town Council at https://www.stneots-tc.gov.uk/

Parliamentary constituency

St Neots is in the parliamentary constituency of St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire. The member of parliament is Ian Sollom of the Liberal Democrats.

Expansion and improvements

Housing expansion

St Neots experienced considerable growth in the late 1960s and later, when much new housing was built to accommodate families from London, as part of the London overspill plan. Further housebuilding followed and during the 1970s industrial development took place along Cromwell Road, Station Road, and the Little End development. Following the 1985 opening of the St Neots By-Pass (later part of the A428 road), further light industrial development took place alongside Barford Road south of the by-pass. in 2010, the Loves Farm development was built, with 1,400 houses to the east of the railway line; further construction is continued further east in 2020–2023, This was followed by a further 2,800 houses in 2021 in phase 1 of the Wintringham development, south of Cambridge Road and east of the railway line. Expansion of light industry facilities was incorporated in the original overspill planning, and has also been continued more recently. Housing construction in Phase 1 is substantially complete and an Academy school has been provided. Additional works are planned to provide office space and shop units, as well as a large (21,500 sq ft) food store.https://wintringham.org/future-phases/ Wintringham: Future Phases retrieved 21 April 2025 In late 2025 phase 2 of the Wintringham scheme is planned to start, extending further south from phase 1. This will provide about 900 homes and a primary school and ancillary facilities. Phase 3 will be built later, extending further south to reach the A428 by-pass road.

Town centre improvements

A multi-million pound renovation of St Neots town centre began in January 2024 and is due to finish in early summer 2025. The town's Market Square is being cleared of obstruction and expanded, with car parking removed and new disabled spaces, landscaping, and a community space is being created. There have been improvements to Huntingdon Street crossroads and Church Walk crossing, as well as the resurfacing of the carriageway along the High Street and New Street. Footway paving has also been carried out on the river bridge, along with the installation of a new electrical system in the Market Square, which will continue to be used for markets and events.https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/gallery/state-st-neots-market-square-31008354 Cambridge News (newspaper) article, 15 February 2025 The state of St Neots Market Square as revamp sdue to be completed in two months In an initiative to improve the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, many of the subsidiary roads were subjected to a 20 mph speed limit.

Sport and leisure

St Neots has a semi-professional

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

team, St Neots Town F.C., who play at Rowley Park Stadium. The club are currently members of the

United Counties League The United Counties League (also known after its sponsor as the ''GCE Hire Fleet Ltd. United Counties League'') is an England, English association football, football league covering an area including the English Counties of the United Kingdom, ...

Premier Division South. They play at Premier Plus Stadium, Kester Way.https://theucl.co.uk/clubs/stneotstown/ United Counties League website: St Neots Town FC retrieved 23 April 2025https://stneotstownfc.co.uk/ St Neots Town FC Website retrieved 24 April 2025 The town also has a rugby club, St Neots RUFC, a rowing club, St Neots Rowing Club, two

Dragon Boat A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originating from the Pearl River Delta region of China's southern Guangdong Province. These were made of teak, but in other parts of China different kinds of wood are used. It is one of a family of t ...

teams and St Neots Table Tennis club.https://www.stneotsrugbyclub.com/ St Neots Rugby Club website, retrieved 24 April 2025https://stneotsrc.co.uk/ St Neots Rowing Club website retrieved 24 April 2025https://stneotsdbt.co.uk/ St Neots Dragon Boat Racing website retrieved 24 April 2025https://stneotsttc.com/ St Neots Table Tennis Club website retrieved 24 April 2025 Huntingdonshire District Council operates a leisure centre complex in Eynesbury with an indoor swimming pool, gym, squash courts, sports hall, tennis courts, all weather pitches, creche, and cafe. The site is part of the council's 'One Leisure' brand, which has other sites in Huntingdon and St Ives. St Neots duck pond and Ambiance Cafe

Riverside Park is an attractive public green space alongside the River Great Ouse, close to the town centre, incorporating Regatta Meadow. Footpaths in the park were upgraded in August 2024 and a wild flower meadown has been created in part of the area. is close to the town centre and covers "with a beautiful mile-long waterside frontage". The park has a cafe, parking for 250 cars, a large children's activity area, a skate park, and a miniature railway.https://www.visit-stneots.co.uk/things-to-do/listing/ambience-cafe/ Ambiance Cafe entry at Visit St Neots website Riverside Miniature Railway. During the summer concerts are occasionally held on Sunday afternoons in the park. Barford Road Pocket Park in Eynesbury, hosts weekly

parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of 5K run, events for runners, walkers and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across five continents. Parkrun was founded by Paul Sinto ...

