Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire

Geography
Status	Ceremonial & (smaller) Administrative 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 (2003 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked 29th 729,812 215 / km² Ranked 20th 570,983
Ethnicity	94.6% White 2.6% S.Asian
Politics
Cambridgeshire County Council http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/
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 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 is now administratively separate again, as a unitary authority, but is associated with Cambridgeshire for various purposes, such as police, fire, and the Lieutenancy.

Famous people include Oliver Cromwell, John Major (Former MP of Huntingdonshire and Prime Minister) and Henry Royce, all from Huntingdonshire.

Cambridgeshire is twinned with Kreis Viersen in Germany.

Although large parts of the county are extremely low-lying, the highest point is in the village of Great Chishill at 146m/480ft. 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.

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
• Ely
• Huntingdon
• Littleport
• Peterborough (not part of the administrative county)
• Sawston
• Soham
• St Ives
• St Neots
• Wisbech

Places of interest

• Abbeys: Anglesey Abbey, Denny Abbey, Ramsey Abbey
• Brampton Wood SSSI
• Buckden towers
• Castor Hanglands Nature Reserve
• Devil's Dyke Ancient Monument
• Down Field Windmill, Soham
• Duxford Airfield and Duxford Chapel
• Elton Hall
• Fowlmere Nature Reserve
• Gog Magog Downs
• Grafham Water Nature Reserve
• Great Gransden Post Mill
• Hinchingbrooke House
• Houghton Mill
• Kimbolton Castle
• Lattersey Nature Reserve
• Lode Watermill
• Long distance footpaths: Hereward Way, Icknield Way, Nene Way, Ouse Valley Way, Three Shires Bridleway
• Nene Valley Railway, a heritage railway
• Paxton Pits Nature Reserve
• Peckover House, Wisbech
• Prickwillow Drainage Engine Museum
• River Great Ouse, River Cam
• RSPB Nene Washes
• RSPB Ouse Washes, a reserve of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
• The Ouse Washes consisting of the Old Bedford River and the New Bedford River (also known as the Hundred Foot Drain)
• Wandlebury Country Park and the Gog Magog Downs
• Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve
• Wimpole Hall
• Wisbech and March Bramleyline, a heritage railway
• WWT Welney - a Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve on the Ouse Washes

External link

• Cambridgeshire County Council

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