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 in the

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 ...

district of

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. It lies about 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 ...

and about 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 ...

. The districts of Eynesbury,

Eaton Ford Eaton Ford is an area of St Neots, Cambridgeshire, England. It is a mainly residential area also containing Riverside Park, a large area of riverside parkland. Much of the housing stock dates from the period of London overspill during the 1960s an ...

and

Eaton Socon Eaton Socon is a community in south-west Cambridgeshire. Eaton Socon is a component of the town of St Neots, located on its south-west margin. Eaton Socon lies on the west side of the River Great Ouse, and is bounded on the west by the A1 ro ...

were formerly independent but nowadays are considered merged into St Neots. The town is close to the intersection of the A1 road (north-south) the A421 / A428 roads which link Cambridge to

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

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

on an east to west axis. St Neots has a railway station on the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...

with typically half-hourly services to Peterborough,

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

and London. 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 Wa ...

runs through the town. St Neots is estimated to have a population of 36,110 (forecast 2021 population)Aggregated forecast by Cambridgeshire Insight at https://cambridgeshireinsight.org.uk/population-estimates-old/ and is the largest town and one of the largest settlements in Cambridgeshire, after the cities of Peterborough and Cambridge. The town is named after the ninth century monk

Saint Neot Neot (died 31 July 877) was an English monk. Born in the first half of the ninth century, he lived as a monk at Glastonbury Abbey. He preferred to perform his religious devotions privately, and he later went to live an isolated life in Cornwall ...

, whose bones were brought to

St Neots Priory St Neots Priory was a Benedictine monastery beside the town of St Neots in the historic county of Huntingdonshire, now a non-metropolitan district in the English county of Cambridgeshire. Anglo-Saxon monastery A monastery was first founded here ...

from

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

in around 980 AD, resulting in pilgrims visiting in large numbers. Previously the whole town had been called Eynesbury, but the fame of Neot's relics led to that part of the town being called St Neots. In more recent times the town name St Neots is understood to encompass the whole community.

History

Early history

Remains of

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 mostly appl ...

settlement have been found in the town centre; a Roman encampment was located in the town. It became known as Eynesbury, after Ernulf, a local leader. 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 in what is now St Neots, Cambridgeshire (then simply part of Eynesbury) and 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. 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" 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. 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. Neots pond

The

Second English Civil War The Second English Civil War took place between February to August 1648 in Kingdom of England, England and Wales. It forms part of the series of conflicts known collectively as the 1639-1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which include the 1641� ...

began in April 1648. The Parliamentarians under

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

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 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 four horses although some versions are draw ...

traffic and from 1850 its

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

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 with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

; 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. Between 1851 and 1885 George Bower’s ''Vulcan Iron Foundry'' was a major employer, supplying equipment for gasworks throughout the British Isles and worldwide. The separate village of Eynesbury became re-incorporated into St Neots in 1876.

The twentieth and twenty-first centuries

and

, lying on the west side of the River Great Ouse, were formerly within Bedfordshire, but in 1965 the situation was regularised, and they were incorporated into St Neots, and Cambridgeshire. Technology-based industries operate in some of the town's light industrial estates and a

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

functions at

Little Barford Little Barford is a hamlet and civil parish in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England about northeast of the county town of Bedford. The 2011 census combines other data for Little Barford with Wyboston, Chawston and Colesden civil pari ...

on the edge of the town. Recent development has added new areas Eynesbury Manor and Love's Farm bringing the population to over 35,000, which will be exceeded on completion and sale of 2,800 homes at Wintringham Park in the early 2020s. It is projected that the population of the town will be 65,000 by the end of the Huntingdonshire Local Plan period (2036).

Culture and community

The Priory Centre is a theatrical venue in the town, hosting live entertainment, as well as offering conference facilities. It is licensed for wedding ceremonies. 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. The town has a community radio station, called Black Cat Radio on 102.5 FM.http://blackcatradio.org/ There is a thriving theatre community with various active groups – 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; award-winning, 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 ( 26 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 nation ...

, 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, colloquially pronounced "kick") is a type of company introduced by the United Kingdom government in 2005 under the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, designed for social ente ...

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.