and junior parkrun events. To the north of the town is Paxton Pits Nature Reserve providing walks through its of lakes, meadow, grassland, scrub and woodland. The reserve is famous for its nightingales and cormorants and is home to a wide variety of other birds, insects, mammals and flora.https://paxton-pits.org.uk/ Paxton Pits Nature Reserve website retrieved 24 April 2025 Market Day at St Neots

The Rowley Arts Centre was opened in May 2014 and includes a six-screen cinema operated by

Cineworld Regal Cineworld Group (trading as Cineworld) is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,139 screens across 747 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czec ...

and a complex with three restaurants and a gym. It was named after Peter Rowley, an American playwright, author and critic who was Lord of the Manor of St Neots and who donated £1million towards the development from the profit he made from selling the land on which the Love's Farm development was built.https://www.cineworld.co.uk/cinemas/st-neots/084#/buy-tickets-by-cinema?in-cinema=084&at=2025-04-24&view-mode=list Cineworld website retrieved 24 April 2025 The complex was subsequently purchased as an investment by Huntingdonshire District Council for £7.6 million in 2019. St Neots has a ten pin bowling centre with 16 lanes, known as Eat N Bowl.https://www.eatnbowl.co.uk/ Eat N Bowl website, retrieved 24 April 2025 There are two golf courses: St Neots Golf Club and Wyboston Lakes.

Churches

St Neots Parish Church

The parish church of St Neots itself is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin.https://stneots.org/ St Neots Parish Church website retrieved 22 April 2025 The late 12th-century parish church was almost completely rebuilt in the 15th century, making it one of the largest and grandest medieval churches in modern Cambridgeshire. In the 19th century, it was provided with a high quality set of

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

windows depicting the life of Jesus Christ. It is considered to be a very fine building, and has been called the Cathedral of Huntingdonshire.

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architect ...

(editor), Collins Guide to Parish Churches of England and Wales, Collins, London, 1958, fourth edition 1980, ISBN 0 00 216166 4, page 115 Writing originally in 1958 before the enlargement of the town and the reconstruction of the bridge,

said:

The good small market community has a medieval bridge over the Ouse and a well-proportioned Market Square, but the church is tucked away on the fringe of the town. It is almost everything a good town church should be: a luxurious Perpendicular building with perhaps the finest tower in the county, faced in ironstone and pebbles with ashlar dressings – an agreeable contrast in colour and texture. The roof is almost flat – although not over-elaborate it is very English and most satisfying. There are several Perpendicular screens.

Other churches

There are two other Anglican churches in St Neots, in the formerly independent settlements of Eynesbury and Eaton Socon. The Eynesbury parish amalgamated with the St Neots parish in 2020 and works in harmony in the Parish of St Neots with Eynesbury. The Eynesbury church is also dedicated to St Mary the Virgin.https://www.stmaryseynesbury.com/ St Mary's, Eynesbury website retrieved 21 April 2025 The church at Eaton Socon is also dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, and is described as an evangelical church.https://www.eatonsocon.org/ St Mary's Eaton Socon website, retrieved 22 April 2025https://bedfordshireparishchurches.co.uk/wp/eaton-socon/ Bedfordshire Parish Churches: Eaton Socon (Although the church is now in Cambridgeshire, much of the parish is in Bedfordshire.) The Roman Catholic church in St Neots is in East Street, described as The Roman Catholic Church of St Joseph's, St Neots. It is located in East Street.https://stjosephstneots.org.uk/ St Joseph's Website retrieved 22 April 2025 The largest non-conformist church building in St Neots is the United Reformed Church in the High Street.https://www.stneotsurc.org.uk/ St Neots United Reformed Church website, retrieved 22 April 2025

Media

Regional local news and television programmes are provided by BBC East and

ITV Anglia ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

. Television signals are received from the Sandy Heath TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Heart East, Greatest Hits Radio East, Star Radio, HCR FM and Black Cat Radio, a community based radio station. The ''Hunts Post'' is the town's local weekly newspaper.

