Girton

Girton is a village and civil parish of about 1,600 households, and 4,500 people in Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about to the northwest of Cambridge, and is the home of Cambridge University's Girton College.Listed as Grittune in around 1060 and Grittune in the Domesday Book, the village's name is derived from the Old English grēot + tūn meaning "farmstead or village on gravelly ground", as the settlement was formed on a gravel ridge.HistoryGirton has a long history, and has been home to a poor settlement for thousands of years. The parish lies on the Via Devana, the Roman road, and a cemetery with at least 225 burials between the second century A.D. and the early Anglo Saxon period was found near to Girton College in 1880. In addition, traces of agriculture from the late Bronze Age and Roman period were found to the north of the village in 1975. A selection of Saxon items are stored in the collection of Girton College.ChurchThe parish church has been dedicated to Saint Andrew since at least 1240. Part of the west tower contains stones that were probably part of an earlier 11th century church on the site, and there are parts of 13th century construction still in evidence, but the present building was largely rebuilt in the 15th and 16th centuries. The church was owned by Ramsey Abbey from the 12th century until the Dissolution of the Monasteries.