The surface of the county is low, and, with the exception of the Fen district, pleasantly undulating. For the most part it is bare of trees. A low ridge of hills enters the county from the south near Potton, and runs in a northward direction until it terminates in the Ouse valley near Huntingdon; and a branch of the Cambridgeshire hills enters the south-east part of the county, and from Huntingdon runs north-west to Wansford. The north-eastern part of the county, comprising 50,000 acres, or one-fifth of its whole extent, belongs to the great “Fen” district extending throughout the counties of Cambridge, Lincoln, Northampton, Norfolk, and Suffolk. The principal rivers are the Ouse and Nen. The Ouse from Bedfordshire skirts the borders of the county near St Neots, and after flowing north to Huntingdon takes an easterly direction past St Ives into Cambridgeshire on it⅛ way to the Wash. It is navigable for barges as far as Bedford, and in the fen district constitutes a means of transport for the agricultural produce of the county. The Nen, which is also navigable, skirts the northern border, and quitting it at Peterborough enters the Wash below Wisbeach, in Cambridgeshire. Various cuts and drains which join the Nen and Ouse are also made use of for navigation.

Geology, Soil, and Agriculture.— Geologically Huntingdonshire belongs to what is known as the Oolite system. The low round hills in the south-eastern part of the county are composed of ironsand. They contain a band of coprolites, and there is a strip of greensand on the south-eastern border. The central and larger part of the county displays the Oxford clay, which lies between the middle and lower Oolite. It reaches a depth of nearly 100 feet, and passes under the Fens. The Fens are composed of fine mud, deposited formerly by the sea, intermixed with beds of peat, in which are frequently found the remains of animals, frequenters of the old forest, such as the elk, the red-deer, the bear, the beaver, and the wolf. The hills on the border of Northampton are of the stonebrash or forest marble. The Oolite formation is very fossiliferous. Large masses of fossil wood converted into jet or iron pyrites are found in the Oxford clay. Glacier or boulder clay containing chalk and flint deposits is met with in nearly every part of the county. The soil is generally fertile, and cultivation is of an advanced kind. In the fen district the soil is of a blue peaty nature, resting on a subsoil of white marly clay. After being drained and mixed with clay it is very productive, but much damage is often done to the crops by the prevalence of frost and fogs. In the fen districts a four-years’ system of cropping—green-crops, barley, seed-clovers, and wheat—is the most common. The “Meres” of Whittlesea, Ramsey, and Ugg, at one time much resorted to by sportsmen for their wildfowl and fish, have now been drained, and, notwithstanding the expensiveness of the process, such is the fertility of their beds that the outlay was speedily more than repaid. The Oxford clay, which extends to an area of 120,000 acres, is of very various soils according as the Oolite rocks crop to the surface. The greater part is under cultivation, and much improvement has lately been effected by drainage; on account of the tenacity of the clay the drains often require to be placed very close.. Much of the soil is, however, undrained and uncultivated, and, though partly used for pasturage, must on the whole be regarded as mere waste land. On the drained pasturage a large number of cattle are fed. In this district the system of cropping varies considerably, but a modification of the four-course shift is the most common—fallow sown sometimes with winter tares, turnips, mangold, or mustard; barley; beans where tares were sown on the fallow, and clover where green crops were sown; wheat. A six-years’ course of fallow, barley, seed-clovers, wheat, beans, and wheat is, however, not uncommon, especially on the best soils. The third district, comprising the gravel of the Ouse valley, embraces an area of 50,000 acres. On the banks of the Ouse it consists of fine black loam deposited by the overflow of the river, and its meadows form very rich pasture grounds. The upland district is under arable culture, and is generally cultivated on a four-course system of wheat, green crops, barley, and seed-clover. Market-gardening is prosecuted; and willows are largely grown in the fen district. The farms vary in size from 200 to 500 acres, ranging chiefly between 200 and 300. The farm-houses are generally of an inferior kind, and the farm-buildings are often quite inadequate for the shelter and accommodation of the stock. The labourers generally live in villages and hamlets, in cottages of the most miserable description, having mostly mud walls; but many cottages of a better class have been built within the last few years. The county is well supplied with turnpike roads; and the parish and occupation roads, formerly in a bad state of repair, have been lately much improved. The most modern improvements in farm implements are in general use.

