Bassingbourn cum Kneesworth is a civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. Since the 1960s the parish contains the village of Bassingbourn and hamlet of Kneesworth and is situated just north of Royston in Hertfordshire. The parish is astride the A1198 (formerly the A14 and Ermine Street), and the Icknield Way (cum Ashwell Street).

According to the 2001 census it had a population of 4,006, which includes the resident population of Bassingbourn Barracks. The population of the village, less the population resident at the barracks, is around 2,600.

The Bassingbourn Ward of South Cambridgeshire District includes the parish, as well as the parish of Shingay cum Wendy and the Bassingbourn Barracks. The total population of the ward in 2001 was 5,403 in 1,795 households.

Bassingbourn takes its name from 'Bassa', an Anglo-Saxon who, some 1200 years ago, with his band of followers settled by the 'bourn' or stream in this area. The Romans had previously built Ermine Street (the imperial highway linking London with York), runs past the East side of the present barracks. 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. His descendant Warin de Bassingbourn 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. The Royston-Hitchin Railway line opened in 1851, passing through the parish.

In the late Nineteenth century and early Twentieth century Bassingbourn's primary industry was coprolite mining. However the largest employer now is the Kneesworth House Hospital, a medium security psychiatric unit.

See also

• List of places in Cambridgeshire

nl:Bassingbourn cum Kneesworth

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