Essential Hotels > England > Cambridgeshire > Huntingdon

Huntingdon is a wealthy market town in the east of England’s Cambridgeshire and is widely known as the birthplace of Oliver Cromwell, the 17th century political leader. The largest Georgian town is nestled on the northern bank of the River Ouse and is home to a number of historical buildings, adding to the sense of tradition and creating a feeling of grandeur to those living in or visiting the area. Further, the town is situated near to the smaller settlements of Brampton and St Ives and provides a home for somewhere in the region of 20,000 people.

As well as plenty of open green space in the town there are also several business centres and parks, namely the Ermine Business Park, the Hinchingbrooke Business Park, home to the Huntingdon Marriott Hotel, and finally the Stukeley Meadows Industrial Estate.

A train has run through the town since the introduction of the London to York mainline in 1850 and this has added convenience and ease of access to the Cambridgeshire town. Other draws to Huntingdon include the Huntingdon Racecourse, a series of RAF bases in the vicinity (Brampton, Wyton and Alconbury), and the Huntingdon Life Sciences laboratories, often the object of animal rights protests.

It was King John who chartered the town of Huntingdon in 1205 and it was named the county town of Huntingdonshire. Prior to this it was the Anglo-Saxons and Danes who had founded the settlement; from 917 it proved a convenient staging post for Danish operations further afield in the country. The name Huntingdon was first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a name that it has retained for a good number of years.

A medieval bridge over the River Ouse served to help the town over time, enhancing its prosperity. However, the Black Death in 1348 almost wiped out the town, such was its deadliness. Significantly, in 1626, Oliver Cromwell was elected as an MP to Huntingdon, having been born in the region in 1599.

During the 18th and 19th centuries the settlement was used as a coaching centre and it was at this time that the George Hotel came into its own. Later on, John Major was the MP for the area between the years 1979 and 2001. Further, in the 1980s Huntingdon was the fastest growing town in the UK, as it sought to attract people from London, those commuting to the nation’s capital.