Housing and town management

St Neots experienced considerable growth in the 1960s and later, when much new housing was built to accommodate families from London, as part of the

London overspill London overspill communities are the communities created as a result of the government policy of moving residents out of Greater London into other areas in the South East of England between the 1930s and the 1970s. These largely consisted of counc ...

plan. Further housebuilding followed and in 2010, the Loves Farm development was built, with 1,400 houses to the east of the railway line; further construction is continuing further east in 2020 - 2023.,Alya Zayed, ''Construction of additional homes in St Neots Loves Farm development begins'', In Your Area Newsroom, 2021, at https://www.inyourarea.co.uk/news/construction-of-additional-homes-in-st-neots-loves-farm-development-begins/ followed by a further 2,800 houses in 2021 in the nearby Wintringham development.''New 2,800-home development near St Neots gets green light'' in Cambridgeshire Live (Cambridge News newspaper website) at https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/wintringham-st-neots-cambridgeshire-homes-15420390 Expansion of light industry facilities was incorporated in the original overspill planning, and has also been continued more recently. Wintringham building

The population of St Neots in 2011 was 31,165. this figure is expected to exceed 40,000 in the current year (2021) and rise further still in the coming decade. St Neots' position as a traditional town location, with plentiful industrial sites and good transport facilities encourages this expansion. Wintringham0521

In particular; the Loves Farm estate will be extended eastwards, and the Wintringham Estate is under construction, and will infill a substantial part of the space between Cambridge Street and the by-pass. The town is to benefit from the Government Future High Streets Fund. Huntingdonshire District Council will manage the expenditure of £12.8 million. Public consultation will take place in the summer of 2021. The priorities proposed are * regeneration of the Old Falcon Inn * redevelopment of the Priory Centre/Priory Quarter * improvements to the Market Square * improvements to the High Street * improvements to the St Neots Road Bridge * a new waterfront route.Debbie Davies, ''Great news for St Neots after £12.8 million high street fund is confirmed'', Hunts Post (newspaper), 22 May 22, 2021

Sport and leisure

St Neots has a semi-professional

non-League football Non-League football describes 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 specifically used to de ...

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

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...

Division 1 Central. The town also has a

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

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 a

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

club, the St Neots Table Tennis club, which plays in both the Bedford and District Table Tennis League and the Cambridgeshire Table Tennis League. 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 Riverside Park looking north

The Great Ouse river passes through the centre of the town, through Regatta Meadows and Riverside Park and linking to

providing opportunities for riverside leisure walks, and forms part of the

Ouse Valley Way The Ouse Valley Way is a 150-mile footpath in England, following the River Great Ouse from its source near Syresham in Northamptonshire to its mouth in The Wash near King's Lynn. The path begins outside the King's Head pub in Syresham and ends o ...

walking route. Riverside Park is close to the town centre and covers 72 acres) with a beautiful mile-long waterside frontage. The park has a cafe, parking for 250 cars, a large children’s activity area, the largest skate park in the area, and a miniature railway, 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 events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...

and junior parkrun events. To the north of the town is Paxton Pits Nature Reserve providing walks through its 77 hectares 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. The Rowley Arts Centre was opened in May 2014 and includes a six-screen cinema operated by

Cineworld Cineworld Group plc is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Irela ...

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 £1 million towards the development from the profit he made from selling the land on which the Love's Farm development was built. 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, which was built on part of the site of the outdoor swimming pool that closed in 2003. Originally the intention for the remainder of the site was to build a new outdoor pool but these plans were not realised. Discussions are ongoing about the creation of a splash park on the remaining part of the site There are two golf courses in St Neots, a golf club which welcomes visitors, and a commercial course at Wyboston Lakes.

Government

St Neots is a

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 ...

, which is the lowest tier of local government. It is under the political control of St Neots Town Council, which consists of 21 elected councillors including a town

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

and a deputy town mayor. With a budget (2020-2021) of £1.8 million, its remit operations cover cemeteries and "closed" churchyards (those that are full), public conveniences, allotments, play areas, bus shelters in rural locations, and some residual footway lighting (but not street lighting).St Neots Town Council at https://www.stneots-tc.gov.uk/ The second tier locally 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

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. There are four wards, ''St Neots Priory Park & Little Paxton'', ''St Neots Eatons'', ''St Neots Eynesbury'', and ''St Neots East''; each is served by two or three councillors.Huntingdonshire District Council at www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk The third 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 ...

