Old Hurst
| Old Hurst | |
|---|---|
 St Peter's Parish Church |
|
 Old Hurst
|
|
| Old Hurst shown within Cambridgeshire | |
| Population | 256 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | TL3077 |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Huntingdon |
| Postcode district | PE28 |
| Police | Cambridgeshire |
| Fire | Cambridgeshire |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
Old Hurst is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Old Hurst lies approximately 5 miles (8 km) north-east of Huntingdon. Old Hurst is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being a historic county of England.The small Parish Church of St Peter's dates from the 13th century and is a Grade II* listed building.
At one time, at the most prominent point along the road between Old Hurst and St Ives, there could be found a low chair-shaped hunk of stone called the Hursting Stone, or the Abbot's Chair. This glacial relic served many functions throughout the centuries, having been sculpted into a curious chair-shaped mass: folklore has it that it in the Middle Ages it formed the base of a plinth that held an almighty stone cross upright. Here, sentences were passed in open-air trials. Later it earned the name 'Abbot's Chair' from the belief that monks would sit in it and rest while travelling. This antiquity now rests against a wall just outside the Norris Museum, St Ives, and according to writer Daniel Codd there is a belief that it is haunted. There is also a belief that if the stone should ever sink beneath the earth then the streets of Bluntisham will run red with blood.
As a civil parish, Old Hurst 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 comprises seven councillors and there is a parish clerk.
...
Wikipedia