Bassingbourn cum Kneesworth
Encyclopedia
Bassingbourn cum Kneesworth is a civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire
district of Cambridgeshire
, England
, 14 miles south-west of Cambridge
. Since the 1960s the parish contains the villages of Bassingbourn and Kneesworth and is situated just north of Royston
in Hertfordshire
. The parish is astride the Roman Ermine Street
(now the A1198
and formerly the A14), and the two ancient tracks, Icknield Way
and Ashwell Street.
The Prime Meridian
passes just to the east of the parish.
, and its straight eastern boundary is formed by the Roman Ermine Street
, dividing it from Whaddon
and Kneesworth. Its southern boundary with Hertfordshire
originally followed the ancient Icknield Way
, but as Royston grew, part of the parish was transferred to Hertfordshire. The border now follows the A505
as it by-passes Royston. In 1966, the neighbouring parish of Kneesworth was added to the parish to form Bassingbourn cum Kneesworth, a total area of 4302 acres (1,741 ha).
The village of Bassingbourn built up just to the north of the ancient track Ashwell Street, two kilometres to the north of the Icknield Way. The Romans
had previously built Ermine Street (the imperial highway linking London
with York
), which runs past the east side of the present barracks a kilometre to the east of the village.
Listed as Basingborne in the Domesday Book
, Bassingbourn takes its name from 'Bassa', an Anglo-Saxon
who, some 1,200 years ago, with his band of followers settled by the 'bourn' or stream in this area.
After the Norman invasion
in 1066, Comte Alan of Brittany
was given the desirable manor of Bassingbourn, which was mentioned in the Domesday Book
of 1086. His descendant Warin de Bassingbourn, a supporter of King John
in the baronial rebellion of 1212. He built a fortified manor house one mile west-southwest of the present barracks, now known as the John O'Gaunt
Castle.
In 1511 a grand miracle play was held in the village, which throughout that century was also the site of an annual great fair. The Royston-Hitchin Railway line opened in 1851, just crossing the very southern end of the parish.
An airfield in the north of the parish opened in 1938 and was used for three years for bomber training. Between 1942 and 1945 it was home to a U.S.A.F.
heavy bomber squadron, followed by an R.A.F.
air transport squadron, and between 1951 to 1969 by two R.A.F. training squadrons. After 1969 it was a training depot for the Queen's Division
and is now Army Training Regiment Bassingbourn.
road crossed it, and its parish covered land to the east of the road. Recorded as Cnesworth in around 1218, the name Kneesworth possibly means "enclosure of a man called Cyneheah", and suggests that the settlement formed as an Anglo-Saxon farmstead.
The former manor house, Kneesworth Hall, was home to the Nightingale family between 1610 and 1831. In 1904 it was rebuilt as an Edwardian mansion by Viscount Knutsford
. In 1947 it opened as a private boys' school, and after being sold to the council in 1968 was known as Kneesworth House Approved School
until its closure in 1986. The hall is now Kneesworth House Hospital.
Kneesworth has fallen into the ecclesiastical parish of Bassingbourn since the 15th century. It formerly had a chapel dedicated to St Mary Magdalen around 500 metres northwest of Kneesworth Hall. It was still being tended in the 16th century, but was sold in 1549, and no trace now remains. After that, the residents attended Bassingbourn.
Bassingbourn has two remaining pubs: The Hoops, occupying a 17th century building in the village, and The Pear Tree at North End. In the mid 18th century the village had four pubs, The Hoops, The Black Horse, The Bull, and The Bell. The Red Lion opened in the early 19th century, but closed by 1960, and The Bell was renamed The Black Bull in the 19th century before closing in the 1970s.
In Kneesworth, the Red Lion lies near the crossroads on the Old North Road and occupies a 17th century building that was still a farmhouse in 1795. A former pub The Hoops was converted into a club in around 1910.
In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century Bassingbourn's primary industry was coprolite
mining, followed by Playle's abattoirs. However the largest employer now is Kneesworth House Hospital, a medium security psychiatric unit.
. The population of the village, less the population resident at the barracks, is around 2,600.
The Bassingbourn Ward of South Cambridgeshire
District includes the parish, as well as the parish of Shingay cum Wendy
and the Bassingbourn Barracks. The total population of the ward in 2001 was 5,403 in 1,795 households.
On the eastern edge of the village is located Bassingbourn Village College
.
