| Name | Borough Fen |
| Type | Extra parochial area, Civil parish |
| Coordinates | 52.654°N 0.214°W |
| Located in | Northamptonshire, England ( - 1965) |
| Also located in | Soke of Peterborough, England (1889 - 1965) | | Huntingdon and Peterborough, England (1965 - 1974) | | Cambridgeshire, England (1974 - present) |
| See also | Nassaborough Hundred, Northamptonshire, England | hundred in which it was located | | Peterborough Rural, Soke of Peterborough, England | rural district in which it was located 1894-1974 | | Peterborough District, Cambridgeshire, England | unitary authority of which it has been part since 1974 | | City of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England | unitary authority since 1998 |
- source: Family History Library Catalog
Borough Fen was historically an extra-parochial tract of land, outside the control of any parish. In 1858 it was made a civil parish in its own right. There is no village or church at Borough Fen, which is essentially undeveloped. It lies immediately north of Newborough.
Borough Fen was in the section of Northamptonshire which was reorganized into a new county named the Soke of Peterborough in 1894. In 1965 this county and the county of Huntingdonshire to the south were combined under the name Huntingdon and Peterborough. This county only lasted 9 years. In 1974 it was broken up into two non-metropolitan districts within an enlarged county of Cambridgeshire. Since 1998, Borough Fen has been a parish in the unitary authority of the City of Peterborough, which remains part of the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire.
Research Tips
- If you are researching anyone whose lifetime preceded (or even mostly preceded) 1889, the places in which he or she lived are going to be in Northamptonshire rather than the Soke of Peterborough. The Soke of Peterborough was actually a section of Northamptonshire.
- Original historical documents relating to the Soke of Peterborough are held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at the County Record Office in Peterborough.
- GENUKI does not provide webpages for the Soke of Peterborough and its provision for Northamptonshire is very limited.
- The FamilyTree Wiki has a series of pages on Northamptonshire (including the Soke of Peterborough).
- A Vision of Britain through Time, section "Units and Statistics" leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from 1889 through 1974. There are pages available for all civil parishes, municipal boroughs and other administrative divisions.
- Map of Northamptonshire in 1900 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time shows the Soke of Peterborough (not labelled as such) in the top right hand corner.
- Map of Northamptonshire divisions (including the Soke of Peterborough) in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
Categories: Northamptonshire, England | Borough Fen, Northamptonshire, England | Nassaborough Hundred, Northamptonshire, England | Peterborough Rural, Soke of Peterborough, England | Soke of Peterborough, England | Huntingdon and Peterborough, England | Peterborough District, Cambridgeshire, England |