Transport

Rail

St Neots railway station is served by generally half-hourly trains north to Huntingdon and Peterborough, and south to Hitchin, Stevenage and London St Pancras; most trains continue to

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...

and Horsham. There are additional peak time commuter services in the mornings and evenings to and from London King's Cross. Journeys are typically around 45 minutes to London King's Cross, 55 minutes to St Pancras, and about two hours to Gatwick Airport. On Sundays trains generally run to Kings Cross, not St Pancras.https://timetables.thameslinkrailway.com/TL/#/timetables/3550/Table%20A Thameslink timetable There were 959,298 uses of the St Neots station (estimated ticketed entries and exits) in 2023 - 2024, ranking it 519 among the 2,585 main line railway stations in Great Britain. St Neots station footbridge has access to the car park and taxi rank on the west side, and the district of Love's Farm on the east side. There are lifts to the platforms. East West Rail is a plan to establish a railway between Oxford and Cambridge; a company named East West Main Line Partnership is charged with managing the development. Between Oxford and Bedford the route will connect and reopen established sections of route, and is expected to start passenger operation in 2030; extension to Cambridge is intended for 2035. For the time being a service marketed as the Marston Vale Line operates from Bletchley to Bedford. The Partnership's preferred route between Bedford and Cambridge will pass to the south of the A428 Black Cat roundabout to serve a new station at Tempsford, continuing to Cambourne and Cambridge. There will be no station on the new route at St Neots.

Road

St Neots lies adjacent to the A1 trunk road which links the town by road with London and the northeast of England and Scotland. The town is also linked with Cambridge to the east by the A428 road and Bedford and Milton Keynes by the A421 road at Black Cat roundabout on the A1 just south of the town. Six miles to the north the A14 trunk road provides westward and eastward access to the

Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...

and

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

respectively. Although outside St Neots and in Bedfordshire, the Black Cat Interchange has a significant effect on local road users. It is a road junction between the A1 and A428 roads, and the heavy traffic results in serious congestion at times. A major road scheme is in progress to improve the interchange, forming a grade-separated junction; this will relieve the load on the southern part of St Neots and the A428 By-Pass. As well as improving the junction, the scheme will provide a new dual carriageway road as far as the Caxton Gibbet roundabout. In addition minor road connections on the A1 south and north of the Black Cat are bring relocated to provide safer access to the A1. The road scheme is expected to open in 2027.

Bus

St Neots is served by the

Stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

905 service which operates between Bedford Bus Station and Cambridge Bus Station.Stagecoach timetable information at https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com/Timetables/East/BEDFORD/BE-905-230225.pdf Whippet Bus Company operates its route 66 between St Neots and Huntingdon, Fenstanton and Hinchingbrooke Hospital. https://bustimes.org/services/66-fenstanton-st-neots?date=2025-04-27 Whippet service 66 Whippet also run a service 18 from St Neots to Cambridge Bus Station; it serves

Cambourne Cambourne is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, in the district of South Cambridgeshire. It is a new town, new settlement and lies on the A428 road between Cambridge, to the east, and St Neots and ...

, Bourne, Comberton, Barton and

Grantchester Grantchester () is a village and civil parish on the River Cam or Granta (river), Granta in South Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about south of Cambridge. Name The village of Grantchester is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Granteset ...

.https://www.whippetbus.co.uk/media/uu5bqv1y/18-a4-tt-mar25.pdf Whippet Route 18 Central Connect operate a circular service in St Neots, route 61. This runs from Tesco Extra via the railway station, St Neots Market Square and Eaton Socon and back.https://passenger-line-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/mytrip/service/5a628bcf-3bc4-44c0-9157-8ac8cbc5d640-timetable-20250227-d4bb6581.pdf Central Connect Eynesbury Circular bus timetable. The company also runs a service 67 to St Ives, via Papworth and Hilton.https://passenger-line-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/mytrip/service/ad322a15-6c68-4da9-b823-51011c278b08-timetable-20250106-0f8e3621.pdf St Ives bus route 67 These routes are correct as of April 2025.

Air

The nearest airports are

Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

and Stansted. There is s a direct train service to

London Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...

