Cambridgeshire is hardly known for its sandy coastlines, so it comes as a surprise some place names hold the moniker 'beach'.

Indeed, there are many interesting place names in the county with largely forgotten origins.

With many names dating back as far as the 13th Century, the meaning of these are not always universally agreed, or understood.

To help you out, we took a look at the etymology of the the region's biggest settlements, to discover their hidden origins.

They have some pretty wonderful signs too.

Waterbeach and Landbeach

Waterbeach and neighbouring Landbeach were named long before the draining of the Fens when the surrounding area was marshland, so it was likely this part of Cambridgeshire was situated at the edge of the wash.

In Old English, beach meant 'brook' ––so  it's believed Waterbeach was the place that got pretty wet when it rained a lot, and Landbeach was the higher ground that people went to so they could dry out.


The name is all about the River Cam, and a bridge, of course.

In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of AD 875, the town was called Granta Brycge, 'bridge over the Granta', Granta being the ancient name of the Cam. In Latin, this became Cantabrigia, which is why Cambridge University degrees have the word Cantab after them. The Normans changed Cantab to Cam.

Cherry Hinton

There's some debate about the meaning of the Hinton bit, with definitions ranging from 'place of monks' to 'place for grazing livestock'. But the Cherry part of the name is simple enough – there were loads of cherry trees growing in the area.


Nothing to do with the Creator, or with the northern home town of The Smiths and Oasis. It means 'a town or Roman settlement'  associated with a man called Godmund' – whoever he was.

Saffron Walden

Once known simply as Walden, from the Anglo-Saxon 'wahl, ' meaning foreigner, and 'denu' meaning valley, so perhaps it was a place where people from abroad came and settled. Saffron was added in the 14th century because of the local crop – vast fields of the rare spice-producing Saffron Crocus.


The name is thought to have sprung from the slippery fish still caught in the Great Ouse. Ely was once surrounded by water and marshland, the highest point in the Fens, which became known as the Isle of Eels.

The fish was a great delicacy centuries ago, and people in Cambridgeshire paid their taxes to the church in eels in such quantities, it's said they covered the cost of building the cathedral.

St Neots

A Benedictine priory was built near the river in the 11th century, and then a market town sprung up near it, known in those days as St Neot's Town (no, not the football club). St Neot was a Cornish monk who died in AD 870, and whose venerated bones somehow found their way to the Huntingdonshire priory.

Papworth Everard

In Old English, the Papworth bit means 'the enclosure of a man called Papa' (an early Italian pizza restaurateur, perhaps?), but after the Norman Conquest, the village and land around it was given to a Norman knight, Everard De Beche.


Not surprisingly the little in Littleport means small – but the port doesn't mean a place where boats come and go. Centuries ago, it also meant 'town'. Legend has it that King Canute, of wet feet fame, founded Littleport after being denied hospitality by a gang of drunken monks. A fisherman living on the spot where the town stands gave the king shelter, and as a reward he got to become mayor.


Water plays a key role in the naming of Cambridgeshire place names, and so it is with Swavesey. The village lay very near to tributaries of the Ouse, and the Anglo-Saxons wanted to emphasise the river connection – not as in 'waves', but as in 'the landing place of a man called Swaef.'



In Norman times, religious crosses were erected at important crossroads, and Royston had one, set up by a Lady Rohesia or Roisia (Rose). So the place was called Roisia's Cross, then became Roisia's Town – and then Roys-town.