HUNTINGDONSHIRE (HUNTS), an east midland county of England, bounded north and west by Northampton shire, south-west by Bedfordshire and east by Cambridgeshire. Among English counties it is the smallest with the exception of Middlesex and Rutland, having an area of 366 sq. miles. All the stratified rocks are of Jurassic age, except a small area of Lower Greensand north of Potton. The Greensands form low, rounded hills. A narrow strip of Inferior Oolite reaches from Thrapston by Oundle to Wansford near Peterborough. It is represented about Wansford by the Northampton sands and by a slight development of the Lincolnshire limestone. The Great Oolite Series has at the base the Upper Estuarine clays ; in the middle, the Great Oolite limestone, which forms the escarpment of Alwalton Lynch ; and at the top, the Great Oolite clay. The Cornbrash is exposed along part of the Billing brook, and in a small inlier near Yaxley. Over the remainder of the county the lower rocks are covered by Ox ford clay, about 600 f t. thick. All the strata have a general dip towards the south-east.
Much glacial drift clay with stones covers the older rocks; it is a bluish clay, often containing masses of chalk. The Fens on the eastern side of the county are underlain by Oxford clay, which here and there projects through the prevailing newer deposit of silt and loam. There are usually two beds of peat or peaty soil separated by a bed of marine warp. Black loamy alluvium and valley gravels, the most recent deposits, occur in the valleys of the Ouse and Nene. Calcareous tufa is formed by the springs near Alwalton. Oxford clay is dug for brick-making at Fletton, St. Ives, Ramsey and St. Neots. The Bedford Levels occupy about 50,000 ac. in the north-east. The Ouse skirts the borders of the county near St. Neots, and after flowing north to Huntingdon runs eastwards past St. Ives into Cambridgeshire on its way to the Wash. The Kym, from Northamptonshire, joins the Ouse at St. Neots, while the Alconbury brook falls into it at Huntingdon. The Nene forms for 15 m. the north-western border of the county, and quitting it near Peterborough, enters the Wash below Wisbech, in Cambridgeshire. The course of the old River Nene flows east ward midway between Huntingdon and Peterborough, and about 1 m. N. by E. of Ramsey it is intersected by the Forty Foot, or Vermuyden's Drain, a navigable cut connecting it with the old Bedford river in Cambridgeshire.
Early History.—Prehistoric objects of all ages, except the upper Paleolithic, have been discovered. They were found chiefly along the upper valleys of the Nene and Great Ouse, the borders of the Fens, and other dried up river courses. The reason for this distribution is that the river valleys are composed of gravel while the higher lands are of clay and were therefore forested in early times. Finds of flint in this latter area are sporadic and may date from as late as the Roman period. The later invaders seem to have pierced the county by coming up the rivers from the Wash and to have settled on the first non-Fen land which they found. Finds of British coins suggest that in the century before the Roman Conquest of A.D. 43, Huntingdon formed part of the political organization of the Catuvellauni. Ermine street ran athwart the county and where it crossed the valleys of the Ouse and Nene there were important settlements. In the latter valley during the Roman period pottery making was an important industry.
The Gyrwas, an East Anglian tribe, early in the 6th century worked their way up the Ouse and the Cam as far as Huntingdon. After their conquest of East Anglia in the latter half of the 9th century, Huntingdon became an important seat of the Danes. About 915 Edward the Elder wrested the fen-country from the Danes, repairing and fortifying Huntingdon, and a few years later the district was included in the earldom of East Anglia. Religious foundations were established at Ramsey, and St. Neots by the Benedictines in the loth century and a cell at St. Ives before the Conquest.
In 'oil Huntingdonshire was again overrun by the Danes and in 1016 was attacked by Canute. A few years later the shire was included in the earldom of Thored (of the Middle Angles), but in 1o51 it was detached from Mercia and formed part of the East Anglian earldom of Harold. Shortly before the Conquest, how ever, it was bestowed on Siward, and became an outlying portion of the earldom of Northumberland passing to David of Scotland. After the separation of the earldom from the crown of Scotland during the Bruce and Balliol disputes, it was conferred in 1336 on William Clinton; in 1377 on Guichard d'Angle; in 1387 on John Holand; in 1471 on Thomas Grey, afterwards marquess of Dorset; and in 1529 on George, Baron Hastings, whose descendants now hold it.
