In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Chesterton like this:
CHESTERTON, a village, a parish, a district, and a hundred in Cambridgeshire. The village stands on the river Cam, adjacent to the Eastern Counties railway, 1 mile NNE of Cambridge; includes numerous new houses, inhabited by persons engaged in business in Cambridge; and has a post office under Cambridge. ...
The parish comprises 2, 729 acres; and contains Cambridge county jail, a workhouse, and remains of Cambridge castle, a seat of the priors of Barnwell, and the Roman camp of Arbury. Real property, £10, 280. Pop., 2, 986. Houses, 644. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged to the priory of Barnwell. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely. Value, £206.* Patron, Trinity College, Cambridge. The church is decorated English. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels, three public schools, a general cemetery, and charities £81.
The district comprehends the sub-district of Fulbourn, containing the parishes of Chesterton, Milton, Fen-Ditton, Horningsea, Teversham, St. cum-Quy, Little Wilbraham, Great Wilbraham, Cherry-Hinton, and Fulbourn-All Saints, and St. Vigors; the sub-district of Willingham, containing the parishes of Willingham, Childerley, Dry-Drayton, Girton, Impington, Histon, Oakington, Long-Stanton-St. Michael, Long-Stanton-All Saints, Rampton, Cottenham, Landbeach, and Water-beach; and the sub-district of Great Shelford, containing the parishes of Great Shelford, Little Shelford, Stapleford, Hauxton, Newton, Harston, Haslingfield, Harleton, Comberton, Barton, Madingley, Coton, Grantchester, and Trumpington. Acres, 76, 728. Poor-rates in 1862, £13, 600. Pop. in 1841, 21, 599; in 1861, 25, 083. Houses, 5, 464. Marriages in 1860, 182; births, 831, -of which 37 were illegitimate; deaths, 457, -of which 165 were at ages under 5 years, and 24 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1, 921; births, 8, 428; deaths, 5, 027. The places of worship in 1851 were 38 of the Church of England, with 7, 261 sittings; 3 of Independents, with 820 s.; 22 of Baptists, with 4, 506 s.; 7 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 1, 140 s.; 2 of Primitive Methodists, with 194 s.; and 2 undefined, with 190 s. The schools were 46 public day schools, with 2, 833 scholars; 53 private day schools, with 1, 153 s.; 45 Sunday schools, with 3, 594 s.; and 4 evening schools for adults, with 66 s.-The hundred contains only five parishes and part of another. Acres, 15, 847. Pop., 6, 970. Houses, 1, 509.
Chesterton through time
Chesterton is now part of Cambridge district. Click here for graphs and data of how Cambridge has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Chesterton itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Chesterton, in Cambridge and Cambridgeshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/1059
Date accessed: 26th April 2024
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