Абботс Риптон: История и описание английской деревни.

Abbots Ripton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Abbots Ripton is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being an historic county of England. Abbots Ripton lies approximately 4 mile (6 km) north of Huntingdon on the B1090. The parish occupied some of land in 1801, which had reduced to by 2011. The parish of Abbots Ripton is home to 305 residents (2011 census).

Abbots Ripton was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 in the Hundred of Hurstingstone in Huntingdonshire; the name of the settlement was written as Riptune. In 1086 there was just one manor at Abbots Ripton; the annual rent paid to the lord of the manor in 1066 had been £8 and the rent was the same in 1086. The survey records that there were 14 ploughlands at Abbots Ripton in 1086 and that there was the capacity for a further two. Abbots Ripton was the location for a small Royal Observer Corps Bunker, it was located near to RAF Alconbury. It closed in 1968 and was demolished.

Abbots Ripton ends in ton which usually indicates a Saxon origin. The origin of the place name is from the Old English words rip (a strip of land) and tun (homestead or farm). Its name has appeared in various guises throughout its history; it was recorded as Riptone in the 10th century and Riptune in 1086. It was during the 12th and 13th century that the Abbot part came into the name; it was then owned by the Abbot of Ramsey, and it was most probably just to distinguish it from Kings Ripton which was under royal ownership. During this period it was also known by the names of Magna Riptona, Ryptone and finally Riptone Abbatis. After the Reformation the crown sold it to the St John family and for a time it was called St John's Ripton before it became known by the name we know it today.

In common with much of south east England, the parish lies on a bedrock of Oxford Clay Formation mudstone which is a blue grey or olive coloured clay that was formed between 156 and 165 million years ago in the Jurassic Period. Above this bedrock are superficial deposits characterised as Oadby Member Diamicton, that has formed within the last two million years during Ice Age conditions by glaciers scouring the land. Close to the streams the superficial deposits are of loose soil or sediments called alluvium that have formed during the last 12,000 years. To the north east of Wennington, there are sand and gravel deposits formed by glacio fluvial processes in the mid Pleistocene period. In 1891 a bore hole was made at Abbots Ripton Hall and drilled to a depth of 209 feet (64 m) showing that there was 7 feet (2 m) of clay, loam and gravel on top of 153 feet (47 m) of Oxford Clay.

The village's parish church is dedicated to St Andrew and is a Grade I listed building. The church consists of a chancel, north chapel, nave, north aisle, south aisle, west tower and south porch. Abbots Ripton Hall is a Grade II listed building that was built on the site of the old manor house. During World War II, Abbots Ripton Hall was used as a hospital. There is a moated site in a small wood at Bellamy's Grove, 1 mile (2 km) south of Abbot's Ripton. The moat island is between and east to west, and between and north to south. Some signs still remain of the inner and outer banks of the moat. Within the island itself are two small rectangular fishponds. The date when the moated island was constructed is not known, but it may well have been around the 12th century, when the inclusion of fishponds within a moated island was at its most popular. According to the English Heritage Listing, the moated site at Bellamy's Grove is one of the best preserved of its kind in the region.

The village hall was also designed by Peter Foster, Surveyor of Westminster Abbey; it was built in 1988 and opened by John Major. Abbots Ripton has a shop, garage, and a post office. In 2010 the only Public House in the village, The Three Horseshoes, was severely damaged by a fire. The Grade II Listed 17th century building was re built and re opened as the Abbot's Elm in 2012. Since its inception in 2004, the Secret Garden Party summer music festival has been held annually at a rural location near the village.