is a town of about 26,000 people on the
River Great Ouse , the largest town in
Cambridgeshire ,
England , (
Cambridge itself is a city). It is named after the
Saxon monk
St Neot whose bones were housed in the nearby
Priory of the same name.
The pilgrim trade brought prosperity for the town, and it was granted a market charter in
1130 . In the 18th and 19th centuries, the town enjoyed further prosperity through corn milling, brewing, stagecoaching, and
Railway s.
Today, St Neots is a thriving market town. The modern town incorporates
Eynesbury (originally the main settlement and the oldest part of the town) and two areas across the river,
Eaton Ford and
Eaton Socon (originally separate villages). The town continues to grow rapidly, taking its share of the increasing population in the area near
Cambridge . Technology-based industries now operate from some of the town's light industrial estates, and there is a
Gas Turbine Power Station at
Little Barford on the edge of the town.
Recent development has added
Eynesbury Manor and The Island,
Little Paxton bringing the population above 30,000. There are also plans for over 1200 new homes to the
East of the
Great North Eastern Railway .
St Neots lies close to the south-western edge of
Huntingdonshire district and is situated in the valley of the
River Great Ouse , partly on the
Flood Plain and partly on slightly higher ground a little further from the water. The Great Ouse is a mature
River , once wide and shallow but now controlled by
Weir s and
Sluice s and restrained in a well-defined channel.
Tributaries entering the Ouse in the town are the River Kym, Hen Brook, Duloe Brook, and Colmworth Brook.
St Neots developed at the site of a
Ford where overland routes converged. This was replaced by a medieval bridge, and today there are two further crossings just outside the town, one to the north and another to the south. The three-mile £8m
A45 St Neots Bypass opened in December 1985 and was subsequently redesignated as the
A428 .
The soil is mainly light, overlying
Gravel beds, and gravel extraction is one of the local industries. Older disused
Gravel Pit s form useful nature reserves and amenity areas at nearby
Paxton Pits and at the Wyboston Leisure Park. Away from the river, the higher land is mainly a heavy
Clay soil with few large settlements. Much of the land is used for
Arable farming.
St Neots is close to
Cambridge ,
Bedford and
Peterborough . The
A1 links the town by road with
London to the south and Peterborough to the north while the nearby
A14 provides access to the
Midlands and
East Anglia . There is also a good rail service from Peterborough via St Neots to London. The
A421 begins at a junction on the A1 just south of the town, connecting with Bedford and Milton Keynes, and carrying much of the traffic between Oxford and Cambridge.
''Main article:
History Of St Neots ''
Although
Roman and even pre-Roman finds have been made in and around St Neots, there was no significant settlement until Saxon times. Early developments were in
Eynesbury ,
Eaton Socon and
Eaton Ford .
The Normans rebuilt the
Priory near the river and the town of St Neots grew up against its southern wall.
- - Cambridge , Peterborough
- - Bedford , Biggleswade , Godmanchester , Higham Ferrers , Huntingdon , Raunds , Royston , Rushden , Sandy , St Ives , Thrapston
- - Abbotsley , Bolnhurst , Buckden , Caxton , Chawston , Colesden , Colmworth , Croxton , Diddington , Duloe , Eltisley , Gamlingay , Graveley , Great Paxton , Great Staughton , Hail Weston , Keysoe , Keysoe Row , Kimbolton , Little Barford , Little Paxton , Little Staughton , Offord Cluny , Offord D'Arcy , Perry , Pertenhall , Roxton , Staughton Green , Staughton Highway , Southoe , Staploe , Stonely , Tempsford , Toseland , Wyboston , Yelling
