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Things to do in Warboys


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Warboys
Chequers Court, Huntingdon - 01480 450250
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Warboys is a large parish and village on what was the eastern side of Huntingdonshire bordering on Cambridgeshire.

In 1085 William the Conqueror ordered that a survey should be carried out across his kingdom to discover who owned which parts and what it was worth. The survey took place in 1086 and the results were recorded in what, since the 12th century, has become known as the Domesday Book. Starting with the king himself, for each landholder within a county there is a list of their estates or manors; and, for each manor, there is a summary of the resources of the manor, the amount of annual rent that was collected by the lord of the manor both in 1066 and in 1086, together with the taxable value.

Warboys was listed in the Domesday Book in the Hundred of Hurstingstone in Huntingdonshire; the name of the settlement was written as Wardebusc in the Domesday Book. In 1086 there was just one manor at Warboys; the annual rent paid to the lord of the manor in 1066 had been £12 and the rent was the same in 1086.

The Domesday Book does not explicitly detail the population of a place but it records that there were 48 households at Warboys. There is no consensus about the average size of a household at that time; estimates range from 3. 5 to 5. 0 people per household. Using these figures then an estimate of the population of Warboys in 1086 is that it was within the range of 168 and 240 people.

By 1086 there was already a church and a priest at Warboys and it was amongst the lands of the Abbey of St. Benedict at Ramsey.

The north-east part is fenland, with the higher land to the south composed of stiff clay. The land falls from about 114 feet (35 m) above sea-level in the south to 2 feet (1 m) in the fenland of the north and north-east. Nearly 3/4 of the area is arable upon which potatoes are largely grown, and also corn and beans, etc. Warboys Wood is the only remaining piece of woodland.

The village lies on high ground in the south-west part of the parish overlooking the fen to the north-east. It has grown up at the foot of a fork formed at the junction of the main road from St. Ives to Ramsey, with a branch road leading eastwards over Warboys Heath on to Fenton. The main road, as it passes through the village, is called Church Street, and the branch road is High Street. The church is at the south end of the village. There are three or four old cottages in the village, including the White Hart Inn on the north side of the High Street - a 17th-century brick house with a thatched roof. In 1996 an electrical fault caused the roof to catch fire, destroying the top storey of the building. The pub was rebuilt and opened again in 1997.

In 1774 an Act of Parliament was passed for draining certain lands in Warboys, including 300 acres (121 ha) called High Fen and 60 acres (24 ha) part of New Pasture. In 1795, an Act was passed for dividing, enclosing and draining the open common fields in Warboys. A further Act was passed in 1798 to amend the previous Act as regards the lands allotted in lieu of tithes.

A local landmark is the clock tower, built in 1887 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria on the throne. Warboys is also famous for the trial of the so-called "Witches of Warboys". Much witch related iconography can be found in the village, including part of the emblem of the local primary school.

The village was one of two sites in Huntingdonshire included in the Survey of English Dialects (SED). The traditional dialect of Warboys recorded in the SED was characterised by a 'Canadian raising' type alternation in the vowel of the PRICE lexical set.

In World War II, the RAF operated a bomber airfield just south west of the village called RAF Warboys. Wellingtons operated there from 1942 until early 1943 when they were replaced by Lancasters. After early 1944, the airfield was used for training until flying operations ended late in 1945. All the buildings and land were sold by 1964.



leonedgaroldbury@yahoo.co.ukFeel free to Email me any additions or corrections


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