Castor, Cambridgeshire

Castor is a village and civil parish in the City of Peterborough unitary authority, about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of the city centre. The parish is part of the former Soke of Peterborough, which was considered part of Northamptonshire until 1888 and then Huntingdonshire from 1965-1974, when it became part of Cambridgeshire.

St Kyneburgha's Church, Castor
Castor
Castor
Location within Cambridgeshire
Population817 (2001 census)[1]
OS grid referenceTL124985
Civil parish
  • Castor
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townPeterborough
Postcode districtPE5
Dialling code01733
PoliceCambridgeshire
FireCambridgeshire
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament
WebsiteCastor Home Page

Toponym

Castor's name is derived from the Old English "ceaster", possibly referring to the Roman fort across the River Nene at Durobrivae, or more probably referring to the massive Praetorium on the hilltop at Castor.[2][3]

History

Roman

In the Roman period, there was a huge palatial structure at Castor. This was extensively excavated in the 1820s by Edmund Artis, the agent for the Fitzwilliam estate, who published a volume of illustrations about his work, which he suggested was a Praetorium. Recent small-scale work has confirmed that it extended over a considerable area: Roman buildings covered an area of 290 by 130 m (3.77 ha) and had at least 11 rooms with tessellated floors and mosaics, at least two bathhouses and several hypocausts. The masonry which survives points to a monumental architecture indicating two major phases of building.[4]

A recent survey by Stephen Upex suggested that the earlier smaller building dates to the 2nd century, but that the major palatial building dates to 240 – 260 AD. The structure is linked to a similar structure at Stonea 35 km to the south. It is suggested that in the Roman period, the Fens were a vast imperial estate and that at first Stonea was the seat of the procurator where the taxes were collected, and that after 250 this function was transferred to Castor.

This Praetorium must be seen in conjunction with the town of Durobrivae (modern Water Newton) on the other side of the river Nene. The whole area was the centre of the Nene valley pottery industry which was one of the three major pottery producing areas in late Roman Britain, producing pottery on an industrial scale.

The Praetorium appears to have been abandoned in the fifth century and there is a hiatus till the late 7th and 8th centuries, when finds from the area suggest considerable high-status activity. It is suggested that during the 7th century the former Roman site became the focus of the nunnery of St Kyneburgha, founded before 664.[5]

Early medieval

Kyneburgha (d. c. 680) and Kyneswide were sisters, the daughters of King Penda of Mercia, the sisters of Peada of Mercia; their mother was Kynewise. Kyneburgha married Alhfrith of Deira, co-regent of Northumbria (who attended the Synod of Whitby in 664),[6] but later founded an abbey for both monks and nuns in Castor.[5] She became the first abbess. She was buried in her church, but her remains were translated, before 972,[7] to Peterborough Abbey, now Peterborough Cathedral. She had been one of the signatories, together with her brother Wulfhere, of the founding charter of Peterborough Abbey, dated 664.[8] The Danes laid waste to the area in around AD 870.

The Church of England parish church of St Kyneburgha is notable for its Romanesque architecture and includes notable medieval wall paintings. It is a Grade I listed building.[9][10] It is the only church of that dedication in England.[9][11]

Late medieval

The Robin Hood and Little John Standing Stones were erected here between the 12th and 14th centuries in an agreement with the abbot of Peterborough Abbey that tolls would not be levied on the passage of stone from the abbey's quarries at Barnack.[12]

Modern

The common lands of Castor and the neighbouring parish of Ailsworth were not enclosed until 1898.[13]

The route of the London and North Western Railway branch line between Northampton and Peterborough passes through the parish. It was opened in 1845, including Castor railway station built to serve the village. British Railways closed the station in 1957 and the line in 1966, and Castor station has been demolished. The Nene Valley Railway reopened the section of line through Castor in 1977, but has not reopened a station at Castor.

The £9 million dual-carriageway Ailsworth and Castor Bypass, which is part of the A47 road, was opened in September 1991.

An episode of Time Team was filmed here and broadcast in 2011.

See also

References
  1. "Area: Castor CP (Parish): Parish Headcounts". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  2. Ekwall, Eilert (1960) [1947], Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 89, 92, ISBN 0-19-869103-3
  3. Kelly, S.E. (ed.), Charters of Peterborough Abbey, Anglo-Saxon Charters 14, Oxford University Press, 2009, p. 5.
  4. Stephen Upex in Britannia vol 42, 2011 pages 23 – 112
  5. Dugdale's Monasticon prints the foundation charter of Burh/Medehampstead, dated 664, which establishes beyond doubt that Kyneburg had left her husband to found and preside over her monastery at Castor: "Formerly a queen, who had resigned her sway to preside over a monastery of maidens".
  6. Bede(d. 735), Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
  7. The account of the translation is from the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, dated 972: "Abbot Aelfsi took up St Kyneburgh (with her sister and a female kinswoman) who lay at Castor and brought them to Burh and offered them all to St. Peter in one day".
  8. Dugdale's Monasticon: Peterborough, vol 1, p.377, no.2, prints the charter of 664.
  9. Historic England. "Church of St Kyneburgha  (Grade I) (1126803)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  10. "Castor Church". Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
  11. Peterborough Hidden Heritage Archived 4 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
  12. Robin Hood and Little John Standing Stones Archived 27 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Peterborough Hidden Heritage Archived 4 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 31 August 2010. For the abbey's quarries at Barnack, see e.g. Kelly, S.E., op. cit., p. 292.
  13. Taylor, Christopher (1982) [1975]. Fields in the English Landscape. Archaeology in the Field Series. London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd. p. 153. ISBN 0-460-02232-6.
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