Place:Newton (near Harston), Cambridgeshire, England

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Newton is a civil parish and small village in Cambridgeshire, England. Situated around 7 miles to the southwest of Cambridge, it lies on the old coaching road between London and Cambridge. Its population at the 2001 UK census was 401, falling to 378 at the 2011 UK census.

The history of Newton has long been tied to that of neighbouring Hauxton; they were ruled by a single manor, were a single civil parish until the 16th century and until 1930 formed a single ecclesiastical parish. There were disputes over the parish boundaries with Harston and Little Shelford until they were finally settled in 1800, when the parish of Newton was set at 402 hectares.

At the time of the Domesday Book (1086) the lands in modern Newton fell under the manor at Hauxton and both villages remained the property of Ely Abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. Since then the manor has been owned by the Hurrell family.

The village of Newton itself built up around the intersection of the five roads from Harston, Hauxton, Whittlesford, Thriplow and Foxton. It has always been a small village, and in 1801 was home to only 114 people. In 1746 much of the village was destroyed by a fire. The village's economy has always been dominated by farming.

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).

"NEWTON, a parish in Chesterton [registration] district, Cambridgeshire; 1¼ mile S E of Harston [railway] station, and 6 S by W of Cambridge. It has a post-office under Cambridge. Acres: 984. Real property: £1,927. Population: 216. Houses: 47. The manor belongs to the Dean and Chapter of Ely; and the manor-house is occupied by a farmer. The living is a vicarage, annexed to the vicarage of Hauxton, in the diocese of Ely. The church is ancient; was restored in 1851; consists of nave, transepts, and chancel-with a tower; and contains an old hexagonal font. There is an endowed school."

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• Original historical documents relating to Cambridgeshire are now held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at Shire Hall, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4GS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