Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for LITTLINGTON

LITTLINGTON, a village and a parish in the district of Royston and county of Cambridge. The village stands 3 miles N of Icknield-street at the boundary with Herts, 3 S of the Roman-road to Cambridge, 3 NE of Ashwell r. station, and 3¼ NW of Royston; and has a post office under Royston.—The parish comprises 2,098 acres. Real property, £3,694. Pop. in 1851,790; in 1861,693. Houses, 152. The decrease of pop. arose from emigration. The property is divided among a few. The manor of Huntingfield belongs to G. E. Foster, Esq.; and that of Dovesdales, to Mrs. G. F. Pigott. Limloe hill is a remarkable barrow on hills within the parish; and a Roman station is supposed to have been in the near vicinity. Upwards of 200 sepulchral urns, and other funereal vessels, were found, in 1821, by the side of the Roman road, at a short distance from Limloe hill. The most remarkable of these are preserved in the Fitzwilliam museum, Cambridge; and they form the most numerous and perfect collection of their kind that has ever been discovered in Britain. The spot where they were found had, from time immemorial, been called ' ' Heaven's Walls, ''and is said to have been regarded with a degree of superstitions dread. It was a rectangular space of 114 feet by 84, enclosed by old walls, which had given rise to its name; and it proved to be a fine example of a Roman cemetery, for burning and burying the dead. At the SE and SW corners were two heaps of wood ashes, as much as would have loaded five carts; and were undoubtedly the remains of funeral piles. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely. Value, £141. Patron, Clare College, Cambridge. The church is early English, in good condition; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with porch and tower; and contains an old gravestone, with Norman-French inscription, to the memory of Robert de St. Alban. There are a recently erected Independent chapel, a Primitive Methodist chapel, a national school of 1865, and charities £17.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Litlington AP/CP       Cambridgeshire AncC
Place: Litlington

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.