HUNTINGDON, CALLED Huntandene in the Saxon Chronicle,* and Huntantun in other ancient writings, is the principal town in this county. It' is situated on the northern side of the river Ouse, on gently-rising" ground, and is nearly connected by three bridges and a causeway with the village of Godmanchester, 'whence it sprung,' according to Camden. Henry of Huntingdon, the Archdeacon, and Historian, describes it as "surpassing all the neighbouring towns both in pleasantness of situation, beauty of buildings, nearness to the fens, and plenty of game and fish." Most writers agree with Camden in respect to the origin of this town; and like him, also, have placed the DUROLIPONTE of Antoninus at Godmanchester; yet the nature of the ground affords decisive evidence that the Roman station could not have been at that village, but was rather at Huntingdon, where the entrenchments yet remaining show the works to have been very strong and extensive. It is true that these works are generally referred to times long subsequent to the Roman period; yet even Camden's own testimony may be urged in support of the opinion, that they had a far more remote origin than is commonly assigned. “On the river near the Bridge," he observes, "which is fair built of stone, are to be seen the mount and site of a CASTLE, which, in the year 917, King Edward the Elder built anew; and David, the Scot, (to whom, according to an ancient historian, ‘King Stephen Z 3 gave Chron. p. 107, 109, 119. The "Public Seale" calls it "Huntersdune, or Hunterizdune; that is, the Hill or Downe of Hunters, as Henry of Huntingdon interpreteth it; whence it useth in their common seal, an Hunter." Baker's MSS. Vol. XXXVI. from a MS. indorsed Cotton, and supposed to have been Sir Robert Cotton's; but if it were his,' says the copyist, the additions are more than the original manuscript.' Ibid. In the Domesday Book this town is called Huntedone. + Brit. Vol. II. p. 153. Edit. 1789. * Whenever this manuscript is again referred to in the ensuing pages, it will be by the words Cotton MS, and the extracts will be given from a copy pur posely made, and in my possession. E. W. B. gave the borough of Huntingdon for an augmentation of his estate,') enlarged with many works."* Now the rebuilding of the Castle by the above Sovereign, evinces, in a great measure, its previous antiquity; and its site, as in Camden's time, still remains to prove, that no spot of ground in this neighbourhood could be better adapted for a station or fortress. On the south it is bounded by the river, from which it rises very abruptly to a considerable height, and from its summit commands a fine view over a great expanse of country, particularly to the south; the prospect towards the north must also have been formerly very extensive, but is now impeded by the houses of the town. The outer ramparts inclose an area of several acres, of a square form, with the angles rounded off, and the whole was environed by a deep ditch: the banks on the south, and south-east, are still very bold; the principal entrance was on the east side. Not any vestiges of buildings now remain, but the foundations may in various places be traced from the unevenness of the surface: the artificial mount, on which most probably stood the keep of the Castle, was surrounded by a ditch. Towards the west, the high ground continues for some distance; but on the north and east it more quickly declines. Such are the characteristics of this spot: the situation, and square form of the inclosed area, furnish strong evidence of a Roman origin; and though no coins are known to have been found here, as at Godmanchester, that circumstance alone cannot be admitted as sufficient to invalidate the assumed fact. Both the distance and the ancient name, as recorded in the Itinerary, will suit Huntingdon, equally as well as Godmanchester; and as the latter place, from the lowness of its situation, would never have been selected by the Romans for the site of a fort, in direct contradiction to their acknowledged system of military tactics, while the short distance of half a mile afforded them such a superior and proper choice of ground, and as no vestige of entrenchments can be found, "Ad flumen propè pontem qui è saxo riuo speciosus est, moles & area Castri cernitur quod anno reparatæ salutis 917 EDWARDUS Senior instaurauit, Dauid Scotus, cui, et antiquus habet historicus, • Stephanus Rex Burgum Huntingdon in augmentum dederat, multis operibus aduuxit ;—.” Brit. p. 395. Edit. 1590. 6 found, nor are remembered to exist, at Godmanchester, the removal of the assigned Roman station from that village to Huntingdon, will not be regarded as an unwarrantable liberty. That any Roman coins, or other antiquities, have been met with about the Castle Hills, has not been recorded; but on that which adjoins the site of the fortress, and on which the windmill stands, was dug up, about two years ago, a human skeleton in a stone trough, or coffin. Camden supposes the appellation Duroliponte, to be a corrup tion from Durosiponte, (more accurately Dur-osi-ponte,) "signifying, in British, the Bridge over the Water Ose; for all allow that this river is indifferently called Use, Ise, Ose, and Ouse." This etymology seems very just; for anciently, as it still does in time of floods, the river must have spread over the low grounds under the Castle Hills, in a broad expansive sheet. He states, also, that the Castle itself was utterly destroyed by Henry the Second, not only from its having become a retreat for 'seditious rebels,' but Z 4 from * Some conjectures on the name of Godman-chester, and