Somersham
| Somersham | |
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 Somersham
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| Somersham shown within Cambridgeshire | |
| Population | 3,802 (2001) 3,810 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | TL361779 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | HUNTINGDON |
| Postcode district | PE28 |
| Dialling code | 01487 |
| Police | Cambridgeshire |
| Fire | Cambridgeshire |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
Somersham is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Somersham lies approximately 9 miles (14 km) east of Huntingdon and 4 miles (6 km) north of St Ives. Somersham is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being a historic county of England.
There has been a settlement in this corner of the country for at least 2,500 years and probably much longer than that. The village may not be full of ancient buildings, but it possesses a rich heritage of recorded history. Somersham lies on the Greenwich meridian line. There is a marker on the pavement in the High Street denoting the location of the October 1884 Greenwich Prime Zero meridian line.
There was once a railway station at Somersham connecting it to the towns of March and St Ives, as well as a short branch to Ramsey.
The manor of Somersham was held by the Abbots (later Bishops) of Ely who obtained it from the Anglo Saxon Aeldorman Britnoth following his death at the Battle of Maldon.
In 1085 William the Conqueror ordered that a survey should be carried out across his kingdom to discover who owned which parts and what it was worth. The survey took place in 1086 and the results were recorded in what, since the 12th century, has become known as the Domesday Book. Starting with the king himself, for each landholder within a county there is a list of their estates or manors; and, for each manor, there is a summary of the resources of the manor, the amount of annual rent that was collected by the lord of the manor both in 1066 and in 1086, together with the taxable value.
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