Eynesbury is an urban area forming part of St Neots, in the civil parish of St Neots, in the Huntingdonshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It mainly consists of housing, although there is an area of light industry, and a large supermarket. Eynesbury is home to Ernulf Academy and a fitness centre called One Leisure. In addition there is a large area of open grassland and a caravan park. In earlier times Eynesbury was a distinct area, but nowadays it is considered to be a subdivision of St Neots.
Up until the time of the Norman Conquest, Eynesbury included the area north of Hen Brook which is now St Neots. It was the fame of the relics of the Cornish monk, St Neot that caused the area near the Priory where his remains were kept, that caused that part of the town to become called St Neots.
General description
Eynesbury is an area of housing, and industrial and commercial buildings, now forming part of St Neots in Cambridgeshire. It lies to the east of the River Great Ouse, to the south of Hen Brook, and to the north-west of the A428 road (St Neots by-pass). It has a range of local shops for necessities and a small number of specialist shops, as well as a large supermarket. There is a post office and two convenience stores. More general shopping opportunities have migrated to St Neots town centre, although the supermarket is used by shoppers from the whole of St Neots and surrounding rural areas. Some light and medium industry is located along Cromwell Road. Residential housing has been built in recent years particularly around the area north of the Tesco supermarket.
Agricultural land lies to the east between the railway line and the A428 by-pass, but this is likely to be dedicated to housing in the coming years. A considerable area of amenity grassland lies in the curve of the River Great Ouse, in an area known as Pocket Park.
In the 1960s Eynesbury was subject to a considerable expansion in housing, as part of the London overspill scheme. A number of infill housing construction plans have been completed more recently. By contrast the Chequers Public House is considered to be the oldest building in Eynesbury.
Eynesbury is home to Ernulf Academy.
Eynesbury has a Non-League football club Eynesbury Rovers F.C., which play at Alfred Hall Memorial Ground.
The Coneygeare area next to the Coneygeare bridge over the River Great Ouse has a council-operated children's play area, and nearby is St Neots Camping and Caravanning Club Site.
Early history
Stone and Bronze Age
There is evidence of bronze age occupation just south of Montague Square, in present-day Eynesbury. Iron age occupation has left evidence too, in the area occupied by Eynesbury School's games fields, and near Howitts Lane. They were Belgic tribesmen from the Continent who conquered this part of the country in the century or so before the Roman invasion, and brought with them improved farming techniques.
Roman period
A Roman road passed close to the east of present-day Eynesbury and St Neots. It connected the Roman military stations of Sandy and Godmanchester. It ran about north - south and crossed the present-day A428 road (St Neots by-pass to Cambridge main road) just east of the roundabout where the B1428 joins it at Wintringham roundabout. A small Roman outpost was located a short distance to the west of that point, and a possible trading post has been identified in Eynesbury itself. Tebbutt speculates that Eynesbury may have been a location for loading agricultural produce onto river vessels for transport to other Roman locations. The settlement probably extended along the Great Ouse from the ford (near the site of the present-day road bridge) to the Coneygeare area.
Anglo-Saxon
A settlement existed in Eynesbury in the middle of the 8th century AD, and possibly earlier, known by some variation of its present-day name. From that time, part of the inhabitation was in what is now St Neots, but then considered part of Eynesbury. A village called Burg, or Bury, may have existed here in still earlier times. There was a ford of the River Great Ouse at that time.
The name Eynesbury is a corruption of Ernulph's-Bury, abbreviated into Ern'sbury, or else a corruption of Ainulph's-Bury contracted into Ain’sbury: the village was therefore Ernulph's Borough, or Ainulph's Borough; however the identity of Ernulph or Ainulph is unknown. The most likely explanation is that Ernulph who lived here and died about the middle of the 8th century.