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- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
Girton is a village and civil parish of about 1,600 households, and a population of 4,559 in the UK census of 2011. It is located in Cambridgeshire, England and lies about 2 miles (3.2 km) to the northwest of Cambridge in the South Cambridgeshire District.
It is the home of Girton College, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Until 1976 it admitted only women.
Listed as Grittune in around 1060 and Grittune in the Domesday Book of 1086, the village's name is derived from the Old English grēot + tūn meaning "farmstead or village on gravelly ground", as the settlement was formed on a gravel ridge.
Various sources agree that Girton was in Chesterton Rural District from 1894 until 1965 and the South Cambridgeshire District was not formed until 1974. There is no reference to say what administrative district Girton was in during the nine intervening years. Chesterton Rural did exist until 1974 so it is possible that this might be an error and some of the parishes immediately to the north of Cambridge continued to be part of it until that year.
The following description from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72 is provided by the website A Vision of Britain Through Time (University of Portsmouth Department of Geography).
- "GIRTON, a parish in Chesterton [registration] district, Cambridgeshire; adjacent to the Cambridge and Huntingdon railway, between Histon and Oakington station, 3½ miles NNE of Cambridge. Post town: Histon, under Cambridge. Acres: 1,674. Real property: £3,137. Population: 469. Houses: 95. The property is much subdivided. The manor belongs to Sir St. Vincent Cotton, Bart. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely. Value: £420. Patron: the Bishop of Ely. The church has a tower; contains two brasses of the 15th century; and was restored in 1858. There is an endowed school, built in 1845."
For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Girton, Cambridgeshire.
Research Tips
- Original historical documents relating to Cambridgeshire are now held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at Shire Hall, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4GS
- The Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Family History Society has transcribed the parish registers for many if not all the ancient parishes of Cambridgeshire and these can be purchased from the Society as separate pdfs.
- A History of the County of Cambridge. Seven volumes from British History Online (Victoria County Histories). This is by far the most complete history of the parishes of the county to be found online. From the numbering it would appear that some parts of the county are yet to be published online, but the first two volumes for any county are of little interest to the genealogist. The chapters are ordered by the divisions of the county called hundreds, but each parish is listed in the volume's content page.
- A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 3, the City (Cambridge) and University of Cambridge (published 1959)
- A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 4, City of Ely; North Ely and South Ely, Witchford and Wisbech Hundreds (the cathedral city and liberty of Ely and the rural areas to the west and northwest, including the port of Wisbech) (published 2002)
- A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 5, the Hundreds of Longstowe and Wetherley, west of Cambridge (published 1973)
- A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 6, the three Hundreds of Chilford, Radfield and Whittlesford (in the south of the county, on the border with Essex) (published 1978)
- A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 8, Armingford and Thriplow Hundreds (south and west of Cambridge) (published 1982)
- A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 9, Chesterton, Northstowe, and Papworth Hundreds (the suburban and rural areas to the north and northwest of Cambridge) (published 1989)
- A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 10, Cheveley, Flendish, Staine and Staploe Hundreds (northeastern Cambridgeshire) (published 2002)
- GENUKI has a page on Cambridgeshire and pages for each of the ecclesiastical or ancient parishes in the county. These give references to other organizations who hold genealogical information for the local area. Each parish page includes a map of the parish provided by Open Street Maps.
- The FamilyTree Wiki has a series of pages similar to those provided by GENUKI which may have been prepared at a later date.
- A Vision of Britain through Time, section "Units and Statistics" for each parish and borough leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from about 1800 through 1974.
- Map of Cambridgeshire divisions in 1888 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
- Map of Cambridge divisions in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
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