on the Roman coins found there, will be inserted under the proper head. + Baxter, in his 'Glossarium Antiquitatum Britannicarum,' p. 112, ` 113, is the only writer that has before placed the Duroliponte, or, as he reads it, Durocinonte, at Huntingdon; but he offers no other argument than what is derived from the name, as he conjectures it to have been written, in support of his opinion: his words are as follows: "DuROCINONTE: Antonini Libris turpi vitio scribitur Duroliponte, & Ravennati etiam Monacho correptè Durcinate, vel forsan Durcinante. Oppidum hoc est Saxonibus ibridâ voce Huntandun, appellatum; cùm, si plenè scriberetur, deberet esse Durocinontedun, Siquidem ipsum vetus Durocindum possit esse Garmonceaster, de Germanis Incolis ita appellatum; Durocinonte autem, quod Girviis Britannis cesserat, Huntedun, sive magis Ontedon. Idem enim Hunte vel Onte (quod & Britannis Ante, Unte, & Hünt) quod Saxonibus etiam Geond est, Anglisque Pond, sive Ultra & Ulterior. Sit igitur Durocindum nostrum GORMANCHESTER, & Durocinonte Huntendun, sive HUNTINGTON. De Gormundo sive Guthruno Dano, quærant quibus fabellæ placituræ sunt." Scarcely a shadow of argument, however, can be advanced in support of Durocindum being at Godmanchester. from the frequent contentions for its possession between the Scots and the St. Lizes, which occasioned him to level it with the ground, he having sworn in his anger, that it should no longer be a cause of dispute.' Below the high ground to the south-westward of the entrenchments, is an extensive and fertile meadow, called Portsholm, which Camden describes as the most fresh and beautiful that the sun ever shone upon.' This meadow is partly surrounded by the Ouse river; and here the Huntingdon Races are held: a small part of it, which belonged to the Protector Cromwell, and now to the Earl of Sandwich, still bears the appellation of Cromwell's Acres. Huntingdon is a borough by prescription, and the only one in the whole shire. In the time of Edward the Confessor, as appears from the Domesday Book, there were in this burgh, four ferlings,* in two of which were 116 burgesses paying custom and geld, and under them 100 bordarii,† who help to pay the geld: in the other two ferlings were 140 burgesses, subject to all customs, and the King's geld.' Scarcely any historical events are recorded as happening in this town. During the Civil Wars in the time of Charles the First, it was pillaged by the King's troops, who, commanded by the King in person, and taking advantage of the absence of the Parliament's army in the west, suddenly entered the associated eastern counties,' and committed great ravages. Whitelocke, who notices this under the date of August 25, 1645, after mentioning a skirmish with the A Ferling is the 4th part of a yardland;' Kelham, p. 210. Sir Edward Coke explains a ferling by thirty-two acres; Spelman, by ten acres. + The Bordarii, says Cowel, were distinct from the Servi and Villani, and seem to be those of a less servile condition, who had a bord, or cottage, with a small parcel of land, allowed to them.'—" They were drudges, and performed vile services, which were reserved by the Lord upon a poor little house, and a small parcel of land, and might perhaps do domestic works, such as grinding, threshing, drawing water, cutting wood, &c." Howard, p. 204. Brad. Pref. p. 56. Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 153. 米 the van of the King's army, (which consisted of about 5000 horse and dragoons,) says, " on Sunday last, in the afternoon, the King's forces entered Huntingdon, after some resistance made at the bridge by Captain Bennet, with his foot, till he, his lieutenant, and many of his men, were slain; the King's souldiers miserably plundered the town, and the counties of Bedford and Cambridge, and took away their horses and goods.' A few years before this, in March, 1640-41, Charles stopt here in his way to York, where he kept his court for some months previous to the commencement of hostilities; and from hence he sent a message to the Parliament, acquainting them with his intention of making York his residence, and "desiring them not upon any pretence of an ordinance, to which his assent is not given, as by law it ought, to doe against law, which he was to keep, and his subjects to obey.”† The Religious Houses, of which there were formerly no less than four of different descriptions in this town, are almost as entirely obliterated as the buildings of the Castle. The most ancient of these was a PRIORY of Austin Canons, founded on the spot where St. Mary's Church now stands, before the year 973, as appears from a charter of that date, granted by King Edgar to Thorney Abbey, and in which he confirms to Thorney, duas mansas juxta Huntandune, et Monasteriolum S. Mariæ extra oppidum dedicatum supradictum.' Here it continued till the time of King Stephen, or Henry the Second, when Eustace de "Luvetote," says Leland, "translated the channons from the place where now St. Maries Church is, to the place without the town, where late it stood." It is most probable that on this removal, the number of monks was increased, and the endowments enlarged, as Camden mentions the founders of the Priory, "whose walls," he continues, "I saw below the town to the east," to have been the Empress Maud and Eustace Lovetoft;'|| and in the Monasticon¶ the said Empress is mentioned as a benefactor to this establishment. * Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 154. See Dug. Mon. Vol. I. p. 244, a. Brit. Gough's Edit. Vol. II. p. 153. At + Ibid. p. 54. 8 Lel. Itin. Vol. IV. p. 49. ¶ Vol. II. p. 25. |