Kingston, Cambridgeshire

The discovery of Bronze Age and Iron Age flint tools and pottery in the parish indicate that Kingston's location on a gravel spur above two streams has been occupied for millennia. Additional finds in the Old Rectory garden suggest there may also have been a Roman villa site here. The name Kingston, meaning "the king's manor", implies that the village was, prior to the Norman Conquest, a royal vill. It remained in the possession of the crown at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086. Electricity and mains water did not arrive in Kingston until after the Second World War, with water previously obtained from the village well or farm pumps. ==Church==

There was probably a church in the village in the 11th century, but the present building dates from the 13th century. Dedicated to All Saints and Saint Andrew the building has a clerestoried nave with a low west tower containing three bells. The church has been in the patronage of King's College, Cambridge since 1457. In the late 13th century Kingston Wood had its own chapel and chaplain. A Congregational chapel was built in around 1839, now a United Reformed church. ==Village life==

An inn is listed in Kingston in 1593. The Chequers and the Rose and Crown public houses opened towards the end of the 19th century, but the final pub in the village closed in 1960. Though an earlier school held in Crossways house began in 1702, Kingston had a small school from 1876 until its closure in 1960. It is now the Village Hall. Children now attend primary school in the neighbouring village of Bourn. ==References==