Histon and Impington, Cambs

Both Histon and Impington were recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086; Histon as Histone to probably mean 'farmstead of the sons or young men' and Impington as originally Impintune in AD 1050 but then as Epitone in 1086 to mean 'an estate associated with a man called Empa or Impa'. At this time the major landowner in Histon was the Bishop of Lincoln and for Impington it was the Abbot of Ely.

There were two focul points for settlement during the medieval period in Histon, one by both the churches in the west, now Church Street and the other was a large green between the High Street in the south and the Brook in the north. The two churches in Histon would have each belonged to a parish, until the later 16th century when the demolition of St Etheldreda's church began. The presence of the manors and church in the west of the village did however mean that the focus of development for histon through the medieval period was kept further to the east.

Impington was the smaller of the two settlements at the time of the Domesday survey and remained that way until the 19th century. The focus of the medieval village was in the far west of the current settlement and around the church of St Andrew along Burgoyne's Road.

The villages now form a continuous line of settlement extending northwards from the A14 in the south. Residential and commercial development from the 19th century onwards gradually led to the two villages becoming one settlement although they remained adminstratively separate until the later 20th century. One parish council now serves both villages.