Bassingbourn cum Kneesworth
Listed as Basingborne in the Domesday Book, Bassingbourn takes its name from 'Bassa', an Anglo-Saxon who, some 1,200 years ago, with his band of followers settled by the 'bourn' or stream in this area.[3] After the Norman invasion in 1066, Comte Alan of Brittany was given the desirable manor of Bassingbourn, which was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.He built a fortified manor house one mile west-southwest of the present barracks, now known as the John O'Gaunt Castle.In 1511 a grand miracle play was held in the village, which throughout that century was also the site of an annual great fair.[2][4] In 2014 The site was closed, before being used to train Libyan soldiers as part of an agreement following the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi.Recorded as Cnesworth in around 1218, the name Kneesworth possibly means "enclosure of a man called Cyneheah", and suggests that the settlement formed as an Anglo-Saxon farmstead.[3][6] The former manor house, Kneesworth Hall, was home to the Nightingale family, a member of the landed aristocracy, between 1610 and 1831.[8] Bassingbourn has two remaining pubs: The Hoops, occupying a 17th-century building in the village, and The Belle (formerly the Pear Tree) at North End.[2] In Kneesworth, Yuva restaurant ( was the Red Lion) lies near the crossroads on the Old North Road and occupies a 17th-century building that was still a farmhouse in 1795.