. St Neots is part of four electoral divisions; ''St Neots Priory Park and Little Paxton'', ''St Neots The Eatons'', ''St Neots Eynesbury'', and ''St Neots East and Gransden'' each of which is represented on the county council by one councillor. The fourth tier of local government is

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority is a combined authority covering the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire in the East of England. The authority was established on 3 March 2017. The authority is led by the directly elected May ...

, which is headed by a mayor. The Authority's website states that "As of May 8, 2021, the Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough is Dr

Nik Johnson Nik Johnson (born ) is a British Labour Co-op politician and paediatrician who has served as the mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough since 2021. Early life and medical career Nik Johnson was born in Northumberland in 1969. He grew up ...

.''Who We Are'', at Peterborough and Cambridgeshire Combined Authority website, https://cambridgeshirepeterborough-ca.gov.uk/ St Neots is in the parliamentary constituency of Huntingdon. The Member of Parliament for Huntingdon is

Jonathan Djanogly Jonathan Simon Djanogly (born 3 June 1965) is an English politician, solicitor and Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon since 2001. Djanogly has been Trade and Industry Spokesman shadowing the Department for Business, En ...

(

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 ...

).''Who is my MP?'' at https://members.parliament.uk/member/1425/contact

Parish church

St Neots parish church is dedicated to St Mary.Eynesbury and Eaton Socon also have churches dedicated to St Mary. 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 is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

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 (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, Betjeman 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.

Transport

Rail

St Neots railway station is served by generally half-hourly trains north to Peterborough and south to Horsham via London St Pancras and

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...

, with 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 a little under two hours to Gatwick Airport. At Peterborough station there are good connections to the north-east of England, the West Midlands and north-west, and to Ipswich and Norwich. St Neots was the 423rd busiest station in the UK in 2018-19 (out of 2560) with 1.3 million journeys beginning or ending there. 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.National Rail Enquiries: St Neots at https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/SNO/details.html There is a proposal to open a west to east rail link between Bedford and Cambridge. This is expected to have a station immediately south of St Neots where the new line and the existing main line will intersect. The proposal is under consultation at present (2021).

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 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 ...

and Bedford and Milton Keynes by the

A421 road The A421 is an important road for east/west journeys across south central England. Together with the A428, the A43 and A34, it forms the route from Cambridge through Milton Keynes to Oxford. The section between the A1 (near St Neots) and ...

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 (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

and

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

respectively. Historically the Great North road which forms the A1 passed through Eaton Socon until new alignment of the A1 road, forming a bypass, opened in 1971. The

A45 road A45 or A-45 may refer to: * A45 Infantry Support Tank, the chassis of which was developed into the Conqueror tank * A45 Records, a German record label notably producing the band Real McCoy * Article 45 Concern Group, a political party in Hong Kong * ...

between Bedford and Cambridge passed through the town centre until the three-mile St Neots Bypass opened in December 1985 (subsequently re-designated as the

). There is major scheme for a new road connecting the Black Cat Roundabout and the A428 at

Caxton Gibbet Caxton Gibbet is a small knoll on Ermine Street (now the A1198) in England, running between London and Huntingdon, near its crossing with the road (now the A428) between St Neots and Cambridge. There are tales of murderers being hanged and d ...

, avoiding St Neots completely. A £507 million contract has been awarded to

Skanska Skanska AB () is a multinational construction and development company based in Sweden. Skanska is the fifth-largest construction company in the world according to ''Construction Global'' magazine. Notable Skanska projects include renovation of t ...

for the construction.

Bus

St Neots is served by the

Stagecoach A stagecoach 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 four horses although some versions are draw ...

905 service which operates between Bedford Bus Station and Cambridge Parkside on a typically half-hourly basis.Stagecoach timetable information at https://www.stagecoachbus.com/ In addition Stagecoach operate a route 66 between St Neots and Huntingdon via

Hinchingbrooke Hospital Hinchingbrooke Hospital is a small district general hospital in Hinchingbrooke near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. Opened in 1983, it serves the Huntingdonshire area, and has a range of specialities as well as an emergency department and a materni ...

, on a typically hourly frequency six days a week. Whippet Bus Company operates a 61/63 circular service between the town centre, Eaton Ford, Eaton Socon, Eynesbury, and the railway station, on a typically hourly frequency with some additional journeys, six days a week.Whippet Country Bus timetable at https://www.go-whippet.co.uk/routes-timetables/local-routes/

Air

St Neots is within an hour's drive from

London Luton Airport London Luton Airport is an international airport located in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, situated east of the town centre, and north of Central London. The airport is owned by London Luton Airport Ltd (LLAL), a company wholly owned by ...

and

London Stansted Airport London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...

