Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Godmanchester. You may be able to find further references to Godmanchester in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Godmanchester municipal borough, market town, and parish with railway station Bartholomew
GODMANCHESTER, or Gumecester a town and a parish Imperial

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Godmanchester within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
William Camden Huntingdon and Northampton 7
William Cobbett Jan. 21st to 22nd, 1822: Huntingdon Journal 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 1: Kent Coast and Maidstone 1
Celia Fiennes 1697 Tour: London to Yorkshire 1
John Wesley 1774-6: Wesley Arrested; A Terrible Ride; A Methodist Isaac Newton; the American War 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Hemingford Abbots 0 2
Offord Cluny 0 2
Hinchinbrook 1 2
Huntingdon 41 3
Hartford 0 2
Offord Darcy 1 2
Sapley 0 2
Hemingford Grey 0 2
Graveley 0 2
Brampton 0 2
Hilton 0 2
Papworth St Agnes 0 2
Great Stukeley 0 2
Wyton 0 3
Houghton 0 2
Buckden 11 2
Fenstanton 2 3
Papworth 0 2
Kings Ripton 0 3
Diddington 1 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Godmanchester. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
GODMANCHESTER John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
GODMANCHESTER OR GUMECESTER John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
GODMUNDCESTER William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
GOOD MAN CHESTER William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
GORMONCESTER William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
GORMONCHESTER William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
GUMECESTER John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
GUMICASTER William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
GUMICASTRUM William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
GUMICESTER William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.