According to the agricultural returns for 1879 the total area of arable land was 209,610 acres, of which 96,533 were under corn crop, 21,931 under green crop, 17,121 under rotation grasses, 60,484 permanent pasture, and 13,531 fallow. The area under woods was 20,714 acres. Wheat, which in 1879 cropped 43,129 acres, is much more largely grown than any other grain, and occurs twice in the six-years’ shift system in use on the better lands. Barley (27,118 acres) is the more frequent corn crop in the four-years’ shift system,—only 10,247 acres being under oats. The quality of barley on many soils is lean and inferior, and unsuitable for malting purposes. Beans and pease occupied 8948 and 6929 respectively. Mangold (3430 acres) and cabbage and similar green crops (2863 acres) are chiefly used for the feeding of sheep. Under turnips there were only 3778 acres, and under potatoes 3083. The number of cattle in 1879 was 27,358, or an average of 13 to every 100 acres under cultivation, as compared with 16 9 for England and 21Ό for the United Kingdom. Of these the number of cows and heifers in milk or in calf was 7536. Though Stilton in Huntingdon gives its name to a celebrated cheese, that variety is now made exclusively in the counties of Lincoln and Leicester; and dairy farming is not now much followed. The milk is now chiefly used for rearing calves. Large numbers of cattle are fattened in the field or the fold-yard, and are sold when rising three years old. They are mostly of the shorthorn breed, large numbers of Irish shorthorns being wintered in the fens. Where there are no upland pastures the farmer usually purchases cattle in the autumn and sells them in the spring. The number of horses in 1879 was 11,057, or an average of 4 ’ 2 to every 100 acres under cultivation, as compared with 4’5 for England and 4Ί for the United Kingdom. Of these the number used solely for agricultural purposes was 7583. Most of the farmers breed cart horses, and the large farmers often rear weight-carrying hunters. The number of sheep in 1879 was 157,790, or an average of 75 ’ 3 to every 100 acres under cultivation, as compared with the same average for England and 68Ό for the United Kingdom. Great improvement in the breed has lately taken place, Leicesters and Lincolns being most common; they usually attain great weights at an early age. Lambs are occasionally sold at weaning time, but more frequently they are kept through the winter on the grass lands, being fed also on mangolds and other roots, with an addition of cake and corn. The number of pigs in 1879 was 19,990, or an average of 9’5 to every 100 acres under cultivation, as compared with 7’2 for England and 6’7 for the United Kingdom. They include Berkshire, Suffolk, and Neapolitan breeds, and a number of crosses. Many after having gleaned the stubbles are fattened on whey and various preparations of inferior barley; but breeding is also extensively practised.

According to the owners of lands return for 1873 the land was divided among 3903 proprietors, holding land the gross annual value of which was <£444,890. Of the owners 45f∙ per cent, possessed less than 1 acre, and the average value all over was £1, 19s. 4∣d. per acre. There were 13 proprietors holding upwards of 3000 acres, viz., Edward Fellowes, 15,629; Duke of Manchester, 13,835; William Wells, 5792; Marquis of Huntly, 5711; Hon. G. W. Fitzwilliam, 5202; Lord Chesham, 3787; Earl of Carysfort, 3654; Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 3559; Colonel Duncombe, 3407; W. Duberley, 3224; Earl of Sandwich, 3219; G. D. Newton, 3209; Richard H. Hussey, 3135.

Manufactures and Trade.— Agriculture is the principal industry, and none of the manufactures are extensive, the chief being paper and parchment. Madder is obtained in considerable quantities, and in nearly every part of the shire lime burning is carried on. Lace-making is practised by the female peasantry; and the other industries, which are not prosecuted beyond what is necessary to meet local wants, are printing, iron-founding, tanning, currying, brick and tile making, malting, and brewing.

Railways.— The middle of the county is traversed from south to north by the Great Northern, which enters it at St Neots and passes by Huntingdon to Peterborough. A branch from the Midland enters the middle of the county from Northampton, and passes by Graffham to Huntingdon, where it is joined by a branch which passes by St Ives to the Great Eastern in Cambridgeshire. From St Ives there is a branch to Wisbeach in Cambridgeshire, and another has been constructed to Stilton. On the Great Northern there is a branch from Holme to Ramsey.

