an inland county of England, bounded on the N. and E. by Cambridgeshire, on the N.W. by Northamptonshire, and on the S. by Bedfordshire, with two outlying parishes, viz., Swinestead in Bedfordshire, and Everton, between Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. The county is 29 miles long from N. to S., and 23 miles broad from E. to W. In size it is the third smallest of the English counties; Rutland and Middlesex being the least. The county is divided into 4 hundreds, and 107 parishes, and forms an archdeaconry in the diocese of Ely.

The surface of the county is generally flat. There are, however, two low ridges of hills, one entering the county from the S. near Potton Beds, and terminating in the Ouse Valley near Huntingdon; the other, coming E. from the borders of Cambridgeshire, crosses the county by Huntingdon to Wansford. Along the banks of the Ouse and the Nen, there are beautiful and fertile meadows; in the S.E. is an extensive plain of rich meadow-land; the centre and upland part of the country is highly cultivated, though Huntingdonshire, much of it is still uninclosed. The latter was anciently a forest tract, appropriated to the chase. It was disforested, however, by Henry II. and Edward I., and is now very bare of trees, few being grown in the hedgerows, while woods and coppices are very rare. The north-eastern part of Huntingdonshire, comprising 50,000 acres, or one-fifth of its whole extent, belongs to the great " Fen" district, extending throughout the counties of Cambridge, Lincoln, Northampton, Norfolk, and Suffolk. See BEDFORD LEVEL.

In Huntingdon, as well as in the other counties, these marshes are intersected by numerous artificial channels, by means of which they have been effectually drained and converted into a fertile region. Willows too have been planted of late years in this part of the county, and have been of considerable use in absorbing the superabundant moisture, and consolidating the soil. Situated in the Huntingdon Fen are three sheets of water, respectively named, Whittlesea, Karnsey, and Ugg-mere. The first is 1550 acres in extent, and the second is about half as large. Projects have been formed for draining both, as the water is shallow and the soil very rich.

Whittlesea-mere was a favourite resort of sportsmen, both fish and wild fowl being abundant. The water of the low parts of the shire, although plentiful, is not generally good for drinking. The climate, it need scarcely be added, is not very good where there is so much fenney land and so little pure water. Consumption and other diseases of the respiratory organs are common causes of death amongst the inhabitants.

The upper substratum of the county is formed of a bed of Oxford clay nearly 700 feet thick. The south-eastern district is occupied by ferruginous sand which rises into low hills, and is covered with the diluvial debris of the neighbouring chalk range. The high ground overhanging the valley of the Nen, on the borders of Northamptonshire, is composed of stone brash or forest marl. The rest of the county, with the exception of the Fens, is occupied by the Oxford clay. The soil lies in patches of gravel, sand, and clay; the latter, which predominates, is intermixed with muddy alluvial earth. Peat exists in many parts of the county, and is used for fuel.

The rivers of the county are the Ouse and the Nen, with their tributaries. The Ouse enters the county from Bedfordshire, near St Neots, and flows by Huntingdon and St Ives into Cambridgeshire, on its way to the Wash. It is navigable for barges in its whole course through Huntingdonshire, and thus forms an important means of communication for the agricultural produce of the county. The Nen divides the northern part of the county from Northamptonshire, and quits it at Peterborough; it is also navigable. The river has changed its bed, and the waters in the old channel run into Whittlesea and Ugg-meres. The other means of navigation in the county are a navigable cut from the old channel of the Nen at Standground sluice to the navigable channel of the Nen at Ramsey; and Vermanden's, or the Forty-foot Drain, a cut from the old Nen near Ramsey to the Old Bedford River in Cambridgeshire. The Great Northern Railway traverses the county throughout its whole length, while it is connected with the Eastern Counties' Railway by a branch line from St Ives to Huntingdon.

Agriculture is the only pursuit in the county; and the chief trade is that in corn, cattle, and wool. The main produce of the county is wheat, oats, and beans, with some barley, hemp, mustard seed, and hops; rape is also grown in the Fens, and turnips in the drier soils. The fen lands have been much over-cropped, and, in consequence, the average produce of the county is low. A large number of horses are bred for sale in the Fens, though they are not generally good. The sheep of the county are a mixed race, composed of crosses of the Lincolnshire and Leicestershire breeds with the native kinds. They are without horns, and of very imperfect shape, but are found profitable from the quantity of wool they produce, their fleeces usually weighing from seven to eight pounds each. The sheep of the original race of the county are much inferior to those produced by the crossing with the better kinds; many of these are still found in the open commons, and their fleeces seldom exceed four pounds in weight. The cattle, like the sheep, are a mixed breed, being in great measure the refuse of the Lancashire, Leicestershire, and Derbyshire races. The dairy cows are mostly Durham and Yorkshire shorthorns; but dairy farming is not much followed; and though Silton, in this county, has given a name to the celebrated cheese, that is now made exclusively in the counties of Lincoln and Leicester. Instead of using the milk for churning, a large number of calves are reared to supply the metropolis with veal. The farms are generally large, although, for the most part, they are inconveniently situated, sites having been chosen more with regard to dryness than the economy of labour. Of persons connected with agriculture in the county there were in 1851—961 farmers, 15 corn merchants, 102 brewers, and 36 maltsters. The only other trade of the shire is brick and tile making, commenced a few years ago. Of persons engaged in the manufacture of clay there were 235 in 1851.

Huntingdon was originally inhabited by the British tribe Iceni, and during the Roman occupation was included in the province of Flavia Caesarisani. The Saxons called the county Hunlanduscyme, and in their time it first formed part of East Anglia, and afterwards of Mercia. Huntingdonshire has given the title of earl since the days of William the Conqueror; this title, originally conferred on Waltheof, brother-in-law of William, passed to David, king of Scotland, and is now borne by a member of the Hastings family. There is also a popular tradition that the outlaw Robin Hood was Earl of Huntingdon.

The antiquities of the county are neither numerous nor remarkable. It was traversed by two Roman roads, the Ermin Street and the Via Devana. Traces of ancient encampments remain at Dornford, Stangrund, and St Neots, and some Roman pottery at Holywell, near St Ives. Kimbolton Castle, the seat of the dukes of Manchester, was the residence of Catherine of Aragon after her divorce from Henry VIII. A great part of the county having belonged to the monks, they erected abbeys at Ramsey and Sacroty, and priories at Huntingdon, St Ives, St Neots, and Hinchinbrook. A ruined gateway at Ramsey, a rich specimen of decorated English architecture, and a dove-house and barn at St Ives, are the only remarkable remains of these edifices.

Huntingdonshire returns four members to parliament, two for the county and two for the boroughs of Huntingdon. The polling places for the county are Silton and Huntingdon; the number of electors being 3047. Owing to the small size of the county, it is associated with Cambridgeshire in the choice of high sheriff, and is required to supply that officer only once in three years. The county courts are held at Huntingdon and St Neots.

There were in Huntingdonshire in 1851, 91 Established ministers, and 37 Dissenting ministers. According to the religious census of the same year there were 196 churches in the county; 96 of these belong to the Church of England; 46 to the Methodists; 30 to the Baptists; 7 to the Independents; and 17 to various minor denominations. The educational census gives 95 public day schools, with 6631 scholars; and 135 private day schools, with 2352 scholars.

The population of the county was in 1821, 48,946; 1831, 53,192; 1841, 58,549; 1851, 64,183. Of towns with more than 2000 inhabitants there were in 1851—Huntingdon, 3882; St Ives, 3522; St Neots, 2951; Ramsey, 2641; Godmanchester, 2337. The area of Huntingdonshire is, in statute acres, 230,865.