The Norman Conquest was followed by a general confiscation of estates, only four or five thanes retaining lands. In the Domes day survey it is recorded that the abbot of Ramsey held 26 manors while most of the other holdings were divided between the crown and the sheriff, Count Eustace of Boulogne. This shrievalty was united with Cambridgeshire in 1154 and has remained united until the present day, except from 1637 to 1643 when they were inde pendent of each other. The boundaries of the county have scarcely changed since the time of the Domesday Survey, except that parts of the Bedfordshire parishes of Everton, Pertenhall and Keysoe and the Northamptonshire parish of Hargrave were then assessed under this county. There were castles at Hunting don, Kimbolton and Connington. The second is now a mansion. Other famous mansions are Hinchingbrook House at Huntingdon, the home of the Cromwells and Elston Hall, rebuilt in 1660, which has a collection of rare books of devotion. Huntingdonshire was formerly in the diocese of Lincoln but in 1837 was transferred to Ely. At the end of the 11th century it was constituted an arch deaconry, comprising the deaneries of Huntingdon, St. Ives, Yaxley, St. Neots and Leightonstone, and the divisions remained unchanged until the creation of the deanery of Kimbolton in 1879. During the reign of the conqueror the Benedictines estab lished a nunnery at Hinchingbrook while in 1147 the Cistercian abbey was founded at Sawtry, 7 m. W. of Ramsey. In the same century the Austin canons established priories at Huntingdon and Stonely and towards the end of the 13th century the Austin Friars had a house at Huntingdon. Almost the only remains of these religious houses are ruins at Ramsey and St. Ives. The most interesting churches for Norman architecture are Hartford near Huntingdon, Old Fletton near Peterborough, Ramsey and Al walton, a singular combination of Norman and Early English. Early English churches are Kimbolton, Alconbury, Warboys and Somersham, near Ramsey, and Hail Weston near St. Neots. Decorated are Orton Longueville and Yaxley, Perpendicular, St. Neots, Connington near Ramsey and Godmanchester.
In 1174 Henry II. captured and destroyed Huntingdon castle; during the Wars of the Roses the town was captured and sacked by the Lancastrians. The county resisted the illegal taxation of Charles I. and protested against the arrest of the five members. Hinchingbrook, however, was held for the king by Sir Sydney Montagu, and in 1645 Huntingdon was sacked by the Royalist forces. During the reign of Charles I. Little Gidding, a village 9 m. north-west of Huntingdon, was the home of a religious "fam ily" established by Nicholas Ferrar.
Industries.—Huntingdonshire has always been mainly an agri cultural county. At the time of the Domesday Survey it had 31 mills, besides fisheries in its meres and rivers. The woollen indus try flourished from Norman times, and previous to the draining of its fens in the 17th century, turf-cutting, reed-cutting for thatch and the manufacture of horse-collars from rushes were carried on in Ramsey and district. In the 17th century saltpetre was manufactured. In the 18th century yarn spinning, pillow-lace making and the straw-plait industry flourished in the St. Neots district, where it survives; pillow lace was also manufactured at Godmanchester. In the early 19th century there were two large sacking manufactures at Standground, and brewing and malting were largely carried on. In 1926 the total acreage under crops and grass was 201,964. On the drained pasturage a large number of cattle is fed. The gravel of the Ouse valley is often covered by fine black loam deposited by the overflow of the river, and its meadows form very rich pasture grounds. The milk is used chiefly for the rearing of calves, while cattle, principally shorthorn, are fattened and sold. The village of Stilton had formerly a large market for cheese. The chief breeds of sheep are the Leicester and Lincoln, and pig-breeding is extensively practised. Wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, beans and peas are the chief crops and sugar beet in 1926 occupied over 3,00o acres. 11,485 acres were under clover and rotation grasses. During the last quarter of the 19th century there was a large decrease in the areas of grain crops and of fallow, and an increase in that of permanent pasture. Market-gardening and fruit-farming, however, greatly increased in importance. Willows are largely grown in the fen district. Good drinking water is deficient in many districts, but there are three natural springs, once famous for the healing virtues their waters were thought to possess, namely, at Hail Weston near St. Neots, at Holywell near St. Ives and at Somersham in the same district. Bee-farming is largely practised. The chief manufacture is that of paper and parchment. Madder is obtained, and in nearly every part of the county lime burning is carried on.
Communications and Administration.—The middle of the county is traversed from south to north by the L.N.E.R., which enters it at St. Neots and passing by Huntingdon leaves it at Peterborough. From Huntingdon a branch line goes via St. Ives to Cambridge and from Holme Junction to Ramsey. A branch of the L.M.S.R. runs from Huntingdon to Thrapston (Northamp tonshire). From St. Ives L.N.E.R. lines also run north-east to Ely (Cambridgeshire), and north to Wisbech (Cambridgeshire) with a branch line westward from Somersham to Ramsey. The north western border is served by the L.N.E.R. and the L.M.S.R. between Peterborough and Wansford where they part. The area of the administrative county is 233,985 acres with a population of 56,204. The county contains four hundreds. The municipal boroughs are Godmanchester (pop. 1,991), Huntingdon, the county town (4,108) and St. Ives (2,664). The other urban dis tricts are Old Fletton (7,48o), Ramsey (5,180) and St. Neots (4,314). The county is in the south-eastern circuit, and assizes are held at Huntingdon. It has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into five petty sessional divisions. Huntingdonshire is almost wholly in the diocese of Ely, but a small part is in the diocese of Peterborough. The county returns one member to parliament.