Cambridgeshire: History
Cambridgeshire is noted as the site of Flag Fen in Fengate, one of the earliest-known Neolithic permanent settlements in the United Kingdom, compared in importance to Balbridie in Aberdeen, Scotland. Must Farm quarry, at Whittlesey, has been described as "Britain's Pompeii due to its relatively good condition, including the 'best-preserved Bronze Age dwellings ever found in the UK'". A great quantity of archaeological finds from the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age were made in East Cambridgeshire. Most items were found in Isleham.
The area was settled by the Anglo-Saxons starting in the fifth century. Genetic testing on seven skeletons found in Anglo-Saxon era graves in Hinxton and Oakington found that five were either migrants or descended from migrants from the continent, one was a native Briton, and one had both continental and native ancestry, suggesting intermarriage.
Cambridgeshire was recorded in the Domesday Book as "Grantbridgeshire" (or rather Grentebriġesċīre) (related to the river Granta). Covering a large part of East Anglia, Cambridgeshire today is the result of several local government unifications. In 1888 when county councils were introduced, separate councils were set up, following the traditional division of Cambridgeshire, for
the area in the south around Cambridge, and
the liberty of the Isle of Ely.
In 1965, these two administrative counties were merged to form Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely.
Under the Local Government Act 1972 this merged with the county to the west, Huntingdon and Peterborough, which had been formed in 1965, by the merger of Huntingdonshire with the Soke of Peterborough (the latter previously a part of Northamptonshire with its own county council). The resulting county was called simply Cambridgeshire.
Since 1998, the City of Peterborough has been separately administered as a unitary authority area. It is associated with Cambridgeshire for ceremonial purposes such as Lieutenancy and joint functions such as policing and the fire service.
In 2002, the conservation charity Plantlife unofficially designated Cambridgeshire's county flower as the Pasqueflower.
The Cambridgeshire Regiment (nicknamed the Fen Tigers), the county-based army unit, fought in the Boer War in South Africa, the First World War and Second World War.
Due to the county's flat terrain and proximity to the continent, during the Second World War the military built many airfields here for RAF Bomber Command, RAF Fighter Command, and the USAAF. In recognition of this collaboration, the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial is located in Madingley.
Most English counties have nicknames for their people, such as a "Tyke" from Yorkshire and a "Yellowbelly" from Lincolnshire. The historical nicknames for people from Cambridgeshire are "Cambridgeshire Camel" or "Cambridgeshire Crane", the latter referring to the wildfowl that were once abundant in the Fens. The term "Fen Tigers" is sometimes used to describe the people who live and work in the Fens.