, and has a direct train service to

London Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Hea ...

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 Kin ...

national cycle route that connects

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

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-on- ...

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northeast of London. His ...

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...

, Cambridge,

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 ...

, 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 Connect2 is a five-year project run by Sustrans beginning in 2006 to develop new walking and cycle routes in 79 communities around the UK. Project Connect2 is a five-year project run by Sustrans. It involves the creation of new cycle and wal ...

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

Geography

St Neots is just over 49 miles north of Charing Cross, London. It is close to the south-western boundary of

District, and both the city of

(about 18 miles east) and

(about 13 miles east) are nearby. The major shopping and employment centre of Milton Keynes is 31 miles to the west. Peterborough is 29 miles to the north. Eaton socon lock

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 which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

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 river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

s and

sluice Sluice ( ) is a word for a channel controlled at its head by a movable gate which is called a sluice gate. A sluice gate is traditionally a wood or metal barrier sliding in grooves that are set in the sides of the waterway and can be considered ...

s and usually constrained in a well-defined channel. River Ouse Riverside Park St Neots

Tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or 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 drain the surrounding drainage b ...

entering the Great Ouse in the town are the

River Kym The River Kym is a river in Cambridgeshire, England. It flows through the village of Tilbrook, to Kimbolton, and joins the Great Ouse at St Neots. It is known as the River Til in its upper reaches, tributaries include the Pertenhall Brook. Co ...

, 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 A flood-meadow (or floodmeadow) is an area of grassland or pasture beside a river, subject to seasonal flooding.Huhta, Ari‐Pekka, Rautio, Pasi (2014). Flood meadows in Finland - their development during the past century. ''Nordic Journal of B ...

, subject to flood, protecting dwellings and commercial property from a swollen reach. St Neots developed at the site of a

ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

where overland routes converged. This was replaced by a medieval bridge, and today there are two further crossings just outside the town, one to the north and another to the south. The soil is mainly light, overlying

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

beds – gravel extraction is a local industry. Older disused

gravel pit A gravel pit is an open-pit mine for the extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. Old, abandoned gravel pits are normally used eithe ...

s, such as the nearby

Paxton Pits Paxton may refer to: People and fictional characters * Paxton (name), a list of people and fictional characters with either the surname or given name Places Australia * Paxton, New South Wales United Kingdom * Paxton, Scottish Borders Uni ...

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. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

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 (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

, 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. Highest daytime temperature in 2020 was 22 deg C and lowest 5 deg; corresponding night-time temperatures were 15 and -1. Rainfall in 2020 amounted to between 21 and 41 mm per month, with more rain in the summer months; there was some snowfall in December 2020 and January and April 2021.

International relations

Twin towns - sister cities

* Faches-Thumesnil, Nord,

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost Regions of France, region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its Prefectu ...

Notable residents

The only person to assassinate a British Prime Minister,

John Bellingham John Bellingham (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-assass ...

, was born in St Neots - Bellingham killed

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

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. ...

on 11 May 1812.Andro Linklater, ''Why Spencer Perceval had to Die'', Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012, ISBN 9781 4088 3171 7, page 35 The

St Neots Quads The St Neots quads are a set of quadruplets who were born in 1935 to Doris Miles, living in Eynesbury, near St Neots, Huntingdonshire, England. A family doctor ensured that special attention was given to their care, and they were the first British ...

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 The-Four-Quads-in-a-cot-1936-1030x764

Footballers Lee Philpott and

Tim Breacker Timothy Sean Breacker (born 2 July 1965) is an English football coach and former player, who is chief scout at Bolton Wanderers. As a player, he was a right-back who notably played in the Premier League for West Ham United, where he made 240 ...

are from the town, as well as Olympic High Jump Bronze medallist

Robbie Grabarz Robert Karl Grabarz (born 3 October 1987) is a retired British high jumper. Active during the 2010s, with his greatest success coming in two periods between 2012 and 2017. He was the 2012 European champion, the 2012 Diamond League high jump cha ...

and Olympic fencer Graham Paul. Multiple World short course swimming champion Mark Foster also lives in St Neots. Rob Harris, the guitarist of the popular musical group

Jamiroquai Jamiroquai () are an English funk and acid jazz band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in the ...

, is also from the town.

Notes

References

External links

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