The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

I ward
HUNTINGDONSHIEE-CAMBEIDGESHIEE. 225
implements, lace, and straw jjlait are manufactured. There are a public library, a
literarj' institution, and an archceological museum. John Bunyan was born in
the neighbouring village of Ekfoic, and the town and its vicinity abound in
objects connected with him.
Wohurn is a quiet market town near the western border of the covmty, famous
on account of the magnificent mansion of the Duke of Bedford (^Voburn Abbey),
which stands in the centre of a park 3,500 acres in extent. Fuller's earth is
procured in the neigbourhood.
Leiijhton Buzzard, an old coimtry town, is giving signs of renewed life since it
has become a principal station on the London and North-Western Railway.
Biygh'sicade, on the Ivel, a navigable tributary of the Ouse, has been almost
wholly reconstructed since 1785, in which year a conflagration laid it waste. Bun-
sfahle, at the northern foot of the Chiltern Hills, has interesting remains of a priory
church founded by Henry I. The quarries in the Downs present many features
of interest to the geologist. Some of the neighbouring heights are crowned with
British earthworks. Luton, a straggling place with a remarkable Gothic church, lies
beyond the Chiltern Hills, in the valley of the Thames. It is the centre of the trade
in straw hats and bonnets, the plait for which is made in the neighbouring villages.
HrNTiNGDONSHiRE stretchcs from the Nen in the north to beyond the Ouse in
the south. Its surface is gently undulating in the west, but the north-easterri
portion is for the most part embraced within the district of the Fens.
Huntingdon, the county town, is pleasantly seated upon the Ouse. An ancient
stone bridge, erected before 1259, connects it with its subm-b of Godmanchester,
the site of the Eoman station of Burolipons. The trade in wool and corn is
considerable, and patent bricks are made. Oliver Cromwell was born in the town,
baptized in its ancient church, recently restored, and educated in its grammar
school. St. Ives and St. Neofs are interesting market towns on the Ouse, the one
below, the other above Huntingdon. Kimholton, with a castle belonging to the Duke
of Manchester, lies to the west. Eamsey is the principal town in the district of the
Fens. Stilton is a village in the same part of the county. It is usuallj' stated
that "Stilton cheese " was first made here ; but in point of fact it was originally
produced in Leicestershire, and derives its name from having been first brought
into notice at an inn of this village, which lies on the great northern road.
Cambriugeshike lies almost wholly within the great level of the Fens, but the
southern portion of the county has a finely diversified surface, and the chalk
downs rise here to a height of between 300 to 500 feet. Butter and cream cheese
are amongst the most highly appreciated productions, and the breeding of pigeons
is carried on more extensively than in any other part of England, the produce of
a single "pigeonry " frequently exceeding 100,000 dozens a year. The manufac-
tures are unimportant.
Cambridge, the county town, is seated on the river Cam, which flows north-
into the Ouse. Its university is a worthy rival of that at Oxford.
Its situation in a wide plain is not so ' favourable or so picturesque as that of
Oxford ; but the green meadows surrounded by trees, which run along the