Kimbolton is a town and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. Kimbolton is about west of Huntingdon and north of Bedford.
Kimbolton was also situated within historic Huntingdonshire when it was a county of England. The parish includes the hamlet of Stonely. Catherine of Aragon, after her divorce from Henry VIII, died at Kimbolton Castle in 1536.
History
Limited archaeological finds in the vicinity of the airfield suggest that there may have been a small Roman settlement. The name Kimbolton, however, is Anglo-Saxon meaning "Cenebald's Ton" (or estate).
Kimbolton, and the lands of its soke, comprised the only estate of King Harold in Huntingdonshire. It is believed that Harold had a hunting lodge nearby. The town was listed as Chenebaltone and Kenebaltone in the Domesday Book of 1086 in the Hundred of Leightonstone in Huntingdonshire. The survey records that there were 20 ploughlands at Kimbolton in 1086 and, in addition to the arable land, there were of meadows, of woodland and a water mill. There was already a church and a priest at Kimbolton.
The parish church of St Andrew is Grade I listed. Many members of the Montagu family (Earls and Dukes of Manchester of Kimbolton) are buried at St Andrew's. Several Montagu monuments still exist in the South Chapel, while the Montagu vault (extended in 1853) is located beneath the North Chapel.
The main road through Kimbolton bends through four tight right angles in quick succession. Originally, the road travelled directly through the outskirts of the town, nearer to the River Kym to the north.
The parish also includes the hamlet of Stonely, site of the former Augustinian Stoneley Priory.
Castle
In the centre of the town is Kimbolton Castle which now forms the main building of Kimbolton School (an independent day and boarding secondary school), but its predecessor on the same site was once home and prison to Catherine of Aragon after her divorce from Henry VIII. Catherine died at Kimbolton Castle in 1536 and was transported from there to Peterborough Cathedral to be buried.
Governance
Kimbolton was in the historic and administrative county of Huntingdonshire until 1965. From 1965, the town was part of the new administrative county of Huntingdon and Peterborough. Then in 1974, following the Local Government Act 1972, Kimbolton became a part of the administrative county of Cambridgeshire.
For Kimbolton the highest tier of local government is Cambridgeshire County Council. Kimbolton is part of the electoral division of Brampton and Kimbolton and is represented on the county council by one councillor. The second tier of local government is Huntingdonshire District Council, a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire. Kimbolton is a part of the district ward of Kimbolton and Staughton and is represented on the district council by one councillor. District councillors serve for four-year terms following elections to Huntingdonshire District Council. As a civil parish, Kimbolton has a parish council.
At Westminster, Kimbolton is in the parliamentary constituency of Huntingdon, and since 2001 has been represented in the House of Commons by Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative).
Demography
Population
In the period 1801 to 1901 the population of Kimbolton was recorded every ten years by the UK census. During this time the population was in the range of 915 (the lowest was in 1901) and 1661 (the highest was in 1861).
From 1901, a census was taken every ten years with the exception of 1941 (due to the Second World War).
All population census figures from report Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011 by Cambridgeshire Insight.
In 2011, the parish covered an area of and so the population density for Kimbolton in 2011 was 190.4 persons per square mile (73.5 per square kilometre).
In 2011 there are around 1,100 people living in the town's built-up area, which excludes Stonely.
Statute Fair and market
Origin
The Statute Fair, referred to affectionately by locals as the "Statty Fair" or simply the "Statty", is a fair held every September and has been characterised by one local historian as "Dodgems, darts, candy floss and cuddly toys". The Kimbolton Statute Fair shares a wider history and heritage with similar statute fairs across England, dating back to the 1351 Statute of Labourers.