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Houghton, Huntingdonshire, England. Geographical and Historical information from 1932.

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HOUGHTON:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1932.

[Description(s) transcribed by Martin Edwards and later edited by Colin Hinson ©2010]
[from The Victoria County History series - 1932]

"HOUGHTON, the parish of Houghton lies immediately west of St Ives and has its southern base upon the River Ouse, and its northern apex upon the road from Huntingdon to Ramsey. The road from St. Ives to Huntingdon traverses the southern part of the parish from east to west rising the slight incline of Houghton Hill (120 ft above sea-level) near the eastern boundary. Houghton and Wyton, which adjoins it on the west, practically form one village. The road from Huntingdon to St. Ives passed through both of them, although both are now by-passed. The village of Houghton is traversed from the north by a road from White Bridge on the upper road to St.Ives, to the Ouse. At the crossing of these two roads is the Green on which a shelter supporting a clock was erected in 1902 in memory of George W Brown (d. 1901).

Around the Green are some picturesque old houses, particularly the 'George and Dragon' public house, a half-timbered building of two stories which was built about 1500.

The church stands in the south-west corner of the parish near the River Ouse. West of it were the parish school and a chapel for Congregationalists and Baptists built in 1840. The chapel was erected by Joseph Goodman and Potto Brown (d. 1871),

whose monument stands in the village. To the south-east of the church is Houghton Mill, which was given by Earl Ailwin to Ramsey Abbey at its foundation in 969, and from an early date has been presented as an obstruction to the river. It has long been famous as a picturesque building and is now in the hands of the National Trust. The Mill House is probably of the 17th century and is timber-framed covered with boards. It is of three stories with an attic and has a tiled roof.

The finding of arrowheads and other small flint implements suggests the possibility of early settlement. Definite evidence of Romano-British settlement exists in the cemetery found on Houghton Hill in 1843, where burials took place for at least a century. The southern part of the village has been liable to flood, and suffered particularly badly from flooding in 1725 and 1947.

The soil is clay and loam upon a sub-soil of gravel. The civil parish of Houghton was abolished in 1935 to help create the present Houghton and Wyton civil parish."

[Description(s) transcribed by Martin Edwards ©2003 and later edited by Colin Hinson ©2010]
[mainly from The Victoria County History series- 1932]