South Cambridgeshire
South Cambridgeshire is a mostly rural local government district of Cambridgeshire, England. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Chesterton Rural District and South Cambridgeshire Rural District. It surrounds the city of Cambridge, which is administered separately from the district by...
district of Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, 14 miles south-west of Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
. Since the 1960s the parish contains the villages of Bassingbourn and Kneesworth and is situated just north of Royston
Royston, Hertfordshire
Royston is a town and civil parish in the District of North Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire in England.It is situated on the Greenwich Meridian, which brushes the towns western boundary, and at the northernmost apex of the county on the same latitude of towns such as Milton Keynes and...
in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
. The parish is astride the Roman Ermine Street
Ermine Street
Ermine Street is the name of a major Roman road in England that ran from London to Lincoln and York . The Old English name was 'Earninga Straete' , named after a tribe called the Earningas, who inhabited a district later known as Armingford Hundred, around Arrington, Cambridgeshire and Royston,...
(now the A1198
A1198 road
The A1198 is a road in Cambridgeshire, England, following the route of Ermine Street between the A505 at Royston, Hertfordshire and Godmanchester, near Huntingdon....
and formerly the A14), and the two ancient tracks, Icknield Way
Icknield Way
The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern England. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills.-Background:...
and Ashwell Street.
The Prime Meridian
Prime Meridian
The Prime Meridian is the meridian at which the longitude is defined to be 0°.The Prime Meridian and its opposite the 180th meridian , which the International Date Line generally follows, form a great circle that divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.An international...
passes just to the east of the parish.
History
The ancient parish of Bassingbourn was an approximately rectangular area of 3,381 acres. Its long nearly-straight western boundary mostly follows an ancient field path that separates it from LitlingtonLitlington
Litlington can refer to:* Litlington, Cambridgeshire* Litlington, East Sussex...
, and its straight eastern boundary is formed by the Roman Ermine Street
Ermine Street
Ermine Street is the name of a major Roman road in England that ran from London to Lincoln and York . The Old English name was 'Earninga Straete' , named after a tribe called the Earningas, who inhabited a district later known as Armingford Hundred, around Arrington, Cambridgeshire and Royston,...
, dividing it from Whaddon
Whaddon
Whaddon is the name of more than one place.*Whaddon, Buckinghamshire*Whaddon, Cambridgeshire*Whaddon, Cheltenham*Brookthorpe-with-Whaddon, Gloucestershire*Whaddon, Wiltshire...
and Kneesworth. Its southern boundary with Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
originally followed the ancient Icknield Way
Icknield Way
The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern England. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills.-Background:...
, but as Royston grew, part of the parish was transferred to Hertfordshire. The border now follows the A505
A505 road
The A505 is an A-class road in the United Kingdom. It follows part of the route of the Icknield Way and the corresponding Icknield Way Path.-Bedfordshire:...
as it by-passes Royston. In 1966, the neighbouring parish of Kneesworth was added to the parish to form Bassingbourn cum Kneesworth, a total area of 4302 acres (1,741 ha).
The village of Bassingbourn built up just to the north of the ancient track Ashwell Street, two kilometres to the north of the Icknield Way. The Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
had previously built Ermine Street (the imperial highway linking London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
), which runs past the east side of the present barracks a kilometre to the east of the village.
Listed as Basingborne in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
, Bassingbourn takes its name from 'Bassa', an Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
who, some 1,200 years ago, with his band of followers settled by the 'bourn' or stream in this area.
After the Norman invasion
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
in 1066, Comte Alan of Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
was given the desirable manor of Bassingbourn, which was mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086. His descendant Warin de Bassingbourn, a supporter of King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
in the baronial rebellion of 1212. He built a fortified manor house one mile west-southwest of the present barracks, now known as the John O'Gaunt
John O'Gaunt
The John O'Gaunt was an English automobile manufactured in Lancaster from 1901 until 1904. Built by William Atkinson & Sons, the 4 hp vehicle was "made to meet the requirements of people who do not require a high-priced car"....
Castle.
In 1511 a grand miracle play was held in the village, which throughout that century was also the site of an annual great fair. The Royston-Hitchin Railway line opened in 1851, just crossing the very southern end of the parish.
An airfield in the north of the parish opened in 1938 and was used for three years for bomber training. Between 1942 and 1945 it was home to a U.S.A.F.
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
heavy bomber squadron, followed by an R.A.F.
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
air transport squadron, and between 1951 to 1969 by two R.A.F. training squadrons. After 1969 it was a training depot for the Queen's Division
Queen's Division
The Queen's Division is a British Army command, training and administrative apparatus designated for has the regiments from the east of England and the remaining regiment of Fusiliers. The Queen's Division was formed in 1968 with the regimentation of the Home Counties Brigade, Fusilier Brigade and...
and is now Army Training Regiment Bassingbourn.
