Great Paxton

Great Paxton
Great Paxton church from the South West
Population	1,007 (2011 census)
OS grid reference	TL217629
• London	51 miles (82 km)
District	Huntingdonshire
Shire county	Cambridgeshire
Region	East
Land	England
Sovereign state	Vereinigtes Königreich
Post town	ST. NEOTS
Postcode district	PE19
Dialling code	01480

Great Paxton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England lying 2.6 miles (4.2 km) north of St Neots in the Great Ouse river valley.

The population was 1,007 in the 2011 census. Despite its name, Great Paxton is much smaller than the neighbouring village of Little Paxton.

History

Paxton is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 when it had 69 households which is considered to be a very large settlement for that period. In 1086, the village contained 3 mills and a church. The manor of Great Paxton was held by Countess Judith who was a niece of William the Conqueror. The manor lands were held by the Earls of Huntingdon until c.1192 and shortly afterwards the manor was split into two halves, de la Haye's manor and Great Paxton manor. There were fisheries on the Great Ouse at Great Paxton belonging to both manors from before 1279.

Regierung

As a civil parish, Great Paxton has a parish council. The parish council is elected by the residents of the parish who have registered on the electoral roll; the parish council is the lowest tier of government in England. A parish council is responsible for providing and maintaining a variety of local services including allotments and a cemetery; grass cutting and tree planting within public open spaces such as a village green or playing fields. The parish council reviews all planning applications that might affect the parish and makes recommendations to Huntingdonshire District Council, which is the local planning authority for the parish. The parish council also represents the views of the parish on issues such as local transport, policing and the environment. The parish council raises its own tax to pay for these services, known as the parish precept, which is collected as part of the Council Tax. The parish council has eight councillors and normally meets six times a year.

Great Paxton was in the historic and administrative county of Huntingdonshire until 1965. From 1965, the village was part of the new administrative county of Huntingdon and Peterborough. Then in 1974, following the Local Government Act 1972, Great Paxton became a part of the county of Cambridgeshire. Great Paxton is a part of the district ward of Gransden and The Offords for Huntingdonshire District Council and is represented on the district council by two councillors. For Cambridgeshire County Council Great Paxton is part of the electoral division of Buckden, Gransden and The Offords and is represented on the county council by one councillor.

At Westminster, Great Paxton is in the parliamentary constituency of Huntingdon, and is represented in the House of Commons by Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative). Jonathan Djanogly has represented the constituency since 2001. The previous member of parliament was John Major (Conservative) who represented the constituency between 1983 and 2001. For the European Parliament Great Paxton is in the East of England (European Parliament constituency).

Geography

The village lies on the eastern side of the Great Ouse river valley on a subsoil that is mainly Oxford clay.

The village stands on the B1043 that runs between St Neots in the south and Offord D'Arcy in the north.

Demography

Population

In the period 1801 to 1901 the population of Great Paxton was recorded every ten years by the UK census. During this time the population was in the range of 201 (the lowest was in 1811) and 415 (the highest was in 1841).

From 1901, a census was taken every ten years with the exception of 1941 (due to the Second World War).

Parish	1911	1921	1931	1951	1961	1971	1981	1991	2001	2011
Great Paxton	268	306	292	362	396	356	815	813	836	1007

All population census figures from report Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011 by Cambridgeshire Insight.

In 2011, the parish covered an area of 1,406 acres (569 hectares) and so the population density for Great Paxton in 2011 was 458.4 persons per square mile (177 per square kilometre).

In 2011, 96.3% of people described themselves as white, 2.2% as having mixed or multiple ethnic groups, 1.1% as being British Asian and 0.1% as having other ethnicity. 64.7% described themselves as Christian, 27.4% described themselves as having no religion, 6.7% did not specify a religion and 1% described themselves as having another religion.

Culture and Community

There is one public house in the village called The Bell.

The village is a multiple winner of the prestigious East Anglia Village of the Year competition, held every 3 years since 1955.

Transport

The East Coast Main Line between London and Edinburgh passes through the parish of Great Paxton. The nearest railway station is 2.6 miles (4.2 km) away at St Neots.

Bildung

There is a primary school which is a Church of England school and has around 120 pupils aged from 4 to 11. Senior school pupils attend Longsands Academy in St Neots.

Religious Sites

The Minster Church of the Holy Trinity, Great Paxton is a grade I listed cruciform Saxon church dating from the 11th century. It is one of only three Anglo-Saxon aisled churches to be found today in England. The church was extended and much of it reconstructed in the 13th and 14th centuries when the current tower was built. The church was restored again in 1880 when the vestry was added. Holy Trinity Great Paxton is part of the Benefice of Little Paxton, Great Paxton and Diddington in the St Neots’ Deanery and the Diocese of Ely. There is a canonical sundial on the south wall.

External links

Media related to Great Paxton at Wikimedia Commons

• Great Paxton village web site