St Neots
St Neots is a town and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is west of Cambridge. The areas of Eynesbury, Eaton Ford, Eaton Socon, Love's Farm and Wintringham form part of the town.
The town centre lies on the eastern bank of the River Great Ouse. The town is close to the A1 road, as well as the A421 and A428 roads which link Cambridge to Bedford and Milton Keynes. St Neots railway station is on the Great Northern route between London and Peterborough. St Neots had a population of 33,410 in 2021.
Toponymy
The town is named after the ninth century monk Saint Neot, whose bones were brought to St Neots Priory from Cornwall in around 980AD, resulting in pilgrims visiting in large numbers. Before the founding of the priory the area had been part of the parish of Eynesbury. As the town around the priory grew it became a separate parish of St Neots in the twelfth century. The two were administratively reunited in 1876 when Eynesbury was absorbed into St Neots.History
Early history
Remains of Iron Age settlement have been found in the town centre; a Roman encampment was located in the town. It became known as Eynesbury, after Ernulf, a local leader.Neot was a holy man who founded a monastery near the present-day Cornish village of St Neot. When he died, his remains were kept there as holy relics, and many pilgrims visited, making donations. In the later tenth century a priory was established immediately north of the village of Eynesbury in what is now St Neots. The landowners, Leofric and his wife Leoflaed, obtained Neot's remains, realising that they would attract pilgrims, and their money, to their priory. This was successful, and the priory became rich and famous, and the area became known as St Neots. St Neots subsequently became a separate parish from Eynesbury sometime between 1113 and 1204, with the boundary between them being a stream called Hen Brook.
About this time, the settlement to the west of the River Ouse was known as Ea-tun, meaning "waterside village". In Norman times, a sub-division of a Baron's area of control was called a "soke" and in French the area was called the Soka de Eton, and later Eaton Socon. Before the river was bridged, people waded across it, and this was called a "ford", from which the immediate area became called Eaton Ford.
The Priory was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, and the relics of St Neot were lost.
The River Great Ouse was made navigable from St Ives to Bedford, via St Neots, in 1629, increasing river-borne trade in the town.
The Second English Civil War began in April 1648. The Parliamentarians under Oliver Cromwell were in control, but King Charles I planned to overthrow them by force of arms. An attempt to seize London by his supporters, the Royalists, failed. A group of them retreated to St Neots and planned to spend the night of 9 July resting in the town. In the small hours of 10 July Parliamentary troops attacked, taking them by surprise, and the battle centred on the market square area. Many Royalists were killed or taken prisoner.
In the 18th and 19th centuries the town enjoyed prosperity through corn milling and brewing, and from stagecoach traffic and from 1850 its railway connection. Eaton Socon was on the Great North Road and had inns used as a staging post and overnight stop for stagecoaches travelling between London and York; some of the routes ran via St Neots instead of Eaton Socon, and intersected with traffic on the east–west route from the Eastern Counties and the Midlands.
1900 onwards
In the twentieth century, Eaton Ford and Eaton Socon, lying on the west side of the River Great Ouse, became gradually more integrated with St Neots and Eynesbury. Nevertheless their location to the east of the River Great Ouse meant that they were administratively part of Bedfordshire. This anomaly was resolved in 1965 when they were incorporated into the urban district of St Neots. A considerable addition to the population took place in the 1960s when London overspill development took place in the area. This incorporated a great deal of light industry, and Cromwell Road was constructed and became a focus for it. At this time the A45 road ran through the town and the construction of St Neots by-pass in 1968 provided a much-needed relief, as well as enhancing access to additional light industry.Recent developments in St Neots have expanded the population in the last few years: to the east of the railway station is the Love's Farm estate, where more than 1,000 houses were built in the period to 2020. Stage one of the extensive Wintringham estate has been completed but much remains to be done. planned to be a vibrant community with 2,000 homes, To the east of Love's Farm, further development has been started for the construction of the Monkfields Estate.
