Cambridgeshire

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Cambridgeshire
Geography
Status	Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
Region	East of England
Area - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area	Ranked 15th 3,389 km² Ranked 15th 3,046 km²
Admin HQ	Cambridge
ISO 3166-2	GB-CAM
ONS code	12
NUTS 3	UKH12
Demographics
Population - Total (2005 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked 29th 748,600 220 / km² Ranked 19th 588,900
Ethnicity	94.6% White 2.6% S.Asian
Politics
Cambridgeshire County Council
Executive	Conservative
Members of Parliament	Jonathan Djanogly David Howarth Stewart Jackson Andrew Lansley Malcolm Moss James Paice Shailesh Vara
Districts
Cambridge South Cambridgeshire Huntingdonshire Fenland East Cambridgeshire Peterborough (Unitary)

Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs) 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. Cambridgeshire contains most of the region known as Silicon Fen. The county town is Cambridge.

Cambridgeshire is twinned with Kreis Viersen in Germany.

Contents 1 History 2 Geography 3 Economy 4 Settlements 5 Places of interest 6 Famous people from Cambridgeshire 7 External links

[edit] History

Cambridgeshire was recorded in the Domesday Book as "Grantbridgeshire" (or rather Grentebrigescire).

Cambridgeshire today is the product of several local government unifications. In 1888 when county councils where introduced, two were set up, following the traditional division of Cambridgeshire into the area in the south around Cambridge, and the liberty of the Isle of Ely. In 1965, these two administrative counties were merged to form Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely. In 1974, this then merged with the county to the west, Huntingdon and Peterborough (which had been created in 1965 by the merger of Huntingdonshire with the Soke of Peterborough - a part of Northamptonshire which had its own county council). The resulting county was called simply 'Cambridgeshire'.

Since 1998 the City of Peterborough has been a separately administered area, as a unitary authority, but is associated with Cambridgeshire for ceremonial purposes such as Lieutenancy, and functions such as policing and the fire service.

In 2002, the conservation charity Plantlife unofficially designated Cambridgeshire's county flower as the Pasqueflower.

A great quantity of archaeological finds from the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age were made in East Cambridgeshire. Most items were found in Isleham.

The Cambridgeshire Regiment or (Fen Tigers) county based army unit fought in South Africa, WW1 and WW2.

Most English counties have nicknames for people from that county, such as a Tyke from Yorkshire and a Yellowbelly from Lincolnshire; the traditional nickname for people from Cambridgeshire is 'Cambridgeshire Camel' or 'Cambridgeshire Crane', referring to the drainage engines which kept the low-lying land dry.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Geography

Large areas of the county are extremely low-lying and Holme Fen is notable for being the UK's lowest physical point at 2.75 m (9 ft) below sea level. The highest point is in the village of Great Chishill at 146 m/480 ft above sea level. Other prominent hills are Little Trees Hill and Wandlebury Hill in the Gog Magog Downs, Rivey Hill above Linton, Rowley's Hill and the Madingley Hills.

[edit] Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Cambridgeshire at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Year	Regional Gross Value Added[1]	Agriculture[2]	Industry[3]	Services[4]
1995	5,896	228	1,646	4,022
2000	7,996	166	2,029	5,801
2003	10,154	207	2,195	7,752

1. ^ Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
2. ^ includes hunting and forestry
3. ^ includes energy and construction
4. ^ includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

[edit] Settlements

These are the settlements in Cambridgeshire with a town charter, city status or a population over 5,000; for a complete list of settlements see list of places in Cambridgeshire.

• Burwell
• Cambridge
• Chatteris
• Ely
• Godmanchester
• Huntingdon
• Littleport
• March
• Peterborough (no longer part of the administrative county)
• Sawston
• Linton
• Sawtry
• Soham
• St Ives
• St Neots
• Wisbech
• Whittlesey
• Yaxley

The town of Newmarket is surrounded on three sides by Cambridgeshire, being connected by a narrow strip of land to the rest of Suffolk.

[edit] Places of interest

Anglesey Abbey Brampton Wood Buckden Towers Castor Hanglands Nature Reserve Denny Abbey Devil's Dyke Down Field Windmill Duxford Chapel Duxford Airfield Elton Hall Ely Cathedral Flag Fen Fowlmere Nature Reserve Gog Magog Downs Grafham Water Nature Reserve Great Gransden Post Mill Hereward Way Hinchingbrooke House Houghton Mill Icknield Way Kimbolton Castle Lattersey Nature Reserve Lode Watermill

Nene Valley Railway Nene Way New Bedford River Octavia Hill Birthplace Museum Old Bedford River Ouse Valley Way Ouse Washes Paxton Pits Nature Reserve Peckover House & Garden Peterborough Cathedral Prickwillow Drainage Engine Museum Ramsey Abbey River Cam River Great Ouse RSPB Nene Washes RSPB Ouse Washes Three Shires Bridleway University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge Wandlebury Country Park Wicken Fen Wimpole Hall Wisbech and March Bramleyline WWT Welney

[edit] Famous people from Cambridgeshire

The following people are either from Cambridgeshire, have lived in Cambridgeshire, or continue to live in Cambridgeshire.

• Adrian Durham, Radio TalkSPORT presenter. (Peterborough)
• Andrew Eldritch, lead singer of the band The Sisters of Mercy. (Ely)
• Andy Bell, lead singer of the electronic pop band Erasure. (Peterborough)
• David Gilmour, member of the rock band Pink Floyd. (Cambridge)
• Don Airey, the keyboardist in the rock band Deep Purple.
• Don Lusher, trombonist. (Peterborough)
• Douglas Adams, author. (Cambridge)
• Hereward the Wake, outlaw who led a resistance against William the Conqueror. (Peterborough and Ely)
• Henry Royce, co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited. (Huntingdonshire)
• Jeffrey Archer, author and former politician. (Cambridge)
• Joe Bugner, boxer. (Huntingdonshire)
• John Clare, the Northamptonshire poet. (Helpston)
• John Major (Huntingdonshire)
• Matt Bellamy Musician (Cambridge)
• Keith Palmer, better known as Maxim Reality, member of dance music band The Prodigy. (Peterborough)
• Oliver Cromwell, military leader, politician. (Huntingdonshire and Ely)
• Nigel Sixsmith, founder member of The Art Of Sound, Musician, well known Keytar player. (Peterborough)
• Paul Nicholas, actor and singer. (Peterborough)
• Peter Boizot, founder of the Pizza Express restaurant chain. (Peterborough)
• Richard Attenborough, film actor, director, and producer. (Cambridge)
• Richard Garriott, better known as Lord British. (Cambridge)
• Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett, member of the rock band Pink Floyd. (Cambridge)
• Ronald Searle, cartoonist. (Cambridge)
• Brian J. Ford, scientist. (Cambridge).
• Rory McGrath, comedian. (Cambridge)
• Samuel Pepys, diarist. (Huntingdonshire)
• Sarah Cawood, television presenter. (Peterborough)
• Stephen Hawking, physicist. (Cambridge)
• Warwick Davis, actor. (Peterborough)
• Thomas Clarkson, anti-slavery campaigner. (Wisbech).
• Octavia Hill, social reformer. (Wisbech).

[edit] External links

• Cambridgeshire County Council
• Cambridge Market Place Webcam - CamPlus Site's Market Place Webcam
• Cambridgeshire Family History Society