Notwithstanding the Immense Expense and Labour Which Has Heen Be Stowed in Drainiug the Fens, There Is Still a Large Extent in a Waste and Unimproved Condition
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CA BRI GES I E, Jls an inland county, bounded on the north-west by the counties ofNorthamptan~ Huntiugdon and Bedfflltd'; on the south by Hertfordshire and Essex ; ou the east by Suffolk ; on the north-t>ast by Norfolk, aud on the north by Lincolnshire. Its greatest length is nearly fifty milPs, and its breadth at the- south and widest ex tremity above twenty-five; in circumference it is one hundred and thirty miles; and contai-ns 439,040 statute acres of land. Its limits for all the northern half are rivers, and t»eir communieating branehes, so intermixed as with difficulty to be traced; the southern half has an indented and undistinguished boundary line on the adjacent counties. Its figure somewhat resembles that of the ha man ear, the county of Huntiugdon cutting deeply into its western side, by a circular projection. During the heptarchy this county composed part of the kingdom of East Anglia; the Devil's ditck, which runs across Newmarket heath, in a· straight line for seve ral mil~!! to Rea<·h, (where the fens were anci£'ntty marshy and impassable), Camden mentions to have be£'n one of the boumlat·ies of that kingdom. Tlie t'arth that. was dug out of the tr£'nch is thrown UJl, and forms a high bank on the east side, which is that next to the tens. Ely and its district, fr9m its situation, has fre quently held out a long time against foreign and domestic foes ; and particularly, was the last: place in th2 kingdom which submitted to William the Conqueror. SoiL, PRODUCE and CLIMATE.-Notwithstanding the immense expense and labour which has heen be stowed in drainiug the fens, there is still a large extent in a waste and unimproved condition. In this part the application of the land is varioll&; where the soil is preserved from the floods, or only subject to occa sional inundations, it has all the fertility of water-meadows. The crops of oats are particularly abundant~ the produce beiug frequently fwm 50 to 60 bushels per acre. On the western side of this district, many thousand act·es are laid out in pasture. The fenny country extends south of the Onze, and runs up to the neighbourhood of Cambridge. The south-westem part of the county is the most agreeable, beiug raised in its surface and watered by the Cam. Some ''ery fine butter is made on the dairy farms in this district; and the vicinity of Cottenham (a village near Cambridge), is famous for a pe(:uliar kind of new cheese, of a singularly delicious flavour. The superiority of this cheese, is not ascribed to any particular mode in the management of the dairies, but solely to the nature of the herbage on the commons. In this part of the county many calves are suckled for the London markets. In some of the parisht-s bordering on Essex, saf... fron is cultivated ; and hemp and flax are produced in other parts of the county. The south-eastern division, reaching from Gogmagog hills to Newmarket, is bleak, heathy and thinly inhabited; being connected with that vast tract of land, which extending southwards into Essex, and northward across Suffolk into Norfolk, forms one of the largest plains in the kingdom, The sou them parts of the county, consistffig chiefly of elevated land, exhibit a remarkable contrast to the north division, and are productive of fine wheat, barley and oats; though thP. heaths and commons that intersect these districts, furmsh sustenance to many thonsantl sheep. The number kept in the county may be averaged at 153,000. The valley through which· the CaiB flows from Steeple Morden to Walton, is called the ' Dairies,' from being almost wholly appropriated to dairy farms. The quantity of wood land is not very considerable, the whole extent of timber scarcely amounting to 1000 acres, and these principally scattered through widely sundered parishes.-The smL is diversified, con sisting principally of a mixture of day and sand, and in the feus of a strong black mould and gravel. In general the air is pure and healthy, excepting in the more northern parts, which are rendered damp and unhealthy, by the vast tracts of fenny ground; these havt-, howeYer, been considerably drained of late years, and though much remains to be done, the impurity of the air has been greatly diminished, and the climate happily and materially improved.-MANUFACTURES are scarct"ly known in this county, with the exception of a smt of white bricks for cleaning iron, brass, &c. and the making coarse pottery ware. RIVERs.