In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Cottenham like this:
COTTENHAM, a village and a parish in Chesterton district, Cambridgeshire. The village stands 2 miles S of the Old West river, 3¾ NW of Waterbeach r. station, and 6¾ N of Cambridge; and has a post office‡ under Cambridge. It is the place where the monks of the abbot of Croyland, in the early part of the 12th century, established courses of lectures which resulted in a regular system of academical education at Cambridge; it was damaged by fire, to the value of about £100, 000, in the spring of 1850; and it gives the title of Baron and Earl to the family of Pepys. ...
The parish comprises 7, 107 acres. Real property, £16, 489. Pop., 2, 415. Houses, 526. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged, in the beginning of the 12th century, to Geoffry, abbot of Croyland. The land was long famous for pasture, and for the produce of a fine cream cheese, called the Cottenham cheese. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely. Value, £770.* Patron, the Bishop of Ely. The church is later English, and consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a lofty tower. There are four dissenting chapels. A free school, founded in 1703, by Catherine Pepys, has £153 from endowment; and other charities have £375. Archbishop Tenison and Lord Chancellor Cottenham were natives.
Cottenham through time
Cottenham is now part of South Cambridgeshire district. Click here for graphs and data of how South Cambridgeshire has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Cottenham itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Cottenham in South Cambridgeshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/5685
Date accessed: 25th April 2024
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