Welcome to Broughton

View over the fields towards the village of Broughton, Huntingdonshire

Broctona (10th century); Brouctone, Brochtuna (12th century); Brouctone (16th century) and Broughton (Modern).

Broughton has two old friends in a sleepy green hollow, the Elizabethan rectory with the garden where a rector tended his flowers for over 60 years, and a church in which he preached thousands of sermons. He was Robert Hudson, and a tablet in the church tells us he was greatly loved for his long ministry, which covered so much of the 18th century. In his former garden there is still an ancient stone coffin complete with lid.

The church in Broughton has a tower and spire of about 1500, and a 14th century chancel between two walls built by the Normans. They gave the font its fine arcading about the year 1100. Two notable pieces of 15th century art the church possesses, the work of carvers and painters who may have fought a Bosworth Field. In the roof of the nave is an angelic orchestra with a striking figure of St Andrew among the choir, and over the chancel arch is a series of paintings finely preserved, probably by artists of the same generation. One painting shows a Resurrection scene, another the Day of Judgment and there are quaint pictures showing Adam and Eve before and after they were driven from the garden.

Broughton is one of the parishes of the District of Huntingdonshire, whose administrative centre is Huntingdon, the other principle towns being St Ives home of the Chapel on the Bridge, St Neots the largest town in the County of Cambridgeshire, the Roman town of Godmanchester and Ramsey site of the former Abbey.