Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire

Kimbolton Castle

The centre of the village is Kimbolton Castle which now forms the main building of Kimbolton School (an independent day and boarding secondary school), but its predecessor on the same site was once home and prison to Catherine of Aragon after her divorce from Henry VIII. Catherine died at Kimbolton Castle in 1536 and was transported from there to Peterborough Cathedral to be buried.[7]

In the period 1801 to 1901 the population of Kimbolton was recorded every ten years by the UK census. During this time the population was in the range of 915 (the lowest was in 1901) and 1661 (the highest was in 1861).[11]

From 1901, a census was taken every ten years with the exception of 1941 (due to the Second World War).

All population census figures from report Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011 by Cambridgeshire Insight.[11]

In 2011, the parish covered an area of 4,964 acres (2,009 hectares)[11] and so the population density for Kimbolton in 2011 was 190.4 persons per square mile (73.5 per square kilometre).

In 2019 there are around 1150 people living in the village.

The Statute Fair, referred to affectionately by locals as the "Statty Fair" or simply the "Statty", is a fair held every September and has been characterised by one local historian as "Dodgems, darts, candy floss and cuddly toys".[12] The Kimbolton Statute Fair shares a wider history and heritage with similar statute fairs across England, dating back to the 1351 Statute of Labourers.

A similar market hall to Kimbolton's, in Ledbury, Herefordshire

In 1200, a prominent local landowner, Geoffrey Fitz Peter, Earl of Essex and Chief Justice to King John, who constructed the first castle on the present site, received a Royal charter to hold a fair in Kimbolton on St. Andrew's Eve (and the two days hence), as well as a weekly market on Fridays. During the medieval period there were as many as five fairs in Kimbolton, with a "Tandry Fair" being held in the village for the sale of "cattle and hogs" until the 19th Century.[13]

During the medieval period a market cross was set up, around which market traders gathered to sell their goods - the foundations of which survive under the High Street. A plaque commemorating the cross exists near the war memorial.[14] In 1603 the market cross was replaced with a wooden market hall - similar to the one at Ledbury - known as "Butchers' Row", which survived until the 1870s, when it was demolished; by the 1890s the market has declined to the point where it had "effectively disappeared".[15]

By the end of the Victorian period, alongside Kimbolton's declining population, only the Statute Fair remained of the numerous fairs. By no later than 1881 the fair's purpose had changed from the traditional hiring fair to a recreational fete. One account from the Rev. Robert Kater Vinter in the 1881 Kimbolton School magazine described the "wretched mixture" of revellers travelling from neighbouring villages to drink, smoke and partake in all the fun of the fair - including a coconut shy, wooden carousel and an exhibition booth featuring real life Zulus.[16] A later account from William Abington (b. 1903) recalled further attractions including hoopla, toffee and rock stalls, swinging boats, a joke toy stall and a tent that boasted the "fattest women in the world".[17]

In the present day the Statute Fair continues and is widely attended by students from the village school as well as those from other nearby schools and adults. It takes place on the High Street for one evening each September (unlike the three days granted by King John), and as such the High Street is closed for a 48-hour period, with traffic being redirected down St. Andrew's Lane and East Street.[18] Modern attractions at the fair include bumper cars, a funhouse, inflatables and waltzers as well as fairground games, including the staple coconut shy; attendance is reported to be in the hundreds.[19]

The continuation of the fair (despite the chaos which formerly ensued when this meant partial closure of a trunk road) and the plaque marking the site of the former market cross are claimed by some as evidence that Kimbolton is a town, as opposed to a village, and still has the right to hold a weekly market. The main road was diverted to its present course to take it through the market place and increase toll revenue. Eight hundred years later, as a result of numerous vehicles striking walls and houses near the sharp bends, car transporters are not allowed in the village.

Kimbolton fire station

In 2020, the COVID-19 Pandemic limited the scale of the fair, even risking the fair not running for the first time in many years, far beyond living memory. One 'teacups' ride was placed at the castle end of the high street to ensure the tradition would not cease.