The Abingtons, Cambridgeshire

Coordinates: 52°06′56″N 0°13′54″E / 52.11548°N 0.23163°E / 52.11548; 0.23163

The Abingtons are a community in South Cambridgeshire consisting of two villages: Little Abington and Great Abington, 7 miles (11 km) south east of Cambridge.

History

Though often listed as a single entity, Great and Little Abington have since early medieval times been two parishes divided by the River Granta and remain so. The southernmost of the two, Great Abington, covers 1,588 acres (6.43 km²) and is bounded to the south by the county border with Essex, to the west by a branch of the Icknield Way (now the A11), and to the east by the parish of Hildersham. Little Abington covers 1,309 acres (5.30 km²), again bordered by the Icknield Way and Hildersham to the west and east, and by the ancient thoroughfare of Wool Street to the north.

The village history dates back to the Bronze Age, some 4000 years ago. The Saxons gave the village its name, originally called "Abba's Farm," and the village was listed as Abintone in the Domesday Book. The Great and Little came later, long after the two manors on either side of the river were allotted to different people at the Norman Conquest.