Hartford is a village in the suburb of Huntingdon and former civil parish, now in the parish of Huntingdon, in Cambridgeshire, England. Historically part of Huntingdonshire, it is not far west of Wyton. It lies on the A141 road and on the north bank of the River Great Ouse, upon which it has a significant marina. The village is not to be confused with the much larger town of Hertford, some to the south-east. In 1931 the parish had a population of 464. On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Huntingdon, part also went to Houghton and Wyton and Kings Ripton.
It is sometimes known as Hartford-cum-Sapley, and in the past has been known as Hereford by Huntingdon, Herford, Hertford and Harford.
All Saints' Church in Hartford is a Church of England parish church, built in 1180 on the north riverbank. It is a Grade II* listed building. The church has six bells.
History
Medieval Hartford Despite the rival claim of Hertford, there is a case for identifying Hartford as the venue of the 672 Council of Hertford, the first general council of the Anglo-Saxon Church.Munby, Lionel M. (1977) The Hertfordshire Landscape, p. 91. Hodder and Stoughton, London.
In 1085 William the Conqueror ordered that a survey should be carried out across England to discover who owned which parts and what it was worth. The survey took place in 1086 and the results were recorded in what, since the 12th century, has become known as Domesday Book. Starting with the king himself, for each landholder within a county there is a list of their estates or manors; and for each manor there is a summary of the resources of the manor, the amount of annual rent that was collected by the lord of the manor both in 1066 and in 1086, together with the taxable value.
Hartford was listed in Domesday Book in the Hundred of Hurstingstone in Huntingdonshire; the name of the settlement was written as Hereforde in Domesday Book. In 1086 there was just one manor at Hartford; the annual rent paid to the lord of the manor in 1066 had been £24 but had fallen to £15 in 1086.
Domesday Book records that there were 34 households at Hartford. There is no consensus about the average size of a household at that time; estimates range from 3.5 to 5.0 people. Using these figures then an estimate of the population of Hartford in 1086 is within the range of 119 and 170. Domesday Book uses a number of units of measure for areas of land that are now unfamiliar terms, such as hides and ploughlands. In different parts of the country these were terms for the area of land that a team of eight oxen could plough in a single season and are equivalent to ; this was the amount of land that was considered to be sufficient to support a single family. By 1086 the hide had become a unit of tax assessment rather than an actual land area; a hide was the amount of land that could be assessed at £1 for tax purposes. The survey records that there were twelve ploughlands at Hartford in 1086 and the capacity for a further five ploughlands. In addition to the arable land, there was of meadows, of woodland and two water mills.
The tax assessment in Domesday Book was known as geld or danegeld and was a type of land tax based on the hide or ploughland. It was originally a way of collecting a tribute to pay off the Danes when they attacked England and was levied only when necessary. Following the Norman Conquest, the geld was used to raise money for the King and to pay for continental wars; by 1130 the geld was being collected annually. The value of a manor's land and other assets having been determined, a tax of so many shillings and pence per pound of value would be levied on the landholder. While it was typically two shillings in the pound the amount did vary; for example in 1084 it was as high as six shillings in the pound. For the manor at Hartford the total tax assessed was 15 geld.
By 1086 there were two churches and a priest at Hartford.
The manor of Hartford remained in the possession of Huntingdon Priory until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536.
Demography
Population In the period 1801 to 1901 the population of Hartford was recorded every ten years by the UK census. During this time the population was in the range of 283 (the lowest was in 1811) and 452 (the highest was in 1831).
From 1901, a census was taken every ten years with the exception of 1941 (due to the Second World War).
Parish1911192119311951196119711981199120012011 Hartford461460464
All population census figures from report Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011 by Cambridgeshire Insight.
References
External links
Hartford Conservation Group Hartford Marina, official site , information from British Waterways. Town names Anglican churches around Huntingdon About bell-ringing Recording of Hartford church bells in MP3 format , by local sound engineer Mark Tinley Binaural recording of a Hartford garden with church bells in MP3 format , by Mark Tinley. Quiet listening using headphones recommended (you can hear the birds flying over your head).