Facts about Godmanchester
General Info
Godmanchester is a town and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, in England. Within the parish, its buildings are concentrated at the north end, including a section of the south-to-east bank of the River Great Ouse facing the large Portholme flood-meadow at the south end of the town of Huntingdon. There are several bridges across the Great Ouse to Huntingdon, but until 1975, Old Bridge, Huntingdon, a medieval bridge, was the only one.
History
The town is on the site of the Roman town of Durovigutum. There is archaeological evidence of Celtic and earlier habitation prior to the establishment of a key Roman town and a Mansio (inn), so the area has probably been continuously occupied for more than 2,000 years. The settlement was at a crossroads of Roman roads Ermine Street, the Via Devana and a military road from Sandy, Bedfordshire.
The Roman castra is mentioned in Godmanchester’s name, which comes from Anglo-Saxon Godmundceaster, referring to a Roman fortified place or army camp of/belonging to Godmund, a typically Saxon name. The location is likely to have been originally settled due to the gravel beds providing a ford across the River Great Ouse. The place was listed as Godmundcestre in the Domesday Book of 1086 in the Hundred of Leightonstone in Huntingdonshire.
