Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road which runs east–west. In 2011, the parish had a population of 4,655. Histon forms part of the Cambridge built-up area.
Etymology
Suggestions for meanings of Histon include: "farmstead of the young warriors" or "landing place". However, the latter of these is unlikely as Histon is situated above the floodline. The likely origin of the name is from the two Saxon/Old English words hyse and tun – hyse meaning "a young man or warrior", and tun meaning "house or farm". The village name has survived as unchanged as possible since the orthographic rules at the writing of the Domesday Book in 1086, when it was recorded as Histone, which demanded an e after an "n" culmination – see Middle English orthography, due to the focus on the downstrokes only in precious ink at the time.
Early history
Some of the trackways that pass through these villages are believed to be prehistoric. Flint tools have been dug up in and around the area and aerial photographs show evidence of ancient settlements including Iron Age and Roman. Pieces of Roman pottery have been found in the area.
The earliest part of Impington to be inhabited is near the junction of Cambridge Road and Arbury Road, where there is a large ancient settlement, thought to have been built by the Ancient Britons. The settlement was taken over by the Romans when they invaded Britain. There are several roads in Impington that are thought to be based on Roman roads. The Parish probably dates from about the sixth century, when a Saxon tribe called the Empings lived there. Over time, dukes have gone off to help prevent the Danes from invading, while William I sorted out an argument over the town (then 'Epintone') between the Norman Sheriff of Cambridge and the Church.
Possibly the oldest surviving area of interest is Gun's Lane, which is named after a family who once lived in the lane. Today this is just a bridleway but it was for centuries the Cambridge to Ely causeway, which was the main road into the Fens and the Isle of Ely. The Iron Age ringfort that once stood at Arbury may well at one time have guarded one end of this road. During the Norman Conquest of England, William the Conqueror passed this way with his army as he chased a rebel Saxon, Hereward the Wake, into the Fens.
Early settlement appears to have been centred around what is now Church End. Originally there were two churches here – St Etheldreda's and St Andrew's – with each church belonging to a separate manor, but only St Andrew's remains today. Before the Reformation these manors were owned by the abbeys of Denny and Eynsham. The Crown sold the manor of St Etheldreda to Sir Thomas Elyot and the manor of St Andrew to Edward Elrington in 1539.
Close by is Histon Manor House, once Histon Hall. Originally it was on a site with a moat which is still visible today, but at some point the house was moved to higher ground nearby, possibly to avoid flooding.
The churches, manor house and grounds prevented expansion to the west so the village slowly moved towards its current centre which is The Green. The Green many times the size it is currently, all of what is today the High Street would have at one time been the green.
Histon was recorded in the Domesday Book as answering for 26 hides – a hide was recorded in the book as being 120 fiscal acres.
Included on the Histon Village Sign is a man in a stove hat holding a large rock. This represents Moses Carter (1801–1860) a local strongman who lived in the village in the nineteenth century. Carter was alleged to be over seven feet tall, and famously carried a large stone from a building site to The Boot public house. The stone is still in the pub's garden. Carter is affectionately known locally as 'The Histon Giant'.