Administration.— Huntingdonshire comprises four “hundreds.” For parliamentary purposes it is an undivided constituency returning two members; and it contains one parliamentary borough, that of Huntingdon, formed of Huntingdon (4243) and Godmanchester (2363), and returning one member. Part of the represented city of Peterborough is also in the county. The principal other towns are Ramsey (2378), St Ives (3291), St Neots (3200), and Kimbolton (1509). The county has one court of quarter sessions. It is included in the south-eastern circuit, and circuit courts are held at Huntingdon. It forms part of the shrievalty of Cambridge, and ecclesiastically is in the diocese of Ely.

Population.— The population in 1841 amounted to 58,549, in 1851 to 64,183, in 1861 to 64,250, and in 1871 to 63,708 (31,381 males and 32,327 females). The increase in thirty years from 1841 has been 8’8 per cent., and since 1801 it has been 69 ’ 5 per cent.

History and Antiquities.— Previous to the Roman invasion Huntingdonshire, like the other Fen counties, was inhabited by the British tribe the Iceni, originally of Celtic origin, but considerably intermixed from Teutonic sources, although the Belgae in all probability did not subdue the country as far north as Huntingdon. During the Roman occupation it was included in the Roman province of Flavia Caesariensis. Two Roman stations are supposed to have been situated in the county, Durolipons (Godmanchester) and Durobrivoe at Water Newton on the Nen. The Roman road Via Devana from Cambridge joined Ermine Street at Godmanchester, Ermine Street passing north-west by Water Newton into Northampton. Under the name of Huntandunscyre, Huntingdon formed part of the kingdom of East Anglia, afterwards joined to Mercia. Shortly before the Conquest the earldom of Huntingdon was held by Swend, who, on receiving the earldom of Northampton, granted it to his son Waltheof, who married a niece of William the Conqueror; and, on Waltheofs execution for high treason, it passed to a Norman soldier, Simon de St Liz, who married a daughter of Waltheof. On the death of St Liz, David, afterwards king of Scotland, married his widow, and inherited the earldom in her right, but on account of the subsequent feuds between the English and Scottish monarchs the earldom frequently exchanged hands between the heirs of St Liz and the heirs of David. It is at present borne by a branch of the Hastings family. A great part of the county was held by the monks, who erected two great abbeys at Ramsey and at Sawtry St Judith,and priories at Huntingdon,St Ives, St Neots, and Hinchingbrook. Of these buildings all that now remains is the richly decorated ruined gateway of the abbey of Ramsey, and a dovehouse, a barn, and a few unimportant fragments at St Ives. There were two ancient castles at Huntingdon and Kimbolton; the one at the latter place, now the seat of the Montagues, dukes of Manchester, was the residence of Catherine of Aragon after her divorce from Henry VIII. Another mansion of interest is Hinchingbrook House, the ancient seat of the Cromwell family. Among the old churches may be mentioned Alwalton, Conington, Hartford, Leighton Bromswold, and Ramsey, which contain remains of Roman architecture; Buckden, Elton, Godmanchester, and St Neots, which contain good specimens of the Perpendicular; Chesterton, Holywell, Sawtry, Upton, and Wooton, which are partly Early English. The only events of historical importance connected with the shire are the capture of the castle of Huntingdon by the Royalists under Charles I. in 1645, and the rout at St Neots of one hundred horse under the command of the duke of Buckingham and the earl of Holland by the Parliamentary soldiers, who took the earl of Holland prisoner.