Culture and community
is housed in the town's former Victorian Police Station and Magistrates Court. It has local history collections covering the town's rich past including a display about James Toller, the Eynesbury Giant, a resident from the 18th century who measured over 8 ft in height. There is also a gallery with temporary exhibitions by local creatives including fine art, ceramics, sculpture and illustration. The museum organises a variety of specialist and family events from walks, talks, one-day festivals, temporary and touring exhibitions.St Neots general market is held on the market square every Thursday. A further farmers market is held on the market square every second and fourth Saturday.
The theatre community includes the Riverside Theatre Company, who stage productions, run workshops and have groups for all ages; VAMPS formed in 1961 as the St Neots and District Operatic Society and stage popular musicals and variety shows; St Neots Players, formed in the late 1920s as a play-reading group with past members who used to perform the annual Shakespeare, Pantomime and other mid-season productions at the Kings Head Hotel in the Stables Theatre; and Stageworks, a performing arts group offering classes, holiday programmes, workshops and a college offering full-time training to students aged 16 years and over that prepares students for musical theatre and acting, SJ School of Dance, Pocket Productions, and Peppercorns Academy.
The local creative community is served by Neotists, a community interest company for creative professionals with members covering design, illustration, art, photography and IT, which commissions local creatives to collaborate on projects, run workshops and events for the community and provide opportunities and connections for professionals working in the creative industry.
In 2023, the Neotists organised the St Neots Festival, a music and performing arts festival in Priory Park.
Governance
There are three tiers of local government covering St Neots, at civil parish, district, and county level: St Neots Town Council, Huntingdonshire District Council and Cambridgeshire County Council. The district and county councils also form part of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, led by the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.Town Council
St Neots Town Council is led by a mayor. The council consists of 21 elected councillors, serving eight wards: Eaton Socon, Eaton Ford, Eynesbury, Priory Park, St Neots East, St Neots Crosshall, St Neots Church and Priory Park South. The Town Council has a budget of £1.97million in 20252026. Responsibilities include allotments, certain buildings, play areas, bus shelters, public toilets, cemeteries, some categories of street lighting, defibrillators, operation of the Priory Centre, youth engagement, and trees, grass and town maintenance.Parliamentary constituency
St Neots is in the parliamentary constituency of St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire. The member of parliament is Ian Sollom of the Liberal Democrats.Expansion and improvements
Housing expansion
St Neots experienced considerable growth in the late 1960s and later, when much new housing was built to accommodate families from London, as part of the London overspill plan. Further housebuilding followed and during the 1970s industrial development took place along Cromwell Road, Station Road, and the Little End development.Following the 1985 opening of the St Neots By-Pass, further light industrial development took place alongside Barford Road south of the by-pass.
in 2010, the Loves Farm development was built, with 1,400 houses to the east of the railway line; further construction is continued further east in 2020–2023, This was followed by a further 2,800 houses in 2021 in phase 1 of the Wintringham development, south of Cambridge Road and east of the railway line. Expansion of light industry facilities was incorporated in the original overspill planning, and has also been continued more recently. Housing construction in Phase 1 is substantially complete and an Academy school has been provided. Additional works are planned to provide office space and shop units, as well as a large food store.
In late 2025 phase 2 of the Wintringham scheme is planned to start, extending further south from phase 1. This will provide about 900 homes and a primary school and ancillary facilities. Phase 3 will be built later, extending further south to reach the A428 by-pass road.
Town centre improvements
A multi-million pound renovation of St Neots town centre began in January 2024 and is due to finish in early summer 2025. The town's Market Square is being cleared of obstruction and expanded, with car parking removed and new disabled spaces, landscaping, and a community space is being created. There have been improvements to Huntingdon Street crossroads and Church Walk crossing, as well as the resurfacing of the carriageway along the High Street and New Street.Footway paving has also been carried out on the river bridge, along with the installation of a new electrical system in the Market Square, which will continue to be used for markets and events.
In an initiative to improve the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, many of the subsidiary roads were subjected to a 20 mph speed limit.