Consisting of 9,724 Roman coins, and discovered in 2018, the Muddy Hoard is considered to date the largest treasure trove of Cambridgeshire.

[5] Huntingdon seems to have been a staging post for Danish raids outside East Anglia until 917, when the Danes moved to Tempsford, now in Bedfordshire, before they were crushed by Edward the Elder.

It prospered successively as a bridging point of the River Great Ouse, a market town, and in the 18th and 19th centuries a coaching centre, notably at the George Hotel.

The town has a well-preserved medieval bridge that used to serve as the main route of Ermine Street over the river.

The town's valuable trading position was secured by Huntingdon Castle, of which only the earthworks of the motte survive.

The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and home to a beacon used to mark the 400th anniversary of the Spanish Armada.

In 1746, the nurserymen Wood and Ingram of nearby Brampton developed an elm-tree cultivar, Ulmus × hollandica 'Vegeta', which they named the Huntingdon Elm after the town.

[10] Two wings of the inn burnt down in the mid-19th century, but two were saved, including one with a balcony overlooking the yard.

[18] The fourth tier of local government is Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, which is headed by a mayor.

Ben Obese-Jecty MP (Conservative) was elected to this seat in the House of Commons in 2024, replacing Jonathan Djanogly.

Huntingdon incorporates the village of Hartford to the east and the developing areas of Oxmoor, Stukeley Meadows and Hinchingbrooke to the north and west.

The nearest weather station for long-term data is at RAF Wyton, 3 mi (5 km) north-east of the town centre.

Like most of Britain, Huntingdon has a temperate, maritime climate free of temperature extremes, with rainfall spread fairly evenly over the year.

The absolute maximum recorded at Wyton was 35.4 °C (95.7 °F)[21] in August 1990; the temperature at Monks Wood rose in July 2006 to 35.1 °C (95.2 °F).

[27] With annual rainfall at under 550 millimetres (21+1⁄2 inches) a year,[28] the Huntingdon area is among the driest in the UK—103.4 days on average record at least 1 mm of rain.

Part of the medieval infirmary hall of St Johns in the market place became Huntingdon Grammar School.

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC East and ITV Anglia.

Great Northern services operate between Peterborough and London Kings Cross station; trains take just over an hour to reach the capital.

Thameslink services run between Peterborough and Horsham, in West Sussex, via St Pancras and Blackfriars.

[40] The highest-ranking football club, Huntingdon Town, plays in the United Counties League.