Castor is a village and civil parish in the City of Peterborough

Peterborough

Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...

 unitary authority, about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of the city centre. The parish is part of the former Soke of Peterborough

Soke of Peterborough

The Soke of Peterborough is an historic area of England that is traditionally associated with the City and Diocese of Peterborough, but considered part of Northamptonshire...

, which was considered part of Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

 but was more recently part of Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...

.

History

Castor's toponym

Toponymy

Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...

 is derived from the Old English "ceaster", referring to the Roman

Roman Britain

Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...

 fort

Castra

The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...

 across the River Nene

River Nene

The River Nene is a river in the east of England that rises from three sources in the county of Northamptonshire. The tidal river forms the border between Cambridgeshire and Norfolk for about . It is the tenth longest river in the United Kingdom, and is navigable for from Northampton to The...

 at Durobrivae.

The Church of England parish church

Church of England parish church

A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...

 of St. Kyneburgha

Kyneburga, Kyneswide and Tibba

Saints Kyneburga, Kyneswide and Tibba were female members of the Mercian royal family in 7th century England.- Lives :Kyneburga and Kyneswide were sisters, the daughters of King Penda of Mercia and the sisters of Peada of Mercia. Their mother was Queen Cyneswide...

 is notable for its Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

 and includes notable medieval wall paintings. It is a Grade I listed building.

The Robin Hood and Little John Standing Stones were erected here between the 12th and 14th centuries in an agreement with the abbot

Abbot

The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...

 of Peterborough

Peterborough Cathedral

Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – also known as Saint Peter's Cathedral in the United Kingdom – is the seat of the Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Andrew, whose statues look down from the...

 that tolls would not be levied on the passage of stone from the abbey's quarries at Barnack.

The common land

Common land

Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...

s of Castor and the neighbouring parish of Ailsworth

Ailsworth

Ailsworth or Ailesworth is a village and civil parish in the City of Peterborough unitary authority, about west of the city centre. The parish is part of the former Soke of Peterborough, which was considered part of Northamptonshire but was more recently part of Cambridgeshire.The village's...

 were not enclosed

Enclosure

Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...

 until 1898.

The route of the London and North Western Railway

London and North Western Railway

The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...

 branch line between and passes through the parish. It was opened in 1845, including Castor railway station

Castor railway station

Castor Railway Station was a station serving the villages Castor and Ailsworth in Cambridgeshire. It was on the old London and North Western Railway Northampton to Peterborough line...

 built to serve the village. British Rail

British Rail

British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

ways closed the station in 1957 and the line in 1966, and Castor station has been demolished. The Nene Valley Railway

Nene Valley Railway

The Nene Valley Railway is a preserved railway in Cambridgeshire, England, running between Peterborough Nene Valley and Yarwell Junction. The line is currently seven and a half miles in length...

 reopened the section of line through Castor in 1977, but has not reopened a station at Castor.

The £9 million dual-carriageway Ailsworth and Castor Bypass, which is part of the A47 trunk road

A47 road

The A47 is a trunk road in England originally linking Birmingham to Great Yarmouth. Most of the section between Birmingham and Nuneaton is now classified as the B4114.-Route:...

, was opened in September 1991.

External links

• Church architecture
• Medieval wall paintings (of St Catherine
  Catherine of Alexandria
  Saint Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius...
  
   on her wheel
  Breaking wheel
  The breaking wheel, also known as the Catherine wheel or simply the wheel, was a torture device used for capital punishment in the Middle Ages and early modern times for public execution by bludgeoning to death...
  
  )
• Castor Parish Church of St Kyneburgha
• The archives of the parish churches of Castor, Ailsworth, Milton, Upton and Sutton in Cambridgeshire