Huntingdon, a municipal and parliamentary borough of England, capital of the above county, is situated on the left bank of the Ouse, and on three railway lines, 58 miles north of London, 15 miles north-west of Cambridge, and 19 miles south of Peterborough. It consists principally of one street about a mile in length, from which small streets branch off at various points. By a fine bridge erected in the 13th century it is connected with the municipal borough of Godmanchester, which, consisting principally of cottages, forms practically one of its suburbs, and is included in the parliamentary borough of Huntingdon. In Huntingdon there are two old churches—All Saints, probably dating originally from the time of the Normans, but re-erected in the time of Henry VIII., and St Mary’s, probably occupying the site of the old priory, but rebuilt in the Gothic style after the fall of the old building in 1608, and restored in 1876. The church of Godmanchester, of the date 1625, is also a fine structure in the late Perpendicular, with a tower and spire. At the grammar school of Huntingdon, founded in 1200 by David,king of Scotland, but pulled down in 1877 for the erection of a new building, Oliver Cromwell received his education. Among the other schools are Walden’s school for 64 boys, and a national school. There are also in Godmanchester a grammar school and a national school. The principal other buildings of Huntingdon are the county jail, completed in 1827; the militia barracks, erected in 1852; the town and county hospital, erected in 1853; the com exchange; the townhall, whose ground floor is used for the courts of justice; and the rooms of the literary and scientific institution. The house in which Oliver Cromwell was born is still standing. Of the three old monastic foundations formerly belonging to the town there are now no remains. The industries of Huntingdon and Godmanchester are very much alike. They possess iron-foundries, breweries, tileworks, and oil and flour mills. The area of the parliamentary borough of Huntingdon is 6086 acres, the municipal boroughs of Godmanchester and Huntingdon occupying 4970 acres and 1116 acres respectively. In 1871 the population of the parliamentary borough was 6606, that of the municipal boroughs of Godmanchester and Huntingdon being respectively 2363 and 4243.

Huntingdon existed in the time of the Saxons under the name of Huntantun, and in the Norman survey it is mentioned as Hunters-dune. The castle erected at it by Edward the Elder in 919, and afterwards enlarged by David, king of Scotland, was demolished by the orders of Henry II. In 1645 the town was plundered by the Royalists under Charles I. The origin of the town was doubtless closely connected with that of Godmanchester, which occupied the site of the Roman station Durolipons, and at which a castle is said to have been founded by Gormund (hence the name of the town, formerly Gormunchester), a Danish chief in the reign of Alfred the Great. Huntingdon was first incorporated in 1206 and Godmanchester in 1605. From an early period Huntingdon returned two members to parliament; but the Reform Act of 1867 reduced the representation to one member.

HUNTINGDON, Selina, Countess of (1707-1791), leader of a sect of Calvinistic methodists, known as the Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion, was the daughter of Washington Shirley, second Earl Ferrers. She was born at Stanton Harold, a mansion near Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, August 24, 1707, and in her twenty-first year was married to Theophilus, ninth earl of Huntingdon. The religious influence of her husband’s sisters, and a dangerous illness soon after her marriage, tended to deepen the serious impressions which the young countess had experienced from childhood; and on the death of her husband in 1746, coming under the influence of the religious revival in which Wesley and Whitfield were at that time conspicuous, she resolved to join these preachers in actively furthering their aims. In 1748 she gave Whitfield a scarf as her chaplain, and in that capacity he frequently preached in her town house to the most fashionable audiences, in which sometimes such men as Chesterfield, Walpole, and Bolingbroke were found. Reducing her personal expenditure, and disregarding the sneers of her aristocratic acquaintances, Lady Huntingdon spent her ample means in building chapels in different parts of England, and appointed ministers to officiate in them, under the impression that as a peeress she had a right to employ as many chaplains as she would. In 1768 she converted the old mansion of Trevecca, near Talgarth, in South Wales, into a theological seminary for training young ministers for the Connexion; and this, which she made her chief residence, she continued to support alone till her death. Up to 1779 Lady Huntingdon and her chaplains continued members of the Church of England, but in that year the prohibition of her chaplains by the consistorial court from preaching in the Pantheon, a large building in London rented for the purpose by the countess, compelled her in order to evade the injunction to take shelter under the Toleration Act. This reluctant step, which placed her legally among dissenters, had the effect of severing from the. Connexion several eminent and useful members. Till her death in London, June 17, 1791, Lady Huntingdon continued to exercise an active, and even autocratic, superintendence over her chapels and chaplains, and maintained her leading position as well by her genuine earnest piety and force of character as by her high social station and generous liberality. Her chapels and college were bequeathed to trustees; and in 1792 the latter was removed to Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, where it has since flourished. Several congregations of the Connexion have become nominally as well as virtually Congregational chapels; while, even by those which retain the original name, the Congregational polity is practically adopted.

The Life of the Countess of Huntingdon was published at London, in 2 vols., in 1844; The Coronet and the Cross, or Memorials of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, by A. H. New, appeared in 1857.