Cycling

St Neots is on Route 12 of the

Sustrans Sustrans ( ) is a United Kingdom-based walking, wheeling and cycling charity, and the custodian of the National Cycle Network. Its flagship project is the National Cycle Network, which has created of signed cycle routes throughout the United ...

national cycle route that connects

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

via

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest Containerization, containe ...

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

, Cambridge,

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

, Sandy,

and

A foot and cycle bridge across the River Great Ouse was opened in 2011, linking Eaton Socon and Eynesbury, enabling pupils attending Ernulf Academy to avoid cycling through the town centre and improving connections to existing cycle paths. The scheme was a

Connect2 project, and supported by Cambridgeshire County Council and Huntingdonshire District Council.

Geography

St Neots is just over north of Charing Cross, London. It is close to the south-western boundary of

District, and the northern boundary of

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

. Both the city of

about east and

about southwest) are nearby. The city of

is to the west and

is to the north. The A428 road makes the boundary with Little Barford and Northern

. St Neots lies in the valley of the

, partly on the

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

and partly on slightly higher ground a little further from the water. The Great Ouse is a mature river, once wide and shallow but now controlled by

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

s and sluices and usually constrained in a well-defined channel.

Tributaries A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...

entering the Great Ouse in the town are the River Kym, Hen Brook, Duloe Brook and Colmworth Brook. The area is generally low-lying. Riverside Park, an amenity adjacent to St Neots Bridge, remains set aside as a flood-meadow, subject to flood, protecting dwellings and commercial property from a swollen reach. St Neots developed at the site of a ford where overland routes converged. The Great North Road and the major route from Ipswich to the West Midlands (later the

A45 road The A45 is a major road in England. It runs east from Birmingham past the National Exhibition Centre and the M42 motorway, M42, then bypasses Coventry and Rugby, Warwickshire, Rugby, where it briefly merges with the M45 motorway, M45 until it ...

) intersected at St Neots and Eaton Socon. The soil is mainly light, overlying

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

beds – gravel extraction is a local industry. Older disused gravel pits, such as the nearby Paxton Pits and Wyboston Leisure Park, have been converted to nature reserves and amenity areas. Away from the river, the higher land is mainly a heavy

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

soil with few large settlements. Much of the land is used for arable farming.

Climate

The climate in the United Kingdom is defined as a

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

, a classification it shares with most of northwest Europe. Eastern areas of the United Kingdom, such as

, are drier, cooler, less windy and also experience the greatest daily and seasonal temperature variations. Protected from the cool onshore coastal breezes, Cambridgeshire is warm in summer and cold and frosty in winter. In Saint Neots, the summers are short, comfortable, and partly cloudy and the winters are long, very cold, windy, and mostly cloudy. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from and is rarely below or above . Rain falls throughout the year. The month with the most rain is October, with an average rainfall of . The month with the least rain is March, with an average rainfall of .https://weatherspark.com/y/45370/Average-Weather-in-Saint-Neots-United-Kingdom-Year-Round Weatherspark Website, Weather at St Neots, retrieved 24 April 2025

Notable residents

John Bellingham John Bellingham (c. 176918 May 1812) was an English merchant and perpetrator of the 1812 murder of Spencer Perceval, the only British prime minister to be assassinated. Early life Bellingham's early life is largely unknown, and most post-as ...

was born in St Neots; he acquired notoriety as the only person to assassinate a British Prime Minister. Bellingham killed

Spencer Perceval Spencer Perceval (1 November 1762 – 11 May 1812) was a British statesman and barrister who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1809 until his assassination in May 1812. He is the only British prime minister to have been as ...

at the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

on 11 May 1812. He was hanged for murder a week later.Andro Linklater, ''Why Spencer Perceval had to Die'', Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012, ISBN 9781 4088 3171 7, page 35 Winifred Crossley Fair, aviator and one of the ''First Eight'' women pilots to join the Air Transport Auxiliary in 1940 during the Second World War, was the first woman to fly a Hurricane fighter. The St Neots Quads are nicknamed for their place of birth; they were the first British quadruplets to survive more than a few days and as of 2021 were the oldest quadruplets in the world.Liz Davies, ''Surviving the Odds: the Story of the St Neots Quads'', St Neots Museum, 25 February 2021 Multiple World short course swimming champion Mark Foster lives in St Neots.

Notes

References

External links

St Neots Town Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Neots Populated places on the River Great Ouse Market towns in Cambridgeshire Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire