Known as Stantun in the 11th century, Staunton and Stanton Gisbrit de Gant in the 13th century, the name Fenstanton (and Fennystanton) appeared from the 14th century.[3] The name "Fenstanton" means "fenland stone enclosure".[4]
Lying on the Via Devana, the Roman road that linked the army camps at Godmanchester and Cambridge, Fenstanton was the site of a Roman villa, possibly designed to keep order after an attack on the forces of the IX Legion Hispana, as they retreated from an ambush at Cambridge by Boudicca's tribesmen.[5] The first evidence of a Roman crucifixion in the UK was discovered in a burial in Fenstanton in 2017, when a skeleton of a man was found with a nail through his heel.[6] In 2021, the bones were unearthed.[7]
The inhabitants of Fenstanton rose in support of Hereward the Wake after the Norman Conquest in 1066. From his stronghold on the Isle of Ely Hereward led resistance against the Normans, causing King William I to assemble a force in Cambridge to deal with the problem. Men were summoned from Huntingdon but they did not pass Fenstanton and escaped with their lives only by swimming across the river.[5]
Fenstanton was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 in the Hundred of Toseland in Huntingdonshire; the name of the settlement was written as Stantone in the Domesday Book.[8] In 1086 there was just one manor at Fenstanton; the annual rent paid to the lord of the manor in 1066 had been £17 and the rent had fallen to £16 in 1086, and the parish contained 33 households.[9] By 1086 there was already a church and a priest at Fenstanton.
Government
As a civil parish, Fenstanton has a parish council consisting of twelve councillors.[10] The second tier of local government is Huntingdonshire District Council which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and has its headquarters in Huntingdon. Fenstanton is a district ward and is represented on the district council by one councillor.[11][12] The highest tier of local government is Cambridgeshire County Council which has administration buildings in Alconbury. Fenstanton is part of the electoral division of The Hemingfords and Fen Stanton[12] and is represented on the county council by one councillor.[13]
Fenstanton was in the historic and administrative county of Huntingdonshire until 1965. From 1965, the village was part of the new administrative county of Huntingdon and Peterborough. Then in 1974, following the Local Government Act 1972, Fenstanton became a part of the county of Cambridgeshire.
In the period 1801 to 1901 the population of Fenstanton was recorded every ten years by the UK census. During this time the population was in the range of 704 (the lowest was in 1801) and 1120 (the highest was in 1861).[14]
From 1901, a census was taken every ten years with the exception of 1941 due to the Second World War.
Parish
1911
1921
1931
1951
1961
1971
1981
1991
2001
2011
Fenstanton
863
798
771
972
1061
1659
2480
2600
2868
3242
All population census figures from report Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011 by Cambridgeshire Insight.[14]
In 2011, the parish covered an area of 2,553 acres (1,033 hectares)[14] and so the population density for Fenstanton in 2011 was 812.7 persons per square mile (313.8 per square kilometre).
Culture and community
The village supports two public houses: The Crown and Pipes and the Duchess. In 1851 there were eight recorded pubs: The Bell, the Crown, the George, the King William IV, the Rose & Crown, the Royal Oak, the White Horse, Woolpack and the Duchess.[5]
There is a post office, as well as a primary school with an attached pre-school, shared with neighbouring Hilton.
There is a convenience store called Ash's Shop, which won the Small Convenience Store of the Year award at the 2021 Convenience Awards [15]
Fenstanton is the current operating base of Stagecoach in Huntingdonshire.
Memorial to the landscape gardener Capability Brown in the church of St Peter and St Paul, Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire. His name is along the top; his son is listed at left.
In the 18th century Lancelot "Capability" Brown, the famous landscape gardener, bought the Lordship of the Manor of Fenstanton and Hilton from the Earl of Northampton. Brown and his wife Bridget are buried in the parish churchyard and the chancel bears a memorial to them and two of their sons, John and his wife Mary and Lancelot Brown Junior with his wife Frances memorialised across the nave.
Memorial to Frances Brown, daughter-in-law of Lancelot "Capability" Brown, in Coade stone
Notable antiquarian M. R. James wrote a ghost story entitled The Fenstanton Witch, which was not published till after his death. The story also mentions the village of Lolworth, which is a few miles away.
Religious sites
The parish church of St Peter and St Paul dates from the 13th century, though there was an earlier church on the site listed in the Domesday Survey.
The octagonal spire on the west tower dates from the 14th century, and the church is noted for its chancel, built by 14th-century rector William de Longthorne. The east window, 17 feet in width, is impressive for a church of its size. The six bells date from the 17th and 18th century, the latest being hung in 1981, a gift from The Howland Society in America, descendants of the Mayflower Pilgrims mentioned above.[3]
The east window of St Peter and St Paul
The village also has both a Baptist and a United Reformed Church.