-The principal rivers of Cambridgeshire are the Ovzs and the GRANTA, or CAM. The former enters the county between Feu Drayton and Earith: thence it runs eastwar·d through the fens ; and after wards taking a northerly direction, passes Stretham, Ely and Littleport, and flows into Norfolk. The Cam has three branches, the chief of which t·ises near Ashwell,Jn Hertfordshire, and enters this county to the west of Guilden l\Iorten ; thence flowing to the north -eas.tl, it receives several rivulets, and near Grantchester its sister streams; and hence taking a uorth~rly course, the (;;am glides through the walks of science, oma mcnting the grounds of the principal colleges at Cambridg~t, aod falls into the Ouze, ueat· Thetford. Cambridgeshire is in the dioce~e of Ely; and included in the Not·folk circuit. It ill divided into seventeen Jmndredll, viz.-ARMlNGFORD, CAMBRIDGE, CHESTERTON, CnEVELY, CHILFORD) FLEI'O'DISH, LoNGSTow, NoRTHSTow, PAPWORTH, HADFlELD, 'fAINE, STAPLOE, 'l'HRIPLOW, WETHERLEY, WHtTfLESFORD, Wis llEACH, and W!TCHFOR~. lt contains one city {Ely,) one county and borough town (CambridgP,) nine other market towns and 163 parishes. It sends six members to parliament, viz.-two for the University, two for the town of Cambridge, and two for the county. 'l'he present representatives for the shire are, Lord C. S. Manners and Lord F. G. O:;b01·ne. PoPULATION.-Accor·ding to the cemnts of 1821, there wer·e houses inhabited in the county, 20,869; un;n habitt-d, 247; and houses building, 217. The number of families then resident in the county was 25,603; comprising 60,301 males, aud 61,608 females; total, 121,909: and by a calculation made by order of govennneut, which included persons in the army and navy, for which was added after the ratio of about one to thirty 1)rior to the year 1811, and one to fifty fur that yt•ar and the census of 1821, to the returns made from the several districts ; the population of the county, in ronud numbers, in the year 1700, was 72,009-in 1750, 76,000-iu 1801, 92,300-in 1811, 104,500-and in 1821, 124,400. The increased population in the fifty years, from the year 1700, was 4,000-from 1750 to 1801, the increase was 16,300-fmm 1801 to 1811, the increa~e was 12.200>--and frnm 1811 to 1821, the augmented uumber of persons was 19,900: the grand total increase in the population of the cou-nty from the year 1700 to the censllS of 1821, being aoou t 52,400 persons. Index of Distances from Town to Town in the County of Cambridge. "fhe names of the respective towns are on the top and side, and the square when• both meet gh·cs the di~tance • .Distance from London. Ctlmbridge ............................................. 51 Chattf'ris •••.• , 28 Chatteris • . • . • . • • • . • . • . • . • • • . • • . • 71 Ely ..•.•••.••. 16 121Ely ..•.•.•• (by way of Cambridge) •••.•••••... 67 Linton •••••.•• 11 33 21 Li11ton............ • . • . • • . • . 48 l\.1 arch •••••••••• 32 8 19 36 :1\'larcll. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 79 Newmarket •••. 13 25 13 14 26 Newmarket ............................ 60 Royston •••••.•• 13 3'2 30 15 39 26 Royston • . • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • . 38 So ham ••••.••. 19 181 6 19 25 ! 32 So~~m. • . • . • • . • . • • • . • . • . • . 70 11w_rney..••••.. 40 18 32 50 14 4a ~-t 39 l horn~y ..•..•..•.•.......•.••.. 86 1 W_htttlesca•..... · 30 15,~7 41 11 1 ~? 1 39 33 5\Wiuttl~sea . • . • . • • • . i8 W1sbeach ...... 43 l9j31 50 11 1 39 5133 14 19 I W1sbeach.... • . • • . 90. 99 <!tamb rtb gt~llf rt. Ut got St ~o. 'S CAl\IBRIDGE, WITH THE VILLAGES OF BARNWELL, CHESTERTON, AND NEIGHBOURHOODS. CAMBRIDGE, a borough, and the priucipal town lmayar, or a corperate body; a PUBLIC ORATOR, the in the county, is a hundred of itself, situated in the mouth of the Univet·sity; the CAPUT, cea·tain officers, deanerv of its name, aod 52 miles north of London. yearly chosen, who determine what graces are proper It is called in history both Cambridge and Grantbridge, to bt: brought before the senate; two LIBRARIANS; a and derives its name from the river Granta, or Cam, I REGISTRAR V; three ESQUIRE BEDELLS, &c. There are and its bridge. Regarding its antiquity much difference also PROFESSORS in the Eevet'al facu ltie8, as also of the of opinion has prevailed: that it was an early British learned languages and sciences. Each of the seventeen settlement is highly probable; and Stukely, a writer colleges in this literary body furnishes members for of considerahle note, with many others, are of opinion the legislative government of the University. The that it was an ancient Roman tltatiou; the site "of the place of as!\embly is the senate· house, a superb struc Roman Granta being supposed to be traceable on the I ture, built of Portland stone. The foundatiou was laid castle side of the town; and various Roman coins, June 22nd, 1722; and the edifice was completrd at the fragments of urns and other relics have been dug out of expense of the University, aided by an extensive .sub the ground at different periods.