Histon and Impington

Histon and Impington are villages in Cambridgeshire, England, They are situated just north of Cambridge with the main bulk of the settlements being separated from the city by the A14 road (Great Britain).
Over the years the two villages have grown and entwined together, to such an extent that many villagers today do not know where one ends and the other begins. They contain a combined total of six pubs. They have a Nursery, Infants', Junior, and Secondary school. The International Whaling Commission is based in Impington, whilst the East of England Development Agency is based in Histon, and the village is also the location of the radio station Heart 103 (formerly Q103), which covers Cambridge, Ely, Newmarket, Huntingdon and Royston and is part of GCap Media. Impington is also the home of Histon Football Club, and their Bridge Road ground. The club currently plays in the Football Conference.

The names Histon and Impington are probably of Saxon origin as both end in ton.

Histon

Suggestions for meanings of this name include: "farmstead of the young warriors" or "landing place". However, the latter of these is unlikely as Histon is situated above the floodline. The likely origin of the name is from the two Saxon/Old English words hyse and tun – hyse meaning "a young man or warrior", and tun meaning "house or farm". The village name has survived relatively unchanged since the writing of the Domesday Book when it was recorded as Histone.



Impington

This is most likely to mean "farmstead or place of the Empings"; the Empings were a 6th century Saxon tribe that lived in the area, Its name has been recorded in various guises throughout its history, in the Domesday Book it was recorded as Epintone, but it has also been recorded as Empinton, Ympiton, Impinton, Hinpinton and Impynton, before it became known as we know it today.
  

Histon and Impington Infants School

This was built in 1912 with the land and money being given by John Chivers and was opened in 1913 for all children of the villages from eight to fourteen. It became a primary school in 1939 with the opening of Impington college, and an infants a while after the opening of the junior school, on the green.

Histon and Impington Junior School

This school was opened in 1970 but it was not until mid-to-late 1970s that it was enlarged to become the junior school. Until then, the two Histon and Impington schools had the same head teacher, who had to cycle from school to school every day The new junior school was built on the village green and was at first just four classrooms, two for each of years 3 and 4 (ages 9-11), when the first pupils attended. It was opened in January 1972. Pupils first went to the old junior school in the morning, packed a box of their things from their desks and then were walked up to the new junior school.