History of Cambridgeshire

At this period the fen-district stretched southward as far as Cambridge, and the essential unity which it preserved is illustrated later by its inclusion under one sheriff, chosen in successive years from Cambridgeshire proper and the Liberty of the Isle of Ely.

The first mention of the shire in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the valiant resistance which it opposed to the invaders in 1010 when the rest of East Anglia had taken ignominious flight.

[3] From the time of Hereward's famous resistance to William the Conqueror in the fen-district, the Isle of Ely was intimately concerned with the great political struggles of the country.

The Domesday Survey mentions over 90 mills and numerous valuable fisheries, especially eel-fisheries, and contains frequent references to wheat, malt and honey.

In the 16th century, barley for malt was grown in large quantities in the south, and the manufacture of willow baskets was carried on in the fen-districts.

Sturbridge fair was at this period reckoned the largest in Europe, the chief articles of merchandise being wool, hops and leather; and the Newmarket races and horse trade were already famous.

At Swaffham Prior there are remains of two churches in one churchyard, the tower of one being Transitional Norman, while that of the other is Perpendicular, the upper part octagonal.

Excluding the city of Cambridge there are no domestic buildings, either ancient or modern, of special note, with the exception of Sawston Hall, in the south of the county, a quadrangular mansion dated 1557–1584.

[4][5] In February 2019, archaeologists from Mola Headland Infrastructure and experts from Highways England found evidence of first Iron Age beer dated back over 2,000 years during road works in Cambridgeshire.