Kneesworth
Originally a separate parish of 997 acres (403 ha), Kneesworth grew on the Roman Ermine Street (now known as the Old North Road) where the Bassingbourn to MeldrethMeldreth
Meldreth is a village in South Cambridgeshire with about 1,600 inhabitants lying around 10 miles south-west of Cambridge.-History:The village of Meldreth grew in Saxon times, and the parish is home to Mettle Hill that was probably the original meeting place of Armingford Hundred...
road crossed it, and its parish covered land to the east of the road. Recorded as Cnesworth in around 1218, the name Kneesworth possibly means "enclosure of a man called Cyneheah", and suggests that the settlement formed as an Anglo-Saxon farmstead.
The former manor house, Kneesworth Hall, was home to the Nightingale family between 1610 and 1831. In 1904 it was rebuilt as an Edwardian mansion by Viscount Knutsford
Viscount Knutsford
Viscount Knutsford, of Knutsford in the County Palatine of Chester, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1895 for the lawyer, Conservative politician and former Secretary of State for the Colonies, Henry Holland, 1st Baron Knutsford...
. In 1947 it opened as a private boys' school, and after being sold to the council in 1968 was known as Kneesworth House Approved School
Approved School
Approved School is a term formerly used in the United Kingdom to mean a particular kind of residential institution to which young people could be sent by a court, usually for committing offences but sometimes because they were deemed to be beyond parental control...
until its closure in 1986. The hall is now Kneesworth House Hospital.
Church
The parish church in Bassingbourn has been dedicated to St Peter and St Paul since at least the 15th century. The present building consists of a chancel, aisled and clerestoried nave with south porch and south chapel, and west tower. The present building dates largely from the 14th century, but incorporates some stonework of an earlier building. The west tower dates from the 13th century but was extensively rebuilt in the 19th century. The church was refaced in limestone in the 19th century.Kneesworth has fallen into the ecclesiastical parish of Bassingbourn since the 15th century. It formerly had a chapel dedicated to St Mary Magdalen around 500 metres northwest of Kneesworth Hall. It was still being tended in the 16th century, but was sold in 1549, and no trace now remains. After that, the residents attended Bassingbourn.
Village life
The village has a number of facilities including several shops a surgery, a dental surgery, a garage and a sub-Post Office.Bassingbourn has two remaining pubs: The Hoops, occupying a 17th century building in the village, and The Pear Tree at North End. In the mid 18th century the village had four pubs, The Hoops, The Black Horse, The Bull, and The Bell. The Red Lion opened in the early 19th century, but closed by 1960, and The Bell was renamed The Black Bull in the 19th century before closing in the 1970s.
In Kneesworth, the Red Lion lies near the crossroads on the Old North Road and occupies a 17th century building that was still a farmhouse in 1795. A former pub The Hoops was converted into a club in around 1910.
In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century Bassingbourn's primary industry was coprolite
Coprolite
A coprolite is fossilized animal dung. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour rather than morphology. The name is derived from the Greek words κοπρος / kopros meaning 'dung' and λιθος / lithos meaning 'stone'. They...
mining, followed by Playle's abattoirs. However the largest employer now is Kneesworth House Hospital, a medium security psychiatric unit.
Demography
According to the 2001 census it had a population of 4,005, which includes the resident population of Bassingbourn BarracksRAF Bassingbourn
RAF Bassingbourn is a former military airbase located in Cambridgeshire approximately north of Royston, Hertfordshire and south west of Cambridge. During World War II it served first as an RAF station and then as a bomber base of the U.S. Eighth Air Force...
. The population of the village, less the population resident at the barracks, is around 2,600.
The Bassingbourn Ward of South Cambridgeshire
South Cambridgeshire
South Cambridgeshire is a mostly rural local government district of Cambridgeshire, England. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Chesterton Rural District and South Cambridgeshire Rural District. It surrounds the city of Cambridge, which is administered separately from the district by...
District includes the parish, as well as the parish of Shingay cum Wendy
Shingay cum Wendy
Shingay cum Wendy is a civil parish in the English county of Cambridgeshire, around 5 miles north west of Royston.Forming part of the district of South Cambridgeshire's Bassingbourn Ward the parish's main settlements are Shingay and Wendy....
and the Bassingbourn Barracks. The total population of the ward in 2001 was 5,403 in 1,795 households.
Education
In the half century after 1570, Bassingbourn had usually a resident schoolmaster, not always licensed. In 1628 the vicar himself was teaching a school. In 1657 £9 a year was granted out of the rectory for the schoolmaster.On the eastern edge of the village is located Bassingbourn Village College
Bassingbourn Village College
Bassingbourn Village College is a comprehensive school in Bassingbourn, just across the Cambridgeshire border from Royston, Hertfordshire. It currently has around 670 registered full time students. The college teaches students from Year 7 to Year 11....
.