Huntingdon: Eight Centuries of History

Author: Alan Akeroyd and Caroline Clifford

Huntingdon: Eight Centuries of History

This new history of Huntingdon gives a vivid and lively insight into the ways in which this East Anglian market town has evolved across the years. Authors Alan Akeroyd and Caroline Clifford look back over the town's long history, from the mediaeval period and the time of Cromwell to the dramatic changes that occurred in the Victorian and Edwardian eras and the transformation that altered the face and character of the town in the 20th century. This beautifully illustrated account will be essential – and eye-opening – reading for every Huntingdon resident, past and present.

The early development of the town is recorded in fascinating detail. The authors describe the lives and society of the mediaeval townspeople and record the buildings they left behind. But the book concentrates on the more recent history, on the 19th and 20th centuries when the town took on the shape we know today. This period saw unprecedented change and growth. In 1900 Huntingdon was a small, run-down market town, but the 1950s saw the arrival of a fresh generation of people who had moved out of London. A new chapter in Huntingdon's long history had begun.

The authors chart the course of this dramatic transformation and look at every aspect of life in the town – from aircraft manufacture to cinemas, from workhouses to schools – and they remember the lives of remarkable individuals who played key roles in the story. Their book reveals how the decisions made by the council in the 1950s paved the way for today’s town, and it examines how much daily life in Huntingdon has had to